A possession horror flick from the Oscar-nominated director of The Butler and Precious, co-written by the filmmaker behind the ill-fated Magazine Dreams, and starring Academy Award nominees Andra Day, Glenn Close, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is probably not something you had on your 2024 bingo card, but it’s exactly what Netflix is making audiences suffer in The Deliverance. And despite its ambitions — and pretensions — The Deliverance does not transcend its genre trappings; it just attempts to ignore them to incredibly dull results.
The Deliverance Review
The film tells the story of a family plagued by strange, demonic occurrences in their otherwise peaceful household, which causes them to become convinced that their house is actually a portal to Hell. The closing credits claim that the script was inspired by the true story of Latoya Ammons, but you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference because of all the generic tropes and formulaic beats it follows.
This is the type of horror movie that clearly wants to be seen as a drama disguised as a horror movie, but the themes are painfully obvious. The literal demons are a metaphor for the inner turmoil of the characters. How many times have you seen that premise done before? Although originality and success do not necessarily correlate, The Deliverance wants to say a lot but doesn’t know how.
The Deliverance also suffers from rushed pacing, which is surprising given that its 111-minute runtime is on the longer end for a genre movie like this. However, in the third act, it especially starts to feel as if it realizes that the spooky stuff going down isn’t scary enough. Because of this, it shoves in as much generic possession nonsense as possible — kids crawling up walls, possessed characters talking in a raspy, deep voice, etc.
A horror movie can be forgiven for not being scary if it at least has a compelling story and characters, but The Deliverance falls short in this department, too. Andra Day’s character, a mother caring for her children alone because her husband is deployed overseas, is meant to be flawed. She has a dark past that interferes with her relationship with her kids. But the script takes that to the extreme and makes her outright unlikable. Scenes of borderline abusive behavior and casual racism will make it hard for audiences to root for her.
Andra Day is still early in her career, reuniting in The Deliverance with director Lee Daniels, who gave Day her big break with her Oscar-nominated turn in The People vs. Billie Holliday. She’s fine here — in fact, she’s one of the few performers in the cast that feels suited to their role, delivering the incredibly poorly written dialogue with every ounce of sincerity she can muster.
As for the rest of the cast, you can tell that they’re all stepping down here. Glenn Close phones in her performance in a role that clearly does not require her talents. Mo’Nique feels like she’s only here as part of an apology from the director from their decade-plus feud. Caleb McLaughlin feels woefully miscast in his role. Only Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor seems to know what type of movie she’s in, allowing herself to actually have fun in the role.
Daniels’s direction is not bad, offering some genuinely effective horror elements. The cinematography, production design, and effects all check the typical boxes of the possession subgenre of horror. It’s competently made, although praising a two-time Oscar-nominated director for achieving the bare minimum should not be a situation we’re in. Alas, this is the level on which The Deliverance operates.
Is The Deliverance worth watching?
All said and done, The Deliverance is about what one would expect from a horror picture directed by a filmmaker known for directing prestige dramas. The production values are solid, and the cast is star-studded, but they aren’t enough to offer the film salvation for the cardinal sins of its script.
The Deliverance hits theaters on August 16 and streams on Netflix beginning August 30.
4/10
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