Suspension of disbelief has always been one of the key components to the success of the horror genre, but if you push things a little too far in the wrong direction, scares and atmosphere can often be replaced by unintentional laughs and inadvertent absurdity.
With an intriguing concept backed by a marketing campaign that shilled the tried-and-trusted ‘inspired by actual events’ tag to drum up more interest, Deliver Us from Evil came packing plenty of potential. That’s without even mentioning the presence of accomplished horror veteran Scott Derrickson as co-writer and director, or a cast that featured Eric Bana, Edgar Ramirez, Olivia Munn, Sean Harris and more.
Bana’s veteran NYPD cop finds himself investigating a bizarre and eerie case that forces him to forge a reluctant alliance with Ramirez’s charismatic priest, who may have ulterior motives in mind than simply solving the mystery. As the plot progresses, Sergeant Ralph Sarchie finds his belief in the supernatural becoming much more than skepticism.
Deliver Us from Evil is fine for what it is, presenting a run-of-the-mill midnight movie treat that’s well shot and suitably acted, but formula inevitably creeps in before the outlandishness truly takes flight. That hasn’t stopped Netflix subscribers from checking it out, though, after FlixPatrol reveals the film has jumped 35 places on the most-watched list overnight, so it’s clearly become a weekend guilty pleasure.
