Deliver us from evil isn't quite a horror movie, but a supernatural police thriller. That's not usually my kind of movie, but I didn't know what kind of movie it was when I started watching. To be honest, it captured my attention for a while, as the two lead cops in the story (Sarchie and Butler) tried to piece together the connection between three different criminals they very conveniently interact with within the span of a few days. It was pretty obvious early on that it was possession, but of course Sarchie and Butler don't see that until the third act, even though they meet a plucky Jesuit priest convinced that something beyond human nature is the cause of all the violence.
About half way through the movie, the story starts leaning into a pretty traditional exorcism storyline. The priest convinces Sarchie that demons exist, and that only he can expel them from the bodies of the possessed. Sarchie resists at first, of course, and then act 3 happens. One of the big bads goes to Sarchie's house and kidnaps his daughter and wife, and then hangs around for Sarchie to give him an ultimatum. Sarchie surrenders to Satan and allows himself to become possessed, or his family dies. Luckily Sarchie has been well prepared for this kind of spiritual warfare by his new priest pal, and does not surrender to the demon's demands and instead takes him down to the station for an exorcism.
Exorcism happens, Sarchie gets his wife and kids back, months later his wife has a baby, whom they immediately baptise, and officially renounce evil as a family. We're told in a quick onscreen postscript that Sarchie later quits the police department and continues his work with the priest.
I think I don't like exorcism movies because the rules of an exorcism ritual are never clear. I have plenty of experience with [pretend] exorcisms and demon summoning in roleplaying games and fantasy novels, and the rules aren't just spelled out, they have goals and conditions and requirements, each one with actual number values so you can tell when something's succeeded or failed. When you're dealing with demons and devils in a game, you understand why one demon is able to telekinetically blast a holy symbol out of your hand, while the lesser demon could just jeer at you from within the circle of protection you've carefully drawn for it. Those [pretend] rituals make sense.
The rituals in movies might make sense to its writer, but it's not explained to the audience. Apparently the Judaeo-Christian god has power over demons, but demons can fight back? So it's not absolute power, I guess, which makes you wonder about just how powerful this god is supposed to be. Or is it the weakness of the cleric channeling the god's power who's weak? It's confusing.
Deliver us from evil does better than most, though. Before the ritual begins, the priest explains the six stages of an exorcism:
Better still, the priest very kindly announces each stage as they're accomplished. He literally says things like "This is the pretense stage" and "Now you will hear the Voice" and so on.
He also says "Don't speak to the demon." And when he slips and breaks that rule himself, we see the consequences until Sarchie steps in and snaps him back into compliance.
The onscreen exorcism takes a few minutes, but because the rules were at least partially spelled out, it was a surprisingly effective scene. I haven't seen many exorcisms in movies, but this one was easily the best I've seen.
For a horror fan, this is light on the horror tropes and heavy on the police and exorcist tropes. How heavy? There's a scene in which Sarchie and his wife discuss his cop's life and the strain it's putting on their relationship. And it's not just one scene. It's several scenes. The third time it happened (and all the times thereafter), I had to fast-forward past it.
I wouldn't watch this movie again, and I wouldn't have bothered watching it this time had I understood what I was in for. But that's not because it was a bad movie. It's a good movie, with good acting and an engaging mystery that leads into a really good exorcism scene. It's not for me, but if you're into demonic possession and exorcism movies, then this'll probably be a satisfying film for you.
Lead photo by Anika De Klerk on Unsplash