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Deliver Us From Evil - Movie Review

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4 stars

Deliver Us From Evil is perhaps one of the most stomach churning, no holds-barred films I have seen in recent years.

Fresh from a recent spew of rather unpopular exorcism films, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Devil Inside and The Possession, it is fair to say that the public’s expectations of this genre of film is - for lack of a better word - lacking. Be it the over exploitation of the genre, or the controversial topic itself that doesn’t manifest well onto the silver screen, exorcism films have fallen off since…well since the Linda Blair head-turning, vomit churning The Exorcism.

Perhaps this latest work of Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, and The Day the Earth Stood Still), will breathe new life into this suffocating sub-genre of film. Based off of former NYPD officer Ralph Sarchie’s case files, and his book “Beware the Night”, this new film is sure to reinforce your fear of demonic possession.

Officer Sarchie (Eric Bana), is known for having a “radar,” in which he can suspect crimes are taking place, and spring into action, sort of like the Bat signal…expect for the giant light in the sky. When being called upon numerous cases all involving the same bizarre unexplainable phenomena, Officer Sarchie begins to question his very sanity.

From witnessing a woman attempt to murder her own child, to hearing voices and children’s laughter, and witnessing bloody, disfigured faces in surveillance videos, the unexplainable begins to take its toll on the (rather stereotypical) former Catholic choir boy. However, when a rather unorthodox priest, (Edgar Ramierez), attempts to convince the (also stereotypical), non-believer that what he is witnessing may be the act of a demonic presence attempting to open doorways to other demonic presences from Iraq to New York City, Sarchie begins to doubt his own sanity.

Discovering that his lucky hunch “radar,” that he believes he has, is in fact a spiritual disturbance detector, Sarchie puts a new face in hopes of restoring order to his life. As the war wages between the tag-team of priest/police and the demonic presence (Sean Harris), the stereotypes, and the thrills increase. In an epic showdown of flesh-ripping, leg-eating, extremely gruesome demonic cleansing, my faith in Derrickson, as well as the genre itself, is reborn.

In a reflection of the blue-collar working class suburb it is based out of, (The Bronx), the film is more of a heavy metal version of a horror film, which in my opinion, works quite nicely. Aside from the overly used stereotypes of former Catholic choir boy turned hardnosed cop, religious insecurity, and a family ignorant, working stiff main character, and a Doors song, that was forcibly applied to the film, Deliver Us From Evil, was a true horror show, and replenishing surprise.

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Deliver Us From Evil - Movie Review

MPAA Rating: R for bloody violence, grisly images, terror throughout, and language.
Runtime:
118 mins
Director
: Scott Derrickson
Writer: Scott Derrickson, Paul Harris Boardman
Cast:
Eric Bana, Édgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn
Genre
: Horror
Tagline: 
You haven't seen true evil
Memorable Movie Quote: "I've seen some horrible things. Nothing that can't be explained by human nature."
Distributor:
Sceren Gems
Official Site: http://www.deliverusfromevil-movie.net/
Release Date:
July 2, 2014
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
October 28, 2014.
Synopsis: In Deliver Us from Evil, New York police officer Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana), struggling with his own personal issues, begins investigating a series of disturbing and inexplicable crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest (Edgar Ramírez), schooled in the rituals of exorcism, to combat the frightening and demonic possessions that are terrorizing their city. Inspired by the book, which details Sarchie’s bone-chilling real-life cases.

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[tab title="Blu-ray Review"]

Deliver Us From Evil - Blu-ray Review

Blu-ray

Blu-ray Details:

Available on Blu-ray - October 28, 2014
Screen Formats: 2.40:1
Subtitles
: English, English SDH, French, Spanish
Audio:
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit); French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 16-bit); Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Discs: 50GB Blu-ray Disc; Single disc (1 BD); UV digital copy; Digital copy
Region Encoding: A

Sony releases the film as a combo pack including a Blu-ray + Digital HD copy.  The 1080p transfer captures the tone and atmosphere set well by the film.  This is a decent release as the black levels – while strong – never dominate the picture.  They strike a nice balance on this digitally shot film nicely.  Blues and greens are strong as well.  Overall, while a dark film, the transfer never compromises the picture.  Details are clear throughout.  The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track works great with Christopher Young’s terrifying score.

Supplements:

Commentary:

  • The film’s director, Scott Derrickson, provides the commentary.  It is very detailed and specific to the movie without being a burden to casual fans.

Special Features:

The special features are pretty impressive.  “Illuminating Evil: Making Deliver Us from Evil” is a fairly in-depth behind-the-scenes look into the production with writer/director Scott Derrickson but – after listening to the commentary – is a bit repetitive.  The following are Blu-ray exclusive bonus features: “Deliver Us From Demons” is a featurette on creating the film’s demonic presence; “The Two Sergeants” is a behind-the-scenes look into Ralph Sarchie and the actor playing Ralph Sarchie, Eric Bana.  Lastly “The Demon Detective” is an intimate interview with Ralph Sarchie on his experiences and actual inspired events that the film is based on.

  • Illuminating Evil (14 min)
  • Deliver Us From Demons (8 min)
  • The Two Sergeants (8 min)
  • The Demon Detective (10 min)

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