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.

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