Deliver Us from Evil 2014

Normally I don't really get into the Exorcist - type demonic possession kind of movies but occasionally I'll sit through one. This one was actually quite a pleasant surprise, in spite of being your typical "exorcism" movie. The fact that it was "inspired by events" (differing slightly from "based on a true story") made it a bit more interesting, as well. The first half of the film had a few jump scares and little more (although the storyline in and of itself was still good) but the back half had plenty to watch for. In addition to the normal "exorcist" supernatural-type stuff, you had your gruesome scenes, a fair amount of blood-spatter, and even some high-tension moments thrown in there (the lions) that gave this a nifty little twist as opposed to most of the Exorcist - wannabe films floating around out there nowadays. It was a tad cheesy, yes, but I have to admit to enjoying the way this one came to a close, and again, the fact that it was "inspired by actual events" gave it an extra little "oomph" in my own personal opinion. It may not be for everyone, but I found it enjoyable and definitely worth watching.

Deliver Us From Evil, it starts off in a rather unusual location, following scouts in 2010 Iraq, giving us a brief action sequence. Things take a turn for the worse and the 3 person group discovers an underground mine where something goes wrong. Cut ahead 3 years, we follow Ralph Sarchie, played by the talented Eric Bana, he and his partner get involved with a strange case of a wall painter having to do something with the supernatural. Sarchie is put in a desperate situation, as he continues to follow the case, his mental state begins to deteriorate.

What makes the movie intriguing, like Sinister, is the mystery element that's written into here, and the clever cinematic techniques that play into delivering the audience clues. Notice how all the jump-scares in the movie are only done using animals or the wall painter? They're not randomly placed jumps for the sake of having them. All the possessed people clawing on the ground, a trait of that typically of cats? I'm going to waste time going through all the little tie-ins that connect with either character traits or story conclusions, but it's there. It's pretty smartly written actually. But with that said, what drags the movie down at points is the slow pace and uninteresting scenes with the father Sarchie interacts with, played by Édgar Ramírez. I think the man is a great actor, but parts of the story where he was around dragged the story to a halt. I'm not sure if they really could cut out some of his scenes, as this was adapted from a book and supposedly "real-life" events, so whatever. Another unfortunate problem is some scenes are unnecessarily long. A little trimming in the editing room could've helped a bit. But overall, satisfaction wise, there's a lot to like here. It's not the standard horror trope fare some reviewers are pushing it as. Derrickson's brilliance is still all over the picture and I just had fun seeing his direction mixed with the great soundtrack. One thing I would've liked to see more of was the detectives combing through security footage and finding creepy shit. There was some of that, but it was few and far between. Add more of that, and this movie would've bumped up even more.