In case you were wondering, 1992 isn’t the only film being released this week that is something of a bait and switch—a film that starts out as a family drama and becomes, well, something unexpected. In 1992, the story turns from a deeply personal father-son drama set during the LA riots after the Rodney King verdict into a heist thriller. In The Deliverance, again the initial emphasis is on the struggles of single mother Ebony Jackson (Andra Day, The United States vs. Billie Holiday) raising three kids—Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins), Nate (Caleb McLaughlin), and daughter Shante (Demmi Singleton)—and dealing with her own personal demons and a vigilant social worker (Mo’Nique) always checking up on her and threatening to take away her children. Ebony moves her family to a new home, hoping for a fresh start, but not long after the move, unexplained things start happening in the home that makes everyone believe there is something other worldly and dangerous at play.
Directed by Lee Daniels (who helmed the Billie Holiday film, as well as Precious and The Butler) and supposedly based on true events, The Deliverance slowly transforms into full-on supernatural horror movie that borrows heavily from The Exorcist and turns into some sort of lost chapter of The Conjuring, only instead of the Warrens arriving to save the day, we get a fully inexperienced reverend played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor (whom we just saw in last week’s The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat), who gets appropriately whomped by a demon inside one of Ebony’s kids. The film leans hard into the paranormal, from the demon’s foul language and contortionist bending and movement to the creature (who actually identifies as the devil) taking on voices of long-dead loved ones and toying with Ebony’s emotion to get what it wants. The film leaves no possession trope untouched, including having the non-believer Ebony coming just short of being born-again in order to defeat this demonic attacker.
If you thought Glenn Close was wild in Hillbilly Elegy (assuming you even saw it), wait until you get a gander at her in The Deliverance as Ebony’s mother Alberta, who throws herself at much younger men; wears scandalous, revealing clothes; and by all accounts, was a terrible mother to Ebony. But that hasn’t stopped her from finding God in her older age and trying to tell her daughter how to raise her children. Her religious beliefs do come in handy when the devil invades the home, but until then, the characters is laughable from frame one of this movie.
Other than the more urban setting, there’s nothing unique about The Deliverance compared to the previously mentioned films. The actors all do their best to sell this wild story, especially Day, who sees this spiritual assault as just another in a long line of things trying to mess up her life and tear her family apart. The climatic showdown that ends the film is ludicrous, sloppy, and derivative, but it does also manage to be mildly creepy at times, so we’ll give it points for that. Director Daniels has always been good with actors, but maybe they needed some reeling in with this one.
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
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