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* DroppedGlasses: After Otto wakes up Fräulein Brückner to tell her that it is a quarter past midnight and her watch is two hours behind, her glasses slip off and drop to the ground. [[spoiler: As she seaches for her dropped glasses, Since she's BlindWithoutEm, Otto decides to pull a cruel prank on her by taking them away. Later, Otto guides Fräulein to her glasses and claims that "they found" them. She tells Otto that he is such a good boy, but it's revealed to be a setup for her death and just as she finds them and places them back on her face so that she can see again, Hermann impales her neck with a fence and her glasses drop again to the ground after she dies.]]

to:

* DroppedGlasses: After Otto wakes up Fräulein Brückner to tell her that it is a quarter past midnight and her watch is two hours behind, her glasses slip off and drop to the ground. [[spoiler: As she seaches for her dropped glasses, Since she's BlindWithoutEm, Otto decides to pull a cruel prank on her by taking them away.away from her since she's BlindWithoutEm. Later, Otto guides Fräulein to her glasses and claims that "they found" them. She tells Otto that he is such a good boy, but it's revealed to be a setup for her death and just as she finds them and places them back on her face so that she can see again, it's revealed to be a setup for her death as Hermann impales her neck with a metal fence and her glasses drop again to the ground again after she dies.]]
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* BlindWithoutEm: [[spoiler: Fräulein Brückner is bling without her glasses.]]

to:

* BlindWithoutEm: [[spoiler: Fräulein Brückner is bling blind without her glasses.]]



* DroppedGlasses: After Otto wakes up Fräulein Brückner to tell her that it is a quarter past midnight and her watch is two hours behind, her glasses slip off and drop to the ground. [[spoiler: As she seaches for her dropped glasses, Otto takes them away to pull a cruel prank on her, since she's BlindWithoutEm. Later, Otto guides Fräulein to her glasses and claims that "they found" them. She tells Otto that he is such a good boy, but it's revealed to be a setup for her death just as she finds them and placess them back on her face, she can see again, Hermann impales her neck with a fence and her glasses drop again to the ground after she dies.]]

to:

* DroppedGlasses: After Otto wakes up Fräulein Brückner to tell her that it is a quarter past midnight and her watch is two hours behind, her glasses slip off and drop to the ground. [[spoiler: As she seaches for her dropped glasses, Since she's BlindWithoutEm, Otto takes them away decides to pull a cruel prank on her, since she's BlindWithoutEm.her by taking them away. Later, Otto guides Fräulein to her glasses and claims that "they found" them. She tells Otto that he is such a good boy, but it's revealed to be a setup for her death and just as she finds them and placess places them back on her face, face so that she can see again, Hermann impales her neck with a fence and her glasses drop again to the ground after she dies.]]
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
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* BlindWithoutEm: Miss Bruckner is bling without her glasses.

to:

* BlindWithoutEm: Miss Bruckner [[spoiler: Fräulein Brückner is bling without her glasses.]]



* DroppedGlasses: After Otto wakes up Miss Bruckner to tell her that it is a quarter past midnight and her watch is two hours behind, her glasses slip off and drop to the ground. [[spoiler: As she seaches for her dropped glasses, Otto takes them away to pull a cruel prank on her, since she's BlindWithoutEm. Later, Otto guides Miss Bruckner to her glasses and that "they found" them. She tells Otto that he is such a good boy, but it's revealed to be a setup for her death just as she finds them and puts them back on, she is impaled in her neck and her glasses drop again to the gorund after she dies.]]
%%* GoMadFromTheRevelation: The Bishop

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* DroppedGlasses: After Otto wakes up Miss Bruckner Fräulein Brückner to tell her that it is a quarter past midnight and her watch is two hours behind, her glasses slip off and drop to the ground. [[spoiler: As she seaches for her dropped glasses, Otto takes them away to pull a cruel prank on her, since she's BlindWithoutEm. Later, Otto guides Miss Bruckner Fräulein to her glasses and claims that "they found" them. She tells Otto that he is such a good boy, but it's revealed to be a setup for her death just as she finds them and puts placess them back on, on her face, she is impaled in can see again, Hermann impales her neck with a fence and her glasses drop again to the gorund ground after she dies.]]
%%* GoMadFromTheRevelation: The BishopBishop

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* BlindWithoutEm: Miss Bruckner is bling without her glasses.



