Named after the last line of the Lord's Prayer, Deliver Us From Evil is a horror film following Ralph Sarchie's (Eric Bana) journey to the liberation of his sins. This exorcism film is directed by Scott Derrickson (Sinister, The Exorcism of Emily Rose) and based on the real life story of sergeant Sarchie. The film starts with a group of soldiers in the midst of crossfire in Iraq. It soon takes a quick turn when the soldiers pursue an enemy down a tunnel, only to discover something evil. Back in New York, audiences are introduced to the protagonist, Sarchie, and his partner, Butler (Joel McHale). They take on a series of cases, often inclined by Sarchie's inherent sixth sense, which he refers to as his "radar". Little did he know that the cases are all interconnected and will lead him to meet a strange priest, Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez), who will in turn lead him back to faith.
Deliver Us From Evil is an unfortunate follow up to Derrickson's impressive The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Ever since the rise of the exorcism subgenre set forth by William Friedkin's The Exorcist, very few films have done anything significant to redefine and add further depth to the popular subgenre. This film will not have the honor to join that exceptional few. The exorcism scene itself is amongst the shortest for an exorcism film in recent memory. It was as if the filmmakers were unenthused and bored of exorcism films themselves that they would rather use the time to include more action scenes.
Eric Bana as Ralph Sarchie in Deliver Us From Evil
The "five stages of exorcism" that Mendoza refers to felt like a recitation of a Hollywood formula to writing an exorcism film. The scene was meant to be the climax but felt more like a spoof of an exorcism, with the interruption of unnecessary humor and rather enjoyable rock music.
Admittedly, Derrickson's use of animals to elevate the level of suspense was reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, which showcased the suspense potential of animals if utilized properly. Despite his overuse of cheap surprises and sudden noises, Derrickson's integration of animals was enjoyable. The scene at the zoo in the beginning was as if his sneaky way of warning audiences to get ready for his animals. Deliver Us From Evil boasted an impressive list of disturbed animals including lions, snakes, dogs, cats, fishes and birds. They all came handy at times of heightened suspense, as Derrickson skillfully used the animals to tease and build up the eventual appearance of the true evil, Santino (Sean Harris).
The best scene of the film is the child's bedroom scene toward the end. The combination of creepy dolls and Pop Goes The Weasel playing in the background was bound to signal to audiences that something creepy is about to happen. It had all the makings to create its own Poltergeist moment but fell short when filmmakers foolishly decided to cut the scene short and extended Santino's fight scene instead. It is questionable whether the filmmakers were set on creating a horror film or an action film.
Next