Harrowing and well acted, Lee Daniels new horror drama THE DELIVERANCE is as horrifying pre-possession as it is once Lucifer arrives on scene.
Andra Day (The United States VS. Billie Holiday) stars as Ebony, a paycheck-to-paycheck Mom with three kids, barely scratching by while battling alcoholism.
The first half hour detailing every day life in the house is startling. The way that Ebony talks to (at) her children made me cringe 100 times. Foul, nasty and unrelenting, Ebony is ferocious to anyone at arm's length. Oldest son Nate (Caleb McLaughlin from "Stranger Things" and "The Book of Clarence") is protective of his siblings and most observant of Ebony's failures, while getting routinely beaten up on the way home from school.
Daughter Shante (Demi Singleton from "King Richard") is just trying to fit in and live the social life that the young teen years demand, while staying in close contact with their Father, who its said is "in the military" but I was left wondering if he was just gone. He seems to be a text away at all times.
Youngest son Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins of "Never Let Go") is the first to notice something strange in their new home. He is intrigued by the basement and adopts a new imaginary friend, never good in this kind of movie.
Glenn Close is Ebony's mom Alberta, who still dresses like she's 25, has lived life hard, but has found Jesus. Battling cancer, she's clearly a woman trying to put a lot of things right in her life. Her devotion and protective will for her grandchildren is without question.
Circling the family is social worker Cynthia, ferociously played by Mo'Nique ("Precious", "Domino") as a woman who despises Ebony's weaknesses. This could have easily been a one-note character and performance, but through the film, Cynthia becomes our eyes and ears to the startling events surrounding the family.
Director Lee Daniels ("Precious", TV's "Empire") seems like a fascinating choice to helm an "Exorcist" genre film, but his strength is creating a family you care about, a struggling Mother with a very complicated Mother of her own and the growing terror surrounding Andre.
It's also a tribute to Daniels' storytelling that half way into the film, I was thinking that the real horror came from the terrors that Ebony was inflicting on her children through her addiction. He brings the best out of every actor in the cast.
As a horror buff, I loved the way that Andre's possession affects his siblings. Fascinating and a new wrinkle.
If you've seen the underappreciated "Exorcist III" with George C. Scott, you probably, like me, think that the scenes in the nursing home, with an old woman hearing voices on her radio as she scampers up a wall and across the ceiling were far more terrifying than the giant exorcism finale.
Well, that applies here.
While the finale is no doubt powerful and it might even top the exorcism in last year's "Exorcist: The Believer", it is the one scene with Andre strapped to a psych ward bed that gave me chills. Mo'Nique's flawless performance in that scene and its aftermath give it instant credibility.
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor's appearance as Reverend Bernice James is also strong. She's as far from what you'd expect as an Exorcist as possible. The way she's slowly introduced adds some mystery as well.
There are some hokey pieces of the final confrontation that are sure to become instant memes. Demons sure seem to keep their talons on the pulse of contemporary humor, but Jenkins is excellent as Andre, his innocent wide-eyed terror compelling you to save him at all the right moments.
For a bit of extra terror, this film was based on a widely documented true case in Gary, Indiana. Many members of the police, social worker staff and hospital teams backed up the events as shown in my scariest scene above.
If that doesn't make the film more terrifying, I don't know what will.
I've never seen a possession drama in which the family was so terrified of their unpredictable, alcoholic mother, battling her demons before the real Demon even arrived. It ratchets the tension up to a unique place in the genre, even as it dances around the fiery Hell's edge of predictability.
THE DELIVERANCE gets a B-.
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