
Year: 2014
Rated R
Rating: * * Stars
Cast: Eric Bana, Edgar Ramirez, Olivia Munn
Deliver Us from Evil is yet another horror film that's based on a true story (aren't they all). And if you pay really close attention to a couple of scenes, you'll notice that its star Eric Bana, looks a lot like Jason Miller's character from 1973's classic, The Exorcist (mainly when his face falls into a dark shadow). A subtle nod perhaps? Maybe. But what's the point? There have been at least twenty plus exorcism movies to venture into theaters since Linda Blair spewed green pea soup all over Max Von Sydow's light rimmed glasses. Basically "Deliver" is just another one in that stylistic, empty assembly line. What starts off promisingly as a campy mixture of cops and robbers and demons and such, becomes uneven while eventually running out of steam. Oh and I almost forgot, it's not really scary despite some grotesque images (a slaughtered cat nailed to a crucifix not to mention a man with flies coming out of his eyes, how lovely) and a few standardized jolts. No my drive home after the screening by which I almost hit a deer, now that's scary.

"Deliver" is goofy, confusing, and generally fast paced. At times it can make you cringe one minute while laughing the next. But with a ton of build up concluding with an all too familiar exorcism (in a padded, police interrogation room of all places), this film is only worthy as a rental to go along with five leftover slices of pizza and a six pack. The lowest point: The dialogue containing exchanges so inept and trite, they could have been written on napkins. And finally, there's something that lingered with me as I viewed this sloshy hour and 58 minutes of running time. I was constantly reminded of the 1990 Lou Diamond Phillips vehicle entitled The First Power. It surely wasn't a masterpiece but at least it had the generosity of telling a straight story as opposed to this mess. "Deliver" simply jumps from one scene to another without warning. Disjointed and garbled? Oh you betcha.

Written by Jesse Burleson
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