Review #57: Deliver Us from Evil (2014)


This review was originally written in October 2019.

October Horror Movie Review #5: Deliver Us from Evil

Okay: Don't worry, this review is going to be shorter than the last couple. And much more positive.

Today's movie was Deliver Us from Evil, about a hard-working homicide cop from the mean streets of Brooklyn who gets caught up in a case that apparently involves demons from Iraq. Or something.

Overall I thought this movie was very good. The characters do what they need to do, there is a good ratio of exposition to action, and the spookiness is adequately spooky. By the time the characters started getting to the bottom of things, I was hooked in, and although the religious aspects of the movie were a bit heavy-handed (what did I expect from a movie called Deliver Us from Evil?) it was all in service of the plot so I can't knock it too much.

One thing that this movie made me realize with absolute certainty: I'm an absolute sucker for the part in a horror film where a character starts peeling back the wallpaper and realizes that there were ancient evil runes lining the walls of their kids' bedroom all along. I love it. It shows up in a few movies that I can think of (like this one and The Ring) and it never fails to give me goosebumps- it's the idea like there was something evil living, growing, festering in your own skin and you never even realized it. It's so good.

This movie isn't perfect- some of the exposition is a bit clunky, and the characters make some real boneheaded moves, and I feel I should ding it a little bit because of the "inspired by true events" blurb at the very beginning. (Then again, "inspired by" is such a broad statement so as to be unfalsifiable, so... whatever.) Also, I have never been a police officer before, but the main character goes around the entire movie in plain clothes, driving an unmarked vehicle, yet is always in the middle of a case. And Joel McHale's character, also a cop, engages in knife fights with perpetrators multiple times in this film; are combat knives standard issue in the NYPD? I can't help but feel like they played it fast and loose with how police departments work because I'm pretty sure you aren't allowed to perform exorcisms on suspects in the middle of an investigation, especially without a lawyer present. But I could be wrong.

All in all this movie was a breath of fresh air after yesterday, and the mystery was fun and engaging.

Overall rating: 8.5/10

Life Pro Tip I Learned from This Movie: Don't put your arm into a cell with a rabid maniac. It won't end well.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review #181: The Evil Dead (1981)

Image
This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #36: The Evil Dead (1981) As much as I'm trying to make these reviews as standalone as possible, I feel the need to tie this one (at least a little bit) into the last one (The Texas Chain Saw Massacre) and the next one (Evil Dead II). So, bear with me I guess. I'm a huge fan of the Evil Dead series as a whole. Evil Dead II was one of the first horror films I ever saw, and for many years was my favorite movie of all time. However, I was never a very big fan of the first movie; I only saw The Evil Dead a couple times and when I did, it felt "lesser" than Evil Dead II in every way. I'll save most of my comments about EDII until the next review, but I just want to say that in this particular rewatch, I came out liking The Evil Dead WAY more than I used to, and liking Evil Dead II a little bit less (though I still love it). If you aren't familiar with the series at all, The E
Read more

Review #199: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962)

Image
This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #54: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? follows two aged Hollywood starlet sisters, Jane and Blanche, who have begrudgingly lived together for many years after a car accident left Blanche confined to a wheelchair. Both sisters hate one another, and their deep-seated hatred has begun to hit a breaking point as Jane struggles to hold a tight grip on a world that no longer remembers her. My thoughts on this movie itself are pretty simple: This is a long film (2 hours 15) that really didn't need to be that long, and it's a pretty slow burn. The tension is there, you really feel the fear and paranoia you're meant to feel, so it's not a bad time, I just really think it could have been tightened up (either in the script phase or the editing phase) to cut off like a solid half an hour. Then again, movies were just slower back then, I guess. I apprecia
Read more

Review #188: Let Me In (2010)

Image
This review was originally written in 2022. Gabe's 100 Bucket List Horror Films Review #43: Let Me In (2010) I can't fathom why both this movie AND Let the Right One In were on this bucket list, considering this one is basically a shot-for-shot remake of that one. But whatever, they're both on the list so I'm reviewing them both. To recap in basically a word-for-word manner, Let Me In is an American film about a young boy, Owen, bullied at school and without many peers, who befriends a girl, Abby, who recently moved into his apartment complex and who tries to teach Owen to stand up for himself. Little does Owen know, Abby is actually a vampire and her bloodlust will soon cause problems- problems that have kept her on the run for many, many years. Most of my thoughts on the other movie apply to this one. It's honestly such a close adaptation, I'm kind of impressed- I saw both of these films maybe ten years ago (I saw the American one first), and I remembered ther
Read more