by Shane Conto, Staff Writer
Wait… Lee Daniels made a horror movie? And it’s on Netflix? Daniels is most known for dramas and biopics like Precious, The Butler, and The United States vs. Billie Holiday, but while he horror genre feels far away from what he has done in the past, that doesn’t mean he can’t venture out and try new genres creatively. The closest to horror on screen we have experienced from his work is Precious,which is one of the hardest watches out there. But in The Deliverance, Daniels chose to tell the story of a struggling mother, grandmother, and three children who have enough of their own issues without the demonic possession that begins to occur.
Does Daniels capture the need for suspense and tension to create an effective horror film? Not quite. There are some fleeting moments of disgusting body horror towards the end of the film, but most of the other genre elements fall flat. Some moments show the possessed son starting to jump around, and he looks like a rubber band man, which is wholly unconvincing. Even the film’s actual “scares” lack the necessary tension to deliver in the way they are supposed to. This film offers up some basic scares that lack nuance, creativity, or any sense of real horror. The biggest sin of Daniels’ horror film is that it is never once scary (the cardinal sin of the horror genre).
Does the script that Daniels co-wrote with David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum deliver on the serious themes it is navigating? Daniels has a legacy of tackling serious issues, like abuse, rape, and racism. The Deliverance focuses on serious, implicit, and institutional racism. Our protagonist is Ebony (Andra Day), and she is struggling to keep her family together while avoiding charges of child abuse. She is not a great example of a mother, as we see multiple scenes of her abusing and assaulting her children (that is well before any lackluster sign of haunting). The film is quite ineffective in translating these touchy elements into meaningful drama. With its lack of nuance, it feels more like a tutorial video, instead of a truly meaningful story. There’s never enough depth to do justice to this harrowing true story.
What about the other elements of the script? These characters are underdeveloped, which leaves so much up to the actors to do something with them. Ebony never feels like a real human being. Her string of horrible parenting and clunky dialogue are all the bare minimum to have set up for later scares (which never land). The children are just fonder of demonic possession, and are boiled down to emotional outbreaks. Then there is their ill grandmother who is an inauthentic caricature, no matter how hard a legendary actor like Glenn Close tries to make the character work. Unfortunately, most of the genre elements are so stereotypical and boring that the movie is hard to connect with. Daniels attempts to create a truly bleak experience on screen, and it only works on a bare minimum level.
Does the talented cast help make this film work better? Day is unfortunately stuck in another movie directed by Daniels that does not do right by her performance. There is some serious emotion that is flowing from her, which is one of the only few things that makes the emotional elements of the story stand out. Close plays the hot mess matriarch of this dysfunctional family in the same kind of over-the-top hammy way she did in Hillbilly Elegy. This is such a strange performance, and watching her try and seduce Omar Epps at the hospital will always be weird. The children’s performances (including Caleb McLaughlin of Stranger Things fame) are serviceable, but are mostly turned into stereotypical possessed kids by the end of the film. Even Mo’Nique and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor show up and do fine work in smaller supporting roles. But by the time the climax hits and the film goes full horror, most of the nuance in performances go out the window.
Is Daniels’ foray into horror worth the time? It is a bit of a misfire and misjudgment in filmmaking. There is a lack of understanding of horror conventions and how to make those elements scary. The Deliverance becomes increasingly frustrating as the clock ticks away. A strong group of actors cannot salvage this ineffective horror flick.
Rating: Didn’t Like It
The Deliverance is currently streaming on Netflix
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