20s Movie Review - The Deliverance

Director: Lee Daniels
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 112 minutes
Year: 2024
Starring: Andra Day, Glenn Close, Mo’Nique, Anthony B. Jenkins, Calen mcLaughlin, Demi Singleton, Omar Epps

Description: An Indiana family discovers strange, demonic occurrences that convince them and their community that the house is a portal to hell.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2025 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 8: A FILM WITH GLENN CLOSE
 
Review: Films about demonic presences and exorcisms. More often unsuccessful. Where “The Exorcist” (1973) has introduced cinema audiences to this horror subgenre, it know one has done it better since then. This also goes for “The Deliverance”, because it’s not a very good movie.

“The Deliverance”, directed by Lee Daniels, is based on the story of Latoyra Amons. He changed the names, details and settings. Using a hefty dose of social realism, Daniels slowly allows the arduous struggle for survival of Ebony and her family to degenerate into farcical situations without a shred of realism.

Ebony struggles. Her absent husband is a soldier in Iraq, and live=in mother Alberta is a cancer patient. She can barely take care of her three children and her kids struggle with to connect with their peers. Just having moved into a new home eventually makes everything even worse, because some strange things are happening.

Why this movie was dropped as a horror film, doesn’t get clear until the very end. Because “The Deliverance” is never scary, and I scare easily when it comes to horror. Daniels left it for the final 30 minutes, no exorcism cliché is shunned.

“The Deliverance” starts out promising, especially with names like Glenn Close and Mo’Nique attached to the project. But in the end the film is pretty dull and unscary for a horror movie, trying to save it in the final act. When It’s already too late. Did not enjoy.

Rating: 2/ 5

Movie Review - Trick

Director: Patrick Lussier
Genre: Horror/ Thriller
Runtime: 99 minutes
Year: 2019
Starring: Omar Epps, Jamie Kennedy, Tom Atkins, Ellen Adair, Todd Farmer, Kristina Reyes, Thom Niemann

Description: A no-nonsense detective (Omar Epps) tries to track down a mass murderer named Trick, who is terrorizing a small town.

Review: Fall is the time for horror movies. And more often bad than good. As for “Trick”, it got me excited. On paper.
A small town is startled by a cunning and elusive killer called Trick. Many people think it’s more than one killer, because the murders don’t resemble each other. Detective Denver is the only one who knows for sure that he saw the killer. He even shot him. Trick, however, managed to escape. Denver is determined to put him behind bars once and for all.
“Trick” is a somewhat strange film. Again, we’re dealing with a life form that doesn’t seen to get broken, a bit in the style of Michael Myers. The only thing is that the character Trick never really knows how to take shape. First of all, his appearance isn’t immediately memorable, but most of all we don’t get the time to feel threatened by Trick. The story rushes pretty fast towards the end and doesn’t really captivate anywhere. On paper we have a film that could have worked best with a certain approach.
The film thinks it has a great twist, but it’s really predictable and not surprising at all. “Trick” is all over the place and feels messy. I didn’t like it.

Rating: 2 / 5