* The Dragon: Lotte's Father to Evan [[spoiler: after both become possessed.]]
* Dropped Glasses: After Otto wakes up Miss Bruckner to tell her that it is a quarter past midnight and her watch is two hours behind, her glasses slip off and drop to the ground. It's revealed that she's Blind Without Them [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlindWithoutEmsearches for them]]. As she seaches for them, Otto takes them away to pull a cruel prank on her.

to:

* The Dragon: TheDragon: Lotte's Father to Evan [[spoiler: after both become possessed.]]
* Dropped Glasses: DroppedGlasses: After Otto wakes up Miss Bruckner to tell her that it is a quarter past midnight and her watch is two hours behind, her glasses slip off and drop to the ground. It's revealed that she's Blind Without Them [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlindWithoutEmsearches for them]]. [[spoiler: As she seaches for them, her dropped glasses, Otto takes them away to pull a cruel prank on her. her, since she's BlindWithoutEm. Later, Otto guides Miss Bruckner to her glasses and that "they found" them. She tells Otto that he is such a good boy, but it's revealed to be a setup for her death just as she finds them and puts them back on, she is impaled in her neck and her glasses drop again to the gorund after she dies.]]

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* TheDragon: Lotte's Father to Evan [[spoiler: after both become possessed.]]

to:

* TheDragon: The Dragon: Lotte's Father to Evan [[spoiler: after both become possessed.]]]]
* Dropped Glasses: After Otto wakes up Miss Bruckner to tell her that it is a quarter past midnight and her watch is two hours behind, her glasses slip off and drop to the ground. It's revealed that she's Blind Without Them [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlindWithoutEmsearches for them]]. As she seaches for them, Otto takes them away to pull a cruel prank on her.

Added: 282

Changed: 30

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!!Tropes

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!!Tropes
!!''The Church'' contains examples of:


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* SameLanguageDub: Feodor Chaliapin Jr. was dubbed by another actor in the English version.


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* ShoutOut: The image of the biker's naked girl friend hugging a winged snake-man is taken directly from a famous [[https://www.pinterest.com/pin/455004368573650148/ Boris Vallejo painting]].
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Added DiffLines:

* ActorAllusion: This isn't [[Film/TheNameOfTheRose the first time]] Feodor Chaliapin Jr. played an evil clergyman in labyrinthine, gothic church.
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Move it from Film.The Church

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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/la_chiesa11.jpg]]
''The Church'' (or ''La Chiesa'' in the original) is a 1989 Italian horror film written and produced by Creator/DarioArgento and directed by Creator/MicheleSoavi.

In TheMiddleAges a village of accused heretics and witches are slaughtered by the UsefulNotes/TheTeutonicKnights. The bodies are buried in a hole and a church is built on top of the burial site to contain the evil spirits.

Fast forward to TheEighties when Evan (Creator/TomasArana), a newly hired librarian uncovers the church's past and unwittingly [[NiceJobBreakingItHero breaks the seal]] and [[SealedEvilInACan releases the vengeful spirits]] of the slain villagers. The Demonic possesssion or 'contagion' as it is referred to spreads like the common cold and soon, a switch is hit that seals the evil inside. Sadly, a wedding party who show up half way through the movie are trapped inside the Church with demonic spirits.

A few main characters are developed early on, but by the midpoint they're largely forgotten about when the aforementioned wedding party shows up.

In typical Creator/DarioArgento style, the film is short on story and script but big on set pieces and visuals and gore and naked women having sex with demons and Music/{{Goblin}}.

