The Deliverance is a 2024 American supernatural horror film directed by Lee Daniels, and the cast includes Andra Day, Rob Morgan, Caleb McLaughlin, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Tasha Smith, Omar Epps, Mo'Nique, and Glenn Close.
The Deliverance is based on the true story of LaToya Ammons, a single mother whose family was apparently haunted by some evil spirits, and in the film, Ebony Jackson (Andra Day) and her three kids move into yet another home, this time in Pittsburgh with Ebony’s mother, Alberta (Glenn Close).
The family is struggling, Ebony has issues with alcohol, Child Protective Services monitors them because of her past, and the kids father has left for Iraq.
To make matters worse, strange noises fill the house, and the youngest child, Andre, has a disturbing imaginary friend who claims it lives in the basement and closet. Oh, and a mysterious woman is watching the house and then the shit starts to hit the fan.
The Deliverance delivers some good dialogue at times, but that is about the only positive I can give it, because apart from that, it just doesn’t do much more, and Lee Daniels doesn’t stray far from the usual horror formula but adds some soap opera level family drama into the mix.
If the film was just a family drama and stayed on that path, it might have worked better as the horror is pretty weak and unimpressive and simply put, you have seen it all before, only better as the scares just don't deliver as they are incredibly predictable and you end up just rolling your eyes a lot of the time.
But, even though the family aspect had potential, it still would have had issues, as you really have trouble connecting with the characters in this one, or at least I had trouble.
They are all pretty one dimensional and with the film being almost two hours long, we do get some attempts at character development but you never really get to know the family or care about them and that aspect is pretty weak overall.
The film just gets lost trying to juggle intense family drama with exaggerated supernatural horror and what starts as a promising story slowly turns awkward, and at times, unintentionally funny.
Overall, Lee Daniels doesn’t quite succeed in building the sort of gripping atmosphere The Deliverance needs, and the movie could been better if it had gone for a more subtle, less formulaic approach, as it is all pretty bog standard stuff, and is a film to forget very quickly.
And the ending is just a mess, too.
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