The Church (1989 film)

The Church
Directed by	Michele Soavi
Screenplay by	Dario Argento Franco Ferrini Michele Soavi[1]
Story by	Dario Argento Franco Ferrini Dardano Sacchetti[1]
Produced by	Dario Argento Mario Cecchi Gori Vittorio Cecchi Gori[1]
Starring	Tomas Arana Feodor Chaliapin Hugh Quarshie Barbara Cupisti Antonella Vitale Asia Argento
Cinematography	Renato Tafuri[1]
Edited by	Franco Fraticelli[1]
Music by	Keith Emerson Philip Glass Fabio Pignatelli[1]
Production companies	ADC Cecchi Gori Group Tiger Cinematografica[1]
Distributed by	Cecchi Gori
Release date	10 March 1989 (1989-03-10) (Italy)
Running time	100 minutes[2]
Country	Italy[1]
Box office	1.926 billion Italian lire[2]

The Church (Italian: La Chiesa) is a 1989 Italian horror film^[3] co-written and directed by Michele Soavi, and produced by Dario Argento with Mario Cecchi Gori and Vittorio Cecchi Gori. It stars Hugh Quarshie, Tomas Arana, Barbara Cupisti, Asia Argento, Feodor Chaliapin, Jr. and Giovanni Lombardo Radice.

The film involves a church built upon the site of slain peasants and their mass grave. The church is designed by an architect who was buired alive with his creation, who created a device to seal off all entranced if the spirits of the church ever tried to get revenge. In the modern day, the cathedral's new librarian Evan investigates the crypt of the church and removes a seal which allows the demonic forces to attack the church occupants.

The Church was originally conceived as the third installment in the Dèmoni series, following Demons (1985) and Demons 2 (1986). Soavi insisted the film to be distant from the series, wanting it to be more sophisticated in style, and re-wrote the screenplay to remove any connection to the series. Filming was primarily shot in the Matthias Church in Budapest, with additional footage filmed at studio sets in Rome.