Deliver Us From Evil (2014)
Cast: Eric Bana, Édgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn
Director: Scott Derrickson
Country: USA
Genre: Crime | Horror | Thriller
Official Site: Here
Editor’s Note: Deliver Us From Evil opens in wide release 2 July.
Although it’s tempting to start this review with a bunch of nasty quips riffing off of the film’s title (such as, “they could deliver us from evil, but not mediocrity”), it seems beneficial to try to resist. Not that the film doesn’t deserve all the slander it can get, but if we’re just playing the name calling game, then we’ll never get a chance to understand just what went horribly wrong in this abomination of a possession movie.
It’s an exorcism movie meets a detective story. I know what you’re thinking, that sounds like The Exorcist III…well, regrettably it’s not.
It seems Scott Derrickson found himself at the helm of yet another genre bending exorcism movie, not unlike his previous and comparatively successful mash-up The Exorcism of Emily Rose. In Deliver Us From Evil, we find ourselves running alongside a New York police officer who is a hardened skeptic of spirituality. However, when he comes face-to-face with what the film melodramatically calls “true evil”, he has no choice but to accept both God and the Devil. It’s an exorcism movie meets a detective story. I know what you’re thinking, that sounds like The Exorcist III…well, regrettably it’s not. You’ll find no George C. Scott in this movie. On top of that, the film slaps on a caption declaring this film a true story. Does that really still work?
People get possessed at the drop of a hat in this movie. You take a trip to the zoo – you’re possessed. You decide to paint your office – you’re possessed. You look at someone’s cell phone – you’re possessed. You read a review of Deliver Us From Evil – you’re possessed. When they make becoming possessed as easy as catching a cold, it becomes a rather common and unimpressive phenomenon. It just makes the Devil look impulsive and capricious, which arguably aren’t the most terrifying of traits. The possessions themselves are nothing you haven’t seen before. Bile drips from mouths, incoherent languages chatter away, and heads twist around. Yawn.
The actors struggle through awkward dialogue, but there’s no escaping its suffocating influence. It’s sort of tragic, like watching decent swimmers tied to a sinking ship.
However, the film’s greatest sin lies in its writing. The actors struggle through awkward dialogue, but there’s no escaping its suffocating influence. It’s sort of tragic, like watching decent swimmers tied to a sinking ship. If only those ropes could come loose you know they would be fine, yet down they go. In particular, every time Eric Bana returns home for an emotional scene with his wife, Olivia Munn, it’s like the writer couldn’t differentiate between character motivation and dialogue. Each character simply states their reason for being in the story. “I want you around more ‘cause you’re never here,” says Munn. “Well, I can’t be around more ‘cause my job is real important,” replies Bana. And thus dramatic tension is born.
In terms of the music, Christopher Young, who has composed such wonderful genre scores as Hellraiser and Drag Me To Hell, seems to be completely phoning it in. Maybe he should only be hired when “hell” is in the title. The music sounds like typical scary movie library tracks. Low horns with low strings and basically anything that’s low underlining every possibly tense moment. They can blow those horns all they want, no matter how much they insist, the film just doesn’t have enough originality to be scary.
In the end, the film is just another sad addition to the ongoing book of derivative modern horror films. I’m going to start calling the book The Necronomi-can’t. A bad joke for a bad movie.
In the end, the film is just another sad addition to the ongoing book of derivative modern horror films. I’m going to start calling the book The Necronomi-can’t. A bad joke for a bad movie.
