Review of Deliver Us from Evil (2014) by Horcrux2007 — 26 Jul 2015

Considering how difficult it is to find a decent modern exorcism flick, it's always nice to find one that will be a visceral and sometimes scary ride. Deliver Us from Evil is one of those movies. Sinister director Scott Derrickson takes the helm of this cop procedural turned possession film Deliver Us from Evil which is based on NYPD sergeant Ralph Sarchie's allegedly "non-fiction" novel Beware the Night.

I believe that this is based on true events about as much as I believe that The Conjuring and The Amityville Horror movies are "based on true events", but let's just roll with it. In Deliver Us from Evil, NYPD sergeant Ralph Sarchie, played by Eric Bana, teams up with a priest schooled in the rites of exorcism to investigate a series of crimes around their city.

What makes this movie so much different than other exorcism movies is that it is primarily a cop procedural. A lot of the twists and thrills come from Sarchie investigating these crimes and finding new information and evidence, making this a uniquely gritty possession film.

Deliver Us from Evil mostly thrives on the unpredictability of the plot rather than gross-out scares, Scott Derrickson's direction also allows some dense atmosphere throughout the entire film. Unfortunately, there are quite a few unnecessary jump scares littered throughout the movie.

Some of the jump scares do actually work, but for every one that works, there are two more that fail miserably. It's the biggest drawback to an otherwise good film. Deliver Us from Evil, despite some horror cop-outs (pun definitely intended), is a gritty and surprisingly entertaining exorcism flick that should surprise and even scare you.