The Deliverance (2024)

September 12, 2024 7:34 AM

[TRAILER] Ebony Jackson (Andra Day), a struggling single mother fighting her personal demons, moves her children into a new home for a fresh start, with her cantankerous and cancer-ridden mother Alberta (Glenn Close) along for the ride. But when strange occurrences inside the home raise the suspicions of Child Protective Services and threaten to tear the family apart, Ebony soon finds herself locked in a battle for her life and the souls of her children.

Also starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Mo'Nique.

Directed by Lee Daniels. Written by David Coggeshall, Elijah Bynum. Produced by Lee Daniels, Todd Crites, Jackson Nguyen, Tucker Tooley, Pamela Oas Williams for Netflix. Cinematography by Eli Arenson. Edited by Stan Salfas. Music by Lucas Vidal.

34% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes.

A Netflix original film. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (5 comments total)

The attempted verisimilitude in the dialogue, intended to portray real, lower-working class folks sits kind of wobbly. A combination of shaky writing and seemingly not quite sitting authentically in the milieu leaves it in a sort of uncanny valley. The dialogue is intended to land as ripped-right-from-real-life, but often lands simply cringe instead. Layer on an unsure handle on the horror elements and this ends up as something that is bad today, but if left in the back of the fridge long enough, may eventually culture itself into camp. (Compare this to the maligned The Front Room, which is absolutely 100% going down this road on purpose.)

There is a whole separate conversation a person could have about Glenn Close and the Alberta character. To my eyes, she is, for better or worse, the most interesting thing about this movie, a potent encapsulation of the kind of very imperfect white woman who situates herself in Black spaces. This may rankle some folks because a) those women are problematic from the jump and b) Daniels is content to acknowledge and recognize her, and not only doesn't indict her, he sends her to say some memorably campy and/or horrible stuff.

In summary, this is bad, but in a couple of very particular ways. It may yet end up as camp, but as with most unintentional camp, it will probably have to age a bit for that to set in. The parts that feel realistic make the shift into horror seem weird and unseemly. The parts that feel hackneyed and corny make the horror inadvertently hilarious. You have to be some combination of talented and insanely self-assured to make a movie this bad.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 7:49 AM on September 12 [4 favorites]

I watched it. It was a huge mess.
posted by SoberHighland at 11:01 AM on September 12

I saw it last week and have forgotten almost everything about it except for scantily clad Glenn Close pounding down the front stairs with no wig and a baseball bat and that rowhouse set. Poverty-stricken movie characters always get to live in places like that. Fifteen-foot ceilings, crown molding, pristine wainscotting, archways, gorgeous woodwork everywhere, enormous kitchen, blah blah blah. You couldn't begin to drown a child of that size in our crappy, 80s-era-slumlord-installed, shallowass, piece-of-shit bathtub, and we are double income no kids, so what are we doing wrong?
posted by Don Pepino at 11:52 AM on September 12 [2 favorites]

Have you considered moving into houses where murders were committed by a resident evil spirit?

Maybe that's the key.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 1:24 PM on September 12 [2 favorites]

When the Wikipedia entry for the Gary, Indiana demon house story upon which the film is based is scarier than the actual film. Relatedly, someday I should check out DEMON HOUSE on Tubi.

Really enjoyed Mo’Nique and Glenn Close’s performances in this. Some great TikToks and memes out there, too. Kind of wild to me how many Christians are afraid (performatively afraid?) to watch the film… because it might open a portal. Or something.
posted by edithkeeler at 2:24 PM on September 16 [2 favorites]