Movie Review: "Deliver Us From Evil" (2014)

Movie: "Deliver Us From Evil"
Director: Scott Derrickson
Rating: R
Running Time: 1 hour, 58 minutes

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Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) is a tough New York cop working in one of the more dangerous areas in the Bronx. He decides to take a routine domestic disturbance call based on a gut feeling, something his partner, Butler (Joel McHale), call his radar. Well, his Radar was right, and this domestic disturbance is more than it seems. The call came from the of an Iraq war veteran who beat his wife. This man wasn't just drunk or simply abusive, he seemed to have an evil inside him. Sarchie later gets a similar call when a woman goes crazy and hurls her child into a lion's pit at the zoo. She seemed to have been acting in the same way his previous caller did. It is shortly after this that Sarchie meets Father Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez), who is a demonologist with a not so holy past. Mendoza starts to convince Sarchie that there is more to these cases than simply a matter of people acting bad or being crazy. Mendoza tells him that he believes these people are possibly possessed by demons. As Sarchie digs deeper, he starts to find that the cases are all connected, and as increasingly stranger things start to happen to him and his family, he starts to believe Mendoza may just be right. 

Whenever a production company has to use the line "inspired by true events" instead of "based on true events," the majority of what you can expect to see is fictional. That holds true for this film. The only thing that is historically accurate with this story is that there really was a man named Ralph Sarchie who was a cop in the Bronx who got involved in demonology. It ends there. That being said, it doesn't automatically make this a bad movie. It's not the best horror movie we've ever seen, but it's certainly not the worst, either.

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Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: if you're a filmmaker and you're reading this blog, do yourself a favor and make said horror movie RATED R. PG-13 horror movies are for the birds. Very rarely are there new horror movies that are any good.
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The plot of "Deliver Us From Evil" is an interesting one. There are some simplistic and yet creepy scenes, mainly involving a stuffed owl and jack-in-the-box. Seriously, who the hell in this day and age would buy their kid a jack-in-the-box unless you hated your kid?!??!! They are just freakin' creeptastic murder boxes!!! Along with these creepy moments, there are a few gory scenes that will appeal to fans of the horror genre, and some mild action with a small dose of mystery. The acting isn't top notch, but it's also not terrible. Eric Bana transitioned decently from an Australian accent to a Bronx one, though he definitely seemed to be overemphasizing to compensate. It's always nice when Joel McHale pops up in a movie because we like him. This role is a little different for him, though he does get to display his sarcastic jerk comedy and does it well. He plays an east coast tough-guy who can hold his own really well in a fight, though possibly mildly insane himself. Edgar Ramirez does a great job as a priest with a sullied past, though he wasn't shirtless in this, so minus one star.

Like we said, this movie is nothing truly new or original, but that's doesn't make it any less entertaining. It's filled with typical exorcist movie fodder but moves a little slowly at times. There is some really weird camera work throughout the movie which was moderately distracting. There are also a couple of plot points throughout the movie that seemed to go nowhere, so why add them in in the first place? It looks like filmmakers are going to expand upon their points, but ultimately reach a dead end and just forget about them altogether. Sometimes it seems like they were kept in the movie just to add extra creepiness, but didn't further the story at all. Not bad for a summer horror movie, but certainly not "The Conjuring," either.

My Rating: 6/10
BigJ's Rating: 6/10
IMDB's Rating: 6.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 65%
Do we recommend this movie: Sure, why not?
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One year ago today, we were watching: "R.I.P.D."