How does Eric Bana's new horror thriller film directed by Scott Derickson who also directed The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Day the Earth Stood Still's remake in 2008, the film picture above, Deliver Us From Evil and was chosen by Marvel to direct the Doctor Strange movie? Well, lets jump right into it.
This movie is essentially all about doors, both figuratively and literally, I mean, even the band The Doors get some shine. This movies trailer leads you to believe that a majority of this film would take place under the roof of the main character Ralph Sarchie, portrayed by Eric Bana but instead, you end up with a depraved and deeply disturbed cop who finds himself being drawn to the paranormal and ultimately getting wrapped up in a case of child abuse that leads him down a dark road. The only real issue with that is this movie doesn't push the envelope in either direction. Not only do we not get enough moments of detective Sarchie questioning his morality but we don't get enough danger either. Aside from a handful of scenes, nothing that bad seems to happen. Of course, comic relief and partner cop Joel McHale meets and untimely, and horribly acted death scene, but to his credit there have been worse. Sadly, his comic relief is probably one of the few redeeming qualities of this film full of used tropes and cliches. Part of this movie even felt like recycled elements from The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Sinister, I had no clue that the first of Emily Rose and