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October 8th
Deliver Us From Evil
Directed By: Scott Derrickson
Deliver Us From Evil
Directed By: Scott Derrickson
Sinister seemed to scare a lot of people, yet I found myself bored by a lot of the attempts. Then when I heard about Deliver Us From Evil, I had an End of Days sense of things, judging from the trailer. Derrickson is no stranger to exorcist/possession style films. An earlier hit of his was The Exorcism of Emily Rose. This time, he goes a bit more grittier and a bit more bloodier.
Eric Bana is a detective, his partner is miscast Joel McHale, together they try to solve a series of mysterious crimes. He reluctantly includes a priest who seems to know a few answers regarding the odd quirks of some of these criminals.
When reflecting on this film, the one thing that comes to my mind is - great make-up effects. The possessed people, especially during the interrogation scene, is spectacular. The shortcomings of the film seem to be everything else. Bana tries his hardest to be a tough cop from the Bronx, but it doesn't work. His accent is too distracting. Even more distracting is comedian Joel McHale who seems to be a specialist with knives.
The film gives Oliva Munn, the thankless role of being Bana's wife. All she does the entire film is complain how he isn't there for his family. This film is predominately a male populated flick. The females here have nothing to contribute, which is a shame because I feel that Munn is actually quite talented. She just needs to right vehicle for her career. Sean Harris, you might recognize him as the bad guy from the recent Mission Impossible film, Rogue Nation, is one of the possessed 'bad guys'. I feel like his career should be taking off soon enough, if this film does anything for him it makes his resume look diverse.
The marketing team will have you believe this is based off true events. This is a lie.While there is indeed a man, played by Bana, who actually exists. A man who reportedly did deal with paranormal investigations and even wrote a book about it, the story given to us in this film is not one of those he wrote about. Instead, it is entirely fabricated and uses his name to promote that "inspired by" tag. Misleading? Sure. Then again, every tag that gives us that is a bit misleading, but I just feel that this takes it to a whole other level.
Yes, we all know Derrickson can create a creepy atmosphere. He's done it before, but Deliver Us From Evil cannot capitalize on it. At certain parts of the film, it felt like a totally different picture. Everything that deals with his daughter feels right out of Poltergeist. What's it doing in an exorcism film? To say this film fails to deliver, is an understatement.
Eric Bana is a detective, his partner is miscast Joel McHale, together they try to solve a series of mysterious crimes. He reluctantly includes a priest who seems to know a few answers regarding the odd quirks of some of these criminals.
When reflecting on this film, the one thing that comes to my mind is - great make-up effects. The possessed people, especially during the interrogation scene, is spectacular. The shortcomings of the film seem to be everything else. Bana tries his hardest to be a tough cop from the Bronx, but it doesn't work. His accent is too distracting. Even more distracting is comedian Joel McHale who seems to be a specialist with knives.
The film gives Oliva Munn, the thankless role of being Bana's wife. All she does the entire film is complain how he isn't there for his family. This film is predominately a male populated flick. The females here have nothing to contribute, which is a shame because I feel that Munn is actually quite talented. She just needs to right vehicle for her career. Sean Harris, you might recognize him as the bad guy from the recent Mission Impossible film, Rogue Nation, is one of the possessed 'bad guys'. I feel like his career should be taking off soon enough, if this film does anything for him it makes his resume look diverse.
The marketing team will have you believe this is based off true events. This is a lie.While there is indeed a man, played by Bana, who actually exists. A man who reportedly did deal with paranormal investigations and even wrote a book about it, the story given to us in this film is not one of those he wrote about. Instead, it is entirely fabricated and uses his name to promote that "inspired by" tag. Misleading? Sure. Then again, every tag that gives us that is a bit misleading, but I just feel that this takes it to a whole other level.
Yes, we all know Derrickson can create a creepy atmosphere. He's done it before, but Deliver Us From Evil cannot capitalize on it. At certain parts of the film, it felt like a totally different picture. Everything that deals with his daughter feels right out of Poltergeist. What's it doing in an exorcism film? To say this film fails to deliver, is an understatement.