Lee Daniels’ foray into horror features great performances but seems intent to just check off tropes versus create something challenging.
PLOT: An Indiana family discovers strange, demonic occurrences that convince them and their community that the house is a portal to hell.
REVIEW: Netflix is pretty hit or miss when it comes to their horror releases. While their horror TV output has been impressive, there often seems to be a considerable quality drop when it comes to film. So adding a movie from an Oscar-nominated director seems like a winning formula to break that curse. Unfortunately, no one at Netflix seemed to be aware that Lee Daniels doesn’t know horror. At least, nothing that isn’t extremely stereotypical and repeating beats of other popular films. Because if there’s one thing about The Deliverance that’s clear: it was inspired by much better films.
The story itself follows a basic structure we’ve seen a million times before whether it be The Poltergeist or The Conjuring: a family sees their home increasingly haunted with all sorts of spooky occurrences. It’s tired and a bit generic but thankfully the performances are stellar. Andra Day is great as neglectful mother Ebony, a woman who just can’t stay away from the booze. While the role itself is a little on the nose, Day does a great job of adding some layers to her, whether it’s a subtle look or delivery. Mo’Nique has a great monologue as the case worker but otherwise, her role is as stereotypical as you can get. While Ebony certainly has her issues, the clear supernatural element just muddies the waters of her neglect.
Glenn Close is nearly unrecognizable as Alberta, Ebony’s mother who is going through chemo. It’s a complex role as Alberta has a good heart, but it was clearly a rough journey getting there. Caleb McLaughlin of Stranger Things fame appears as one of Ebony’s kids but he’s hardly given any screentime. He, along with Demi Singleton, just seemed desperate to do anything meaty with their roles. They have a little more to take part in by the end but it still feels like anyone who’s not Close or Day gets shortchanged.
As with what happens most of the time with non-horror directors entering the genre realm, Daniels seems intent on checking off stereotypical boxes versus making something original. It almost feels like the filmmakers never saw The Poltergeist and felt like they were really doing something special. But parental abuse isn’t enough to make this one feel deeper than what it is: a simple possession story. Every story beat you would expect is here, complete with conflict that feels only for the audience’s benefit. And just when you think it’s going do something outside the box, it then results in the usage of tropes we’ve seen time and time again.
The second half of the film goes much harder into the possession angle, getting fully demonic. They try to give history to the demon but it feels a bit broad. There’s even an exorcist lady who seems to have every answer to any question. If anything, it makes the situation feel more Hollywood and lose anything it had going for it. The possession itself gets really silly in the third act with there being some full-blown Spider-man wallcrawling. The finale is very poorly handled and just becomes a CGI nightmare. It wouldn’t be so offensive if it wasn’t also trying to wrap it up in a message about alcoholism tearing apart a family.
I’m not sure anyone is going to be surprised that The Deliverance is absurdly average. This is a story that we’ve already seen done a thousand times before and done better. While there are some intriguing ideas here, they’re lost in favor of going a more stereotypical route. I was intrigued by the first half, with its focus on an alcoholic mother and her three kids being various degrees of fed up with her. But it completely devolves into an over-the-top demonic mess by the end.
THE DELIVERANCE IS STREAMING ON NETFLIX ON AUGUST 30TH, 2024.
