Deliver Us from Evil (2014)

Last year, I read an interview to Ralph Sarchie, a retired policeman who co-wrote the book Beware the Night (along with Lisa Collier), about the paranormal occurrences he found during his career in New York. The anecdotes he told in that interview were truly terrifying, and elevated my expectations for the film Deliver Us From Evil, "inspired" on Sarchie's experiences. However, the film took a simpler and safer road, and the result is mediocre, but passable. As an important part from its screenplay, Deliver Us From Evil borrows many concepts and situations from other films, either as a "tribute" or as a tool for establishing the atmosphere and tone from the scenes (some examples: policeman with family difficulties; rebel priest with a tortuous past; a main character who has lost the faith; and a prologue set in the Middle East, in the purest style of The Exorcist). The actors make a competent work, highlighting Eric Bana, Joel McHale and Olivia Munn. However, Deliver Us From Evil isn't very satisfactory as a horror film. Its rhythm is occasionally a bit dull, the screenplay makes too many unnecessary turns, and the demonic possession scenes aren't very frightening. I appreciate the fact that Deliver Us From Evil attempted to modify its particular cinematographic recipe, placing the characters' humanity above cheap scares and stylistic tricks (even though it contains various examples of both); but at the same time, I feel that it distanced itself too much from the roots of the horror genre, and tried to compensate it with an abundance of clichés which end up diluting its identity. Nevertheless, I can give a slight recommendation to Deliver Us From Evil, mainly because it generally kept me moderately entertained.

Fmovies: When I saw the trailer on TV it looked really good, so I decided to see this one. What a disappointment. First of all the plot, there was no story at all, just a meddling with things that have been done many times before. Then the scares, there were none. You could see from a mile when a scary head or something else was about to appear, most of the time I just had to laugh to make something good out of the £10 I just spent. The acting was terrible...I like Eric Bana but in this one he looked like he was performing in a school play. The guy that played the priest was even worse. I was constantly looking if he had a piece of paper in his hand reading out the lines. I have seen loads of horror films and this one definitely goes in my bad file. No story, no scares, terrible writing, awful acting and an even worse ending. Save your money and watch Newsnight instead, definitely more scares there.

There is absolutely nothing original about this film. The acting isn't bad at all, but the plot is very generic. For the hardcore horror lover the movie will get boring and predictable, you've got the cop with some issues, you've got the priest know knows what's happening, you've got the cop's family with the little girl, the entire plot is a deja-vu.

The basis on which the occult is based has also been used in almost every exorcism film ever made, even though the writer tried to make it a bit more interesting by mixing Christian with persian mythology, however it didn't land that well.

The mystery character is also not very mysterious either, so I guess this film doesn't deserve more than 5 stars from me.

Deliver Us from Evil fmovies. In New York, Police Officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) and his partner Butler (Joel McHale) investigate a series of bizarre crimes in Bronx: the death of a baby in an alley: the beating of the wife of the former soldier Jimmy (Chris Coy) by him; and the case of a mother, Jane Crenna (Olivia Horton), who has thrown her two year old son in the enclosure of the lions in the zoo. While investigating the last case with Butler, Sarchie sees a weird man painting the wall of the lion's enclosure but he flees. Soon the man is identified, Mick Santino (Sean Harris), and Sarchie learns that Santino and Jimmy belonged to the same platoon in Iraq. The investigation affects the private life of Sarchie and his relationship with his wife Jennifer "Jen" (Olivia Munn) and his daughter Christina (Lulu Wilson). Sarchie, who is a Catholic that lost his faith, is contacted by the unconventional Father Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez) that explains to him that he is dealing with demonic forces and Santini and Jane are possessed by demons. The skeptic Sarchie does not believe in the father in the beginning, but when his family is jeopardized by Santino, he teams-up with the priest to exorcise Santino and save his beloved family.

"Deliver Us from Evil" is a creepy and dark exorcism movie directed by Scott Derrickson from "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and "Sinister". The movie is scary, with dark cinematography and excellent music score by The Doors. Eric Bana has good performance in the role of a cop that fight against his own demons, but the performances of Sean Harris (from "Harry Brown") and Olivia Horton are impressive in the role of possessed persons. The plot is well constructed and flawless. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Livrai-nos do Mal" ("Deliver Us from Evil")

Don't listen to some of the critics. A very good scary movie. I think the critics knocking it just do not like the exorcism genre. If you liked The Rite or The Conjuring you will like this movie. A story with characters you care about. Also based on a true story which of course means there are certain liberties taken with it but that makes it more interesting. This was a scary movie with brains. The background and setting reminded me a bit of the movie Seven. The priest is the most interesting character. I normally am not a huge fan of Eric Bana but he plays the role of the detective well. This could also be classified as a crime thriller with a supernatural twist.

I love horror movies. Unfortunately nine times out of ten when I go to see one I am disappointed. This was definitely the exception. Absolutely the best horror film I have seen in a very very long time. I noticed the one reviewer felt it was more a crime drama and thus should not be called "horror". In my opinion...the true horror is that which is real. This story, supposedly based on real crimes, scared the living daylights out of me. You don't have to jump and scream to be scared....it is more scary to view first hand the deep depravity of man and of evil. Definitely best to see in a theater on the big screen. Awesome movie!!