The Unhealer (2020)

August 21, 2023 5:23 PM

A faith healing gone wrong makes a relentlessly bullied teenage invincible and all the damage inflicted upon him is, instead, reflected back to his tormentors. TW: violence, bullying, and murder

Kelly (Elijah Nelson) is tormented by a group of bullies for his pica while he pines for a classmate (Kayla Carlson). When he falls ill from malnutrition, his mother (Natasha Henstridge) turns to a faith healer (Lance Henriksen) to help him. The faith healer, Pflueger, has stolen his power from the Navajo. The healing kills Pflueger, but transfers his power to Kelly.

Now imbued with the ability to heal himself, but also to reflect any damage inflicted upon him back on his tormentor, Kelly, for the first time, is able to fight back. But unable to hurt Kelly, his bullies are driven to tragic extremes for both themselves and Kelly.

Featuring Adam Beach as Sheriff Adler

posted by miss-lapin (2 comments total)

The premise is fun and the first half of the film has some solid action, but it starts to unravel quickly and by the end I think the writers just shrugged and gave up. The best part here is Lance Henriksen who is introduced to the audience by saying ”I know I look like two box cars bumped together and I rolled out of a hobo’s ass, but I had a rough night.” He is the high point of the movie, but he's only in it for about five minutes.

Amazingly this movie spawned not one but two sequels! I will not be bothering with those, but this isn't a terrible watch if you're doing laundry as I was.
posted by miss-lapin at 5:28 PM on August 21, 2023 [1 favorite]

Which Star War poster is that a direct rip-off?
posted by rhizome at 12:41 PM on August 24, 2023 [1 favorite]