Deliver Us from Evil (2014)

Filmmaker Scott Derrickson has definitely been through a lot when it comes to movies even if he hasn't output a large volume. He's also been through several areas of the movie industry; everything from home video, independent to mainstream blockbuster studios. And of course now that he's been inducted into the family of Marvel Studios, his credibility has been more or less confirmed. Prior to this though he was still trying to make a name for himself in way that would make him stand out. While The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) remake was boring for most, his comeback with Sinister (2012) turned the tables in his favor. While Sinister (2012) did engage its audience at the beginning, the predictability became fairly obvious as time went on. Sadly it seems as though Derrickson did not notice this when he released this movie as his next feature.The story for this movie displays events that allegedly were told to be true by a New York police officer named Ralph Sarchie. According to him, he came across a number of strange moments where he would be on duty and witness abnormal actions by people. Playing Sarchie is Eric Bana and soon he teams up with a priest by the name of Father Mendoza (Edgar Ramírez) who believes the cases are related to a greater evil. With the screenplay adapted by Derrickson and Paul Harris Boardman, the execution of the story feels very similar to that of Sinister (2012). At the start, the plot will capture the viewers' attention, but over time it begins to lose its grasp on what matters most. This is unfortunate because initially it has an interesting detective supernatural vibe going for it, but then it turns to a rather conventional method of execution and begins to lose traction.And there's a reason why the play out to this feature feels similar. The explanation to this is that Paul Harris Boardman has been a familiar writer to that of other Scott Derrickson productions, surprisingly not Sinister (2012) though. Putting this aside however, the acting by the main cast is fairly good. Eric Bana as the tough Sgt. Sarchie has a captivating presence along with his partner Butler played by Joel McHale, who seems to find a way of making light of any situation. Olivia Munn is also involved as Sarchie's wife who adds some tension to the story being that most married protagonists are easily held as leverage. Edgar Ramirez as Father Mendoza has a peculiar back story working with the supernatural and also serves as a good backup to Sarchie. Lastly there's Sean Harris who plays a significant part to the plot, and Sarchie's investigation.The visuals to the film were properly placed. Derrickson has done horror films before and this one does not divert from what's been done before. The gore is not over the top but can get grotesque.at times. This makes for an effective take on just how bad things can get surrounding Sgt. Sarchie. The worst it gets is body contortions and really freaky looking faces. The special effects themselves though are well done. There's no areas in the run time that look heavily edited or overly fake. Though some of the events that happen are questionable as to if they actually happened at all. Of course this comes with the understanding that certain liberties will be taken with the story that was given from the original source. The question is, exactly how much of it is true? That's to be debated over since the screenplay is based off of a book by Sgt. Sarchie.The camerawork was well done too. Filmed by Scott Kevan, the cinematography is displayed competently. There are dark areas throughout the film but it is not to a point where the audience will not be able to see what is happening. If anything it helps emphasize how peculiar some scenarios get. Occasionally there is some shaky cam and dutch angles, but it occurs quite infrequently that it's not really a bother. Kevan was also the cinematographer to Cabin Fever (2002), Death Race (2008) and The Darkest Hour (2011). Composing the film score to this feature was Christopher Young who has not only worked with Derrickson before but has done many horror scores in general. Sadly, what's only heard here are repeated tracks from other movies like Sinister (2012), and the rest are all stings. It's pretty underwhelming because only a couple areas actually sound unique.Music and story execution is unfortunately a large portion why the movie could not be as good as it presents itself. Yet the actors, horror visuals and premise make the view enjoyable to watch for the most part. It's decent enough to warrant at least one watch but that's it.

"Deliver Us from Evil" is meaningful for me because it is similar story with a man who served in military in Caucasus and it seems is suffering from the same symptoms as the guys who was in Iraq.The scene of exorcism powerfully portrayed and whole film is a good suspense. Thanks a lot to producers for creating this example how evil could be overcame by humans with faith.Impressed how the priest confessing his own sins to his police friend - and encourages him to get rid of the darkness of his soul simultaneously.Thank you very much again for doing such a great job!

