What lee Daniels did in Precious is truly nothing short of a miracle. In one film, he got one of the most remarkable and memorable performances out of a stand-up comedienne whose prior work suggested she had none of that range. Monique’s work in precious is astounding, for anyone who has had to sit through something like her cinematic masterpiece Phat Girlz. That is the director I’m always looking for,and why I follow him into something like The Butler. To be fair, he got good performances in that as well, but from actors far less surprising. Fast forward to 2024, and for some reason Daniels has decided to tackle horror, and he’s brought along his muse in Academy Award Winner Monique, as well as nominees Andra Day (who is the lead here), and Glenn Close (who is frankly at a point where the Academy just owes her an apology). This is supposedly based on a true story, for anyone who believes in haunted houses or possessions, but I’m a non-believer. So, I needed to be delivered.
Quite literally nothing worked in this film for me. The only saving grace was the audio description, and the fact that the actors are all at least trying to do some quality work here, but the script is just beneath them. The movie follows a mother (Day) who moves her and her kids (and her mother?) to a new house for a fresh start, but this house has a history, and soon the darkness of that history starts manifesting itself. Later, a woman shows up (played by Oscar nominee Aunjuane Ellis-Taylor) who says that it’s not an exorcism that must happen, but rather a deliverance.
I think about this movie and it makes me angry. I think there’s so much potential here, and it is possible that a director well versed in horror might have been able to make this work. Lee Daniels just isn’t that guy, and instead he convinced these powerhouses to go on this journey with him, but it is a journey to nowhere. Other haunted house films have worked better, movies like The Conjuring, and other films where mom’s are acting strange (like The Babadook) also work better. Kids have acted creepier, and just everything here has been done before somewhere else. The twist here is calling it “deliverance’ over exorcism, which has to be the least interesting thing about this.
Daniels, who typically thrives in drama, should have thrown the horror elements out of the window and taken a much more realistic approach to the film, as realism suits him much better than fantasy. If he had managed to do that, he would have been able to focus on a family growing increasingly unhinged, almost inexplicably, and instead of manifesting the darkness, the “deliverance” could have been a much more muted and suggestive tone about how the house just has a dark energy. No stigmata necessary. no one needs to climb around on the walls and ceiling or anything. Terror in everyday interactions. Pushing Andra Day to the brink, and using her to fuel the movie, with a host of strong actors around her, would have made a much more compelling drama. Instead, he opted to go outside his comfort zone, and this strikes me as one of the worst things I’ve seen this year. I’m not sure why lee Daniels felt the need to go the horror route, or why he brought along 4 Oscar nominees. Believe me, I’d much rather talk about the glorious return of Monique, who basically disappeared after her win. She’s underutilized here, and the film she’s in really isn’t worth discussing.
The Deliverance is a deeply confounding mess, but at least the audio description was fantastic.
Final Grade: D-