Creator/DarioArgento's daughter Creator/AsiaArgento also plays a pivotal character.
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!!Tropes

* AbusiveParents: Lotte's father, Herman, was abusive to his daughter, sheltering her from what he sees as a CrapsackWorld.
* AttemptedRape: [[spoiler:Possessed!Evan tries to rape Lisa, although he succeeds later on.]]
%%* BadassBookworm: Evan
* BlackComedy: The grumpy Heinrich and his wife go up to the bell tower, and when the wife sees that there's no rope to pull to ring the bell, [[spoiler:[[RefugeInAudacity she uses his severed head]].]]
* ColdBloodedTorture: [[spoiler: The Architect who designed the Church was tortured by the Teutonic Knights.]]
* CorruptChurch: A literal example, in that the titular church is corrupted by the evil that resides within it. Although [[spoiler:the bishop]] is a pretty nasty person, too.
* DarkIsNotEvil: Subverted with [[spoiler:the bishop, who is often seen wearing a black hood and talking about the Devil. He comes off as grumpy at best, but not necessarily a bad guy. That is, until he reveals his plan to allow the plague to be unleashed upon the city. Ironically, he's wearing a [[LightIsNotGood Teutonic Knight garb]] in that scene.]]
* DecoyProtagonist: Practically a revolving door of these. Evan, Lisa and Lotte all carry this ball but eventually the movie settles on Father Gus.
%%* DemonicPossession: And how.
* TheDragon: Lotte's Father to Evan [[spoiler: after both become possessed.]]
%%* GoMadFromTheRevelation: The Bishop
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: Father Gus removes the device from the mouth of the Architect which causes the church to collapse]]
* HumanoidAbomination: Many of the hallucinations, ghosts of people who were killed in the movie, then there's the 'thing' at the end.
* KnightTemplar: First off, there's the Teutonic Knights, who were shown to be superstitious and utterly ruthless, [[AxCrazy killing unarmed villagers who don't do anything to fight back]], even burying one of their own men amongst the corpses of the villagers. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that they killed the architect that built the Church because they saw him as an alchemist. Second, there's the bishop, who wants the demonic plague to be unleashed upon the city, and [[OmnicidalManiac presumably the world,]] [[MisanthropeSupreme which he deems as profane]].]]
%%* LightIsNotGood
* MadnessMantra: Evan at his typewriter types [[NumberOfTheBeast "6"]] over and over.
* MalevolentArchitecture: The church was built upon a mass grave of villagers and is inhabited by their
%%* NightmareFetishist: Evan
%%* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: [[spoiler:Lotte, at least it is implied]]
* OneWingedAngel: Some of the possessed take a more demonic form.
* OnlySaneMan: Father Gus is one of the only one not possessed (or a KnightTemplar) near the end.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Different in that they take the form of hallucinations and apparitions, and can assume their true form while inhabiting a human body.
* ReligiousHorror: Well, for starters, it's set in a (literally and figuratively) CorruptChurch inhabited by demons.
%%* TheRenfield: Lotte's Father
* SealedEvilInACan: [[spoiler:The ghosts of the villagers are buried far beneath the church.]]
* SevenDeadlySins: Some of the ways the characters are enticed to either get into their head or outright kill themselves by the ghosts such as [[spoiler:the Bride clawing her skin off her face because she thinks she's an old woman]] or the biker thinking his girlfriend is making out with a demon.
* TheCameo:
** ''Film/{{Black Sabbath|1963}}'' star John Richardson cameos as the church's architect in a flashback.
** Director Michele Soavi appears as a cop.
* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler:The ghosts of the slain villagers form an apparition made from a mass of writhing mud-covered naked bodies.]]
* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Possessed!Evan tries to kill Lotte, who's played by Asia Argento when she was in her early teens.]]
* YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness: [[spoiler:After he built the Church, the architect is tortured and left to die with the mechanism to destroy it inside his mouth.]]
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