Deliver Us from Evil
Writers: Scott Derrickson and Paul Harris Boardman. Loosely based off the "Deliver Us from Evil," book by Ralph Sarchie and Lisa Collier Cool.
Cast: Eric Bana (Ralph Sarchie), Edger Ramirez (Mendoza), Olivia Munn (Jen), Chris Coy (Jimmy), Dorian Missick (Gordon), Sean Harris (Santino), Joel McHale (Butler), Mike Houston (Nadler), Lulu Wilson (Christina), Olivia Horton (Jane), and Scott Johnsen as Lt. Griggs.
Iraq (2010), a group of soldiers encounter a man-made underground cave, Lt. Griggs (Scott Johnson) sends two of his soldiers to investigate, Jimmy Tratner (Chris Coy), and Mike Santino (Sean Harris). Jimmy carrying a camera records as the two of them venture inside, suddenly the camera light flickers, and dies. Suddenly hundreds of bats come to life as the light returns, flying towards the exit. Santino is drawn to something else, skulls everywhere, but on the wall written in Latin, an inscription of some kind, Jimmy wants to leave, but Santino gazes at the wall, he has something else in mind.
(2013), present day Detective Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana) tries to resuscitate a baby in a small bundle, but the baby is revealed to be dead, the coroner tells him to let go, but Sarchie (Bana) can't, he is troubled by something, and the pressure increases by the day. The baby is only another point,a marker in his life, an indicator that he needs to see the psychiatrist.
A domestic dispute over the radio is called in, Sarchie (Bana) and Butler (Joel McHale) his partner takes the call, the call is about Jimmy Tratner. Jimmy answers the door notices the two cops, and tries to dismiss them. He tells the cops that nothing is wrong, but as Sarchie and Butler walk inside, they notice his wife sitting on the sofa, she looks at them, her face is badly beaten. Sarchie (Bana) goes to arrest Tratner, but suddenly is slashed, his forearm being in the way takes incredible damage, and starts to bleed. The damage is done, but not down for the count, Sarchie continues to subdue Jimmy, suddenly he sprints, and jumps out the window, Sarchie manages to catch up to him outside, he strikes him until Tratner is bloodied, he notices Tratner fingernails, they're bleeding. Butler intercepted both Sarchie and Tratner, after he stopped his partner from beating Tratner, he arrested the man; told his partner to back off. What changes a man from a devoted soldier, to killing his military Chaplain. The crazy-like demeanor points to drug-use, or PSTD, but something is very different.
After getting his forearm stitched, Sarchie (Bana), and Butler (McHale) get another call to the local zoo. A woman has thrown her toddler into the lion's pit, the boy was taken to the local hospital, while the woman is inside the zoo, missing. The detectives arrive, find two officers, they update them. The detectives start to look around, after a short time, they find the woman, her name is Jane (Olivia Horton). She is on the ground, on her hands and knees clawing hissing like a cat, and singing, lyrics from Doors. While arresting her, Sarchie notices a hooded man, looks like a painter, he is in the Lion enclosure. Sarchie goes in to investigate but only manages to get himself into a pickle with the Lions. Somehow the hooded person had some conversation with the Lions, because what happened next will must likely be in the unsolved mystery. The Lions came out, a straight path to Sarchie, but no worries, he follows a zoologist to the outside pen, but needless to say he made it out just in the nick of time, but something went wrong, the guy in the hood had something to do with it. The strange disappearance haunts him in some ways, it was the way the guy handled himself.
Rant: first off let me start with why wasn't the film following the book?, "Beware The Night," it so much better. Books usually are, but in the case for "Deliver Us from Evil," they should've adapted the Sarchie's real life experiences in the paranormal. The real life cop really did help other people in a spiritual way, which is needed in this time of age. Cops, all law-enforcement need our strong support, and by telling the tale of how a NYPD detective made it through a paranormal event, that alone would be a great story to tell. The sixteen-year NYPD veteran, Ralph Sarchie works out of the 46th precint in New York's South Bronx. The "Other Job," he called it, the "Work," was the cases he was investigating, which are demonic possession and assisting in exorcisms, to name a few.
The beginning of the film is an intense moment with three soldiers as i described up-top, that was a defining moment in the lives of three friends, they find something evil, which turns out to be deadly for them and the people they love. Ultimately the film takes you to a different place, a life of a devoted Officer in a rocky marriage, because of a life altering decision he had made early on in his years, as a young officer. The acting is well done, creepy at most. My wife and i are huge horror fanatics, and i mean fanatics in a fun way, because that's pretty much all we watch as a family. Walking Dead, Fear the Walking Dead, Paranormal States when it was series before the group went their own merry ways. Ghost Adventures, The Dead Files, Ghost Asylum, A Haunting, we try to DVR all of these shows, and on top of that we watch the latest horror films.
What to recommend is always a pleasure of mine, it depends what your looking for, and what you want out of the film. The scare movies are a few, because remember horror films must have a unique quality, and that is what i call the "Want," what you want out of the film. Conjuring, Exorcist, for example are scare films, most of the moments in the film will scare you, make you jump. Deliver Us from Evil, Sinister 1, are examples of films that have a scare moment, but also have disturbing scenes in them. Like the scene in Sinister, where the lead character played by Ethan Hawke (Ellison Oswalt) finds disturbing reels, that are labeled, and each has a murder which was enacted. Deliver Us from Evil comes at you a different way, a first person kinda way, at least it felt that way. The main character saw some pretty gruesome stuff, he managed to get caught in something that was out of his league but still managed to survive.
The second and probably the most important is the "foreshadowing," there is nothing like good foreshadowing, because it makes the film that much better, the scare increases, disturbing parts become much more real, it's the core to developing a true horror film. Good writers use this element well, like M. Night Shyamalan did in the Sixth Sense (1999), Signs (2002), Unbreakable (2000), The Village (2004), and now The Vist (2015). The key to a successful horror film to me is this element, because it reveals something you might not like as a reader, or movie fanatic like me. Films tend to go right into the effects, which is the wrong way to go, but sometimes it just makes enough money to pass that gross, and guess what? another sequel we, meaning the folks who love film, hate the idea of a sequel. The main issue i have with making sequels is the content, the delivery system is no longer there, it's gone.
Deliver us from Evil has all of the qualities i described which is why i recommend it. Yes it's an older film, but not by much, and it has great scare moments, as well as disturbing one. Now i want you to go buy it, rent it, or stream it. My three top horror films are 1) Exorcist, 2) The Conjuring, 3) As Above, So Below, these films will make you grab a blanket for protection. My last two films are as follows, 4) Deliver Us from Evil, 5) Sinister, yes i know i mentioned these, but they're my favorites, and with that being said i will close with something else, try and watch for the elements i described, it works.
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