Deliver Us From Evil

Gamely attempting to do two genre jobs at once, Deliver Us From Evil is a mix of gritty police thriller and demonic possession chiller. Though the mix isn’t always smooth, this serviceably scary horror outing from writer-director Scott Derrickson and producer Jerry Bruckheimer - with Eric Bana and Edgar Ramirez starring - could still earn its keep as counter-programming to family-friendly summer blockbusters.

The climactic exorcism sequence is none too original but it’s staged with enough energy and conviction to make up for most of the film’s dafter  moments.

In North America, global distributor Sony is opening the film wide on July 2, just ahead of the Independence Day holiday weekend, making Deliver Us (not to be confused with the 2006 documentary of the same name) the first big horror offering of the season. International results should be strongest in Latin America, where Ramirez is best known, and other markets with a taste for religion-themed horror.   

The script by Derrickson and Paul Harris Boardman (who previously collaborated on 2005 hit The Exorcism of Emily Rose) is based on a book about real life New York cop Ralph Sarchie’s investigations into supposedly paranormal crime cases. In the screen version, hard boiled Sarchie (Bana, last seen in Lone Survivor) and his wise-cracking partner (Joel McHale, from TV’s Community) are looking into a series of bizarre incidents when Sarchie encounters renegade priest Mendoza (Ramirez, from Carlos and the forthcoming Libertador) doing his own investigation.

Sceptical policeman and demon-fighting priest eventually team up to deal with an Iraq veteran (played by the UK’s Sean Harris, from The Borgias) who has been possessed and is threatening the lives of Sarchie’s wife and daughter.

Derrickson, who in 2012 made the impressively creepy Sinister, takes a while to find a tone and to string the plot’s grisly goings-on together. But he produces a decent supply of jolts and he finds some human interest in the scenes involving Sarchie and Mendoza. Quirkier touches include the use of music by The Doors as both plot device and soundtrack.

The climactic exorcism sequence is none too original but it’s staged with enough energy and conviction to make up for most of the film’s dafter  moments.