Deliver Us from Evil

Released:  July 2nd, 2014

Rated:  R

Studio:  Screen Gems

Staring:  Eric Bana, Édgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn, Sean Harris, Joel McHale

Directed by:  Scott Derrickson 
Written by:  Scott Derrickson, Paul Harris Boardman

Personal Bias Alert:  likes Joel McHale, gore does nothing for me

3 of 10

            We all like a scary story.  Even fraidy-cats like me enjoy getting sucked in, feeling my hair stand up, and getting the adrenaline rush.  Fear is a basic part of life, ingrained into us over the millennia.  Most of us now live in environments where we’re sheltered from the daily fears we used to experience.  Instead, fear has become a form of entertainment, something we commonly seek out at movies and amusement parks.  That’s why horror films are released so often, and their large numbers makes it easy for them to seem like carbon copies of each other.  Unfortunately, “Deliver Us from Evil” falls precisely into that trap.

            This film is allegedly based on the true story of Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana), a New York City cop who becomes entangled in a case that is demonically based.  It’s a mix of cop and horror movies, but it never differentiates itself from either genre nor does the mixture of the two feel unique.  There’s a whole subgenre of horror films in which the main characters spend the movie investigating/documenting a paranormal experience (think “The Conjuring,” “Paranormal Activity,” or “The Innkeepers”).  The cop element of this film allows it to fit easily into this subgenre.  Ralph may be more methodical and experienced than many of the investigators in the other films, but the beats this movie hits remains the same.

            The genre mix could have been used to bring out unusual twists, but instead the filmmakers settle for mixing in an inordinate amount of clichés from both trope-ridden genres.  Seriously, let’s check these off:  Wise-cracking partner?  Check.  Family kept at a distance?  Check.  Faulty lighting?  Check.  Jump scare that was just a cat?  Check.  Main characters battling personal demons?  Check.  There are many others, but listing them all off would interrupt the flow of this review.   Suffice it to say, nearly everything in this film is rooted in cliché, and seeing so many easily identifiable storytelling elements really hampers my ability to buy this as a true story.

            Bana does well in the lead, turning in his usual above-average performance, and the other characters are well-cast, too.  The wise-cracking partner is played by Joel McHale, who most people will know from his comedic television roles.  It’s nice to see him play someone a bit tougher, but it’s still a comfortably familiar role for him.  This is almost a serious version of his role in the paintball episodes of “Community.”  Édgar Ramírez and Olivia Munn are competent as a priest and Mrs. Sarchie respectively, and the daughter, played by Lulu Wilson, holds her own.  Overall, it’s a good cast.  Too bad they were given horrendously hackneyed dialogue to spout.

            Now the point of a horror movie is to be scary, and there’s a few different approaches to this that are commonly taken.  “Deliver Us from Evil” goes for the R-rated gore (both human and animal) and jump-scare method, which has never worked for me.  If you like that kind of thing, then this movie will be just okay for you.  Again, and I know I sound like a broken record, writer/director Scott Derrickson shows you nothing you haven’t already seen before, including a climactic exorcism that I was actually bored by.  We’ve all seen exorcisms so many times on film that it simply isn’t enough to be a climax anymore.  You’ve got to add something else to make it more interesting, but this film never builds to anything.  They try to add in subplots involving Sarchie’s family and the undesirable things that he and the priest have done, but the subplots keep getting dropped, robbing them of any momentum.  The end result was my complete apathy towards anything that happened to these characters, and hence, little fear.

            There’s one final test for all horror films.  It occurs when I’m lying in bed, trying to go to sleep.  Even bad ones often contain an image or a concept that keeps me up at night.  After this one, I slept like a baby.

            Other Notes:

Ø  Why does Joel McHale disappear in the middle of this film?

Ø  Every scene in this film is dark, even if it’s broad daylight outside.  I get mood, but this was ridiculous.

Ø  They try to incorporate themes, like the seven deadly sins and classic rock music, but it never seems natural.

Ø  The big bad thing that Sarchie did wasn’t even that terrible.  They really chickened out on that one.

Ø  Kudos to the actor who played the possessed guy.  You kept your eyes wide open as the fake blood spilled down your face.  I’m sure that wasn’t easy.