Deliver Us from Evil (2014)

New York police officer Ralph Sarchie investigates a series of crimes. He joins forces with an unconventional priest, schooled in the rites of exorcism, to combat the possessions that are terrorizing their city.

Director:

Scott Derrickson

Writers:

Scott Derrickson (screenplay), Paul Harris Boardman (screenplay)

Stars:

Eric Bana, Edgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn

2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Eric Bana	...	Sarchie
Edgar Ramírez	...	Mendoza
Olivia Munn	...	Jen
Chris Coy	...	Jimmy
Dorian Missick	...	Gordon
Sean Harris	...	Santino
Joel McHale	...	Butler
Mike Houston	...	Nadler
Lulu Wilson	...	Christina
Olivia Horton	...	Jane
Scott Johnsen	...	Lt. Griggs
Daniel Sauli	...	Salvatore
Antoinette LaVecchia	...	Serafina
Aidan Gemme	...	Mario
Jenna Gavigan	...	Lucinda

Storyline

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 Ramirez), schooled in the rituals of exorcism, to combat the frightening and demonic possessions that are terrorizing their city. Based upon the book, which details Sarchie's bone-chilling real-life cases.

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Plot Keywords:

priest | catholic | demonic possession | confession | exorcism | 

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Taglines:

You haven't seen true evil

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for bloody violence, grisly images, terror throughout, and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish Latin Italian

Release Date:

2 July 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

Délivre-nous du mal

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,740,471, 4 July 2014, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$30,577,122

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$87,937,815

Company Credits

Production Co:

Screen Gems,Jerry Bruckheimer Films,LStar Capital

Technical Specs

Runtime:

118 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital Dolby Surround 7.1

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Mendoza smokes American Spirit cigarettes.

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Goofs

Fr Mendoza, while drinking whisky, tells Sarchie he's "NA, not AA", but addiction recovery doesn't work like that. Perhaps there are recovery courses that sanction alcohol consumption, but NA is certainly not among them.

One of the strongest principles of NA is that the addict has to avoid ALL addictive substances, of which alcohol is a principal or "gateway" drug - avoiding even non-alcohol or "virgin" cocktails because they mimic the lifestyle associated with substance abuse. NA members count sobriety as time without ANY drugs or alcohol, and one sip of an alcoholic beverage resets the counter back to zero days.

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Quotes

Butler: This is it.
Sarchie: I think the Addams family lives here.
[about zoo lions]
Sarchie: You know, uh, the last time we took somebody else's job, you almost got eaten.
Butler: Yeah, if something eats me here, feel free to say "I told you so."

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Connections

Featured in La noche de...: Líbranos del mal (2016)

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Soundtracks

Oração de São Bento
Written by Pe Joãozinho, SCJ and Ocimar De Paula

User Reviews

Deliver Us From Evil is mediocre, but passable, horror film

Last year, I read an interview to Ralph Sarchie, a retired policeman who co-wrote the book Beware the Night (along with Lisa Collier), about the paranormal occurrences he found during his career in New York. The anecdotes he told in that interview were truly terrifying, and elevated my expectations for the film Deliver Us From Evil, "inspired" on Sarchie's experiences. However, the film took a simpler and safer road, and the result is mediocre, but passable. As an important part from its screenplay, Deliver Us From Evil borrows many concepts and situations from other films, either as a "tribute" or as a tool for establishing the atmosphere and tone from the scenes (some examples: policeman with family difficulties; rebel priest with a tortuous past; a main character who has lost the faith; and a prologue set in the Middle East, in the purest style of The Exorcist). The actors make a competent work, highlighting Eric Bana, Joel McHale and Olivia Munn. However, Deliver Us From Evil isn't very satisfactory as a horror film. Its rhythm is occasionally a bit dull, the screenplay makes too many unnecessary turns, and the demonic possession scenes aren't very frightening. I appreciate the fact that Deliver Us From Evil attempted to modify its particular cinematographic recipe, placing the characters' humanity above cheap scares and stylistic tricks (even though it contains various examples of both); but at the same time, I feel that it distanced itself too much from the roots of the horror genre, and tried to compensate it with an abundance of clichés which end up diluting its identity. Nevertheless, I can give a slight recommendation to Deliver Us From Evil, mainly because it generally kept me moderately entertained.