The Deliverance

         Movies can be the perfect map to know what to do and not do in life. Now, I know what you are thinking: movies are not real. But if we listened to what they were telling us, maybe fewer bad things would happen in our lives. I try my best to follow those rules, and so far, I have avoided shark bites, things that go bump in the night, and demonic possession. The Ammons family, however, didn’t follow this map. Everyone knows you never buy a house with a basement, but they did, and their mistake is now our lesson and also the story behind Lee Daniels’ new film, The Deliverance.

Ebony (Andra Day) is trying to hold it together, but past mistakes and life in general are making it hard. Ebony and her three kids are settling into their new house, along with her mother Alberta (Glenn Close), but their house might have a secret that is ready to reveal itself to its new owners. It starts with her younger son, Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins), who begins to act strange around the same time a bad smell starts to fill the house. The smell seems to be coming from the basement, but Andre’s strange behavior is dismissed, and he can’t remember any of it. That behavior, however, starts to manifest in her other two kids, her older son Nate (Caleb McLaughlin) and her daughter Shante (Demi Singleton), not just at home but at school as well. No one seems to know the cause, but Ebony’s case worker, Cynthia Henry (Mo’Nique), is starting to worry that Ebony has fallen back on old habits. Of course, that is not the case, but Ebony is having trouble believing what is happening to her family, and her belief will be the only thing that can save them.

Written by David Coggeshall, Elijah Bynum, and Daniels, The Deliverance deals with some weighty issues, as it touches on themes of faith, trauma, and racism in the system. However, the film never dives deeply into any of these topics, as it instead opts for run-of-the-mill horror tropes. The problem with the horror aspect is the pacing of the film, which feels slow and doesn’t help to build suspense. It also doesn’t help that The Deliverance doesn’t seem to know what kind of movie it wants to be, as it shifts quickly from focusing on family relationships to becoming an all-out possession film, leaving the audience feeling a bit disjointed.

The Deliverance might not always work as a story, especially in its attempt to blend drama and horror, which is never quite executed right, but there is some good in it. That starts with the performances, as there are some moving ones here, particularly from Day and Close, who keep you engaged in the struggles of the family. It is their performances that lend credibility to the story and keep it grounded before the kids start climbing walls and the other possession stuff kicks in. You feel for Ebony, even though she has made her own bed. I just wish the story had better pacing and had figured out what it wanted to say more clearly. Ultimately, The Deliverance doesn’t quite deliver, but thanks to its strong parts, it is definitely not a movie to avoid.