I expected a predictable melodrama between its two primary protagonists — the hardened, intractably "close-minded" cop and the wise young priest. This, I thought, would upstage a thin, generic, supernatural backstory.Well … there was some of that expected character interaction, but I admit that it was done pretty well. And the old fashioned scares served up here make this an above average horror movie.I say "old fashioned" because this seemed to channel the demonic possession classics that defined this horror movie sub-genre, for me, anyway — "The Exorcist" (1973) and "The Exorcist III" (1990). It has an expansive story that begins in a nicely surprising battle scene in Iraq, then shifts its focus to several chilling violent crimes in New York City. Then it effectively blends a horror story with a police thriller. And the story is detailed, with some thought put into the demon's modus operandi and choice of victims, as well as the their investigation by streetwise New York City cops. A straight horror-thriller like this is a nice contrast to recent well made supernatural horror films like last year's "The Babadook" or "It Follows," which were ambiguous and heavily thematic, personal stories with virtually no exposition.Eric Bana and Edgar Ramirez were both terrific; even they might have been upstaged by Joel McHale in a supporting role as Bana's foul mouthed but loyal anti-hero partner. I was rooting for him more than the thinly drawn hero scripted for Bana. (Can any NYC cops really wield a knife like that? If so, that's totally badass.) McHale is damn good — I'll be looking for him in his regular role in the upcoming revival of "The X Files." If you were an NYC cop, wouldn't you want a partner like that? Seriously … that dude is BADASS.Regrettably, this movie's thought and creativity do seem to lose steam toward the end. Certain scares and images were done wonderfully. The scenes inside the asylum were great, for example, especially one shot that made me think of the Batman mythos' Arkham Asylum. Others fell flat. Our Big Bad, when finally revealed in full, is just a generic ugly dude in drab whiteface. And a sequence involving a piano is shot with little visual flair.The most frightening subplot of all involves a troubled girl in her bedroom; it's cut short and rendered irrelevant in order to move the plot forward. And the finale features an exorcism that recycles mostly old tropes from the sub-genre.Hey … this was still a good movie, though. It certainly was better than I thought it would be. I'd cheerfully recommend it.Oh! One more thing — this is supposedly based on a true story. Scott Derrickson's interesting screenplay derives from the 2001 book, "Beware The Night," by retired NYC police officer Ralph Sarchie (Bana's character). I wonder what evidence anyone has gathered to either support or debunk the story here.

'Deliver Us From Evil' has a good premise and the trailers were quite promising, and even the main story line about a NY detective investigating some really creepy stuff has its merits. But although 'Deliver Us From Evil' has some creepy moments and a surprisingly good exorcism scene, its bad dialogue, story telling, and acting make this possession movie less than stellar and not the horror movie you were hoping for.Director Scott Derrickson and writer Paul Harris Boardman have been collaborating on movies together for many years. They worked on 'Scream 4', 'The Exorcism of Emily Rose', and 'Sinister' together, so here is proof that these two talents are no stranger to the horror genre nor the possession angle. Again, like most of the horror movies these days, this one too is based on a true story. This time it's Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana), a NY family man and police detective who is known for capturing the worst of criminals. The real Sarchie was also a cop, but later transitioned into investigating the paranormal and demonic forces. He has even worked with Ed and Lorraine Warren, who are the couple who investigated the hauntings in 'The Amityville Horror' and 'The Conjuring'.But this movie takes place before he decided to dive into the paranormal, but was probably the jump start to it all. Sarchie is joined by his partner Butler (Joel McHale), also a tough cop who thinks Sarchie has a gut feeling he calls 'the radar', where Sarchie always ends up the most thrilling disputes and cases. While Sarchie is great at his job, his wife (Olivia Munn) and young daughter don't have the husband/father time they desire. Sarchie takes call after call, where he experiences some very creepy and unexplainable things, such as a woman throwing her baby over a railing at the zoo into a lion's den, strange voices and knocks, lights burning out for no reason, and sane people turning into violent shades of themselves.To help him along the way both figuratively and spiritually is Father Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez) who might know what's going on in with these cases, which is some other force at work. A force of pure evil. This all comes to a head with an exorcism at the police station, which was surprisingly well done. But besides that and a few other minor creepy moments, 'Deliver Us From Evil' is riddled with laughable and bland dialogue, terrible chemistry, and redundant story-telling, as our detectives travel through dark basement after dark basement for some cheap thrills and scares. It gets old fast.And the banter between Sarchie and Butler was so monotone and awful, that I feel like it was written by a 5th grader. And I won't get into the awful writing for the only African American in the film who is a fellow police detective whose only lines during the exorcism are "Oh my f*ck" and "What the f*ck?" Needless to say, the filmmakers didn't give any thought to that character let alone any of the other ones. The only shining actor here Sean Harris, who plays Santino, the possessed guy who is making it accessible for other demons to possess others. His creepiness is amazing and his exorcism scene is quite terrifying. If you're a fan of horror and the possession genre, you might find a couple of things you like here, but it's best you wait for home video for this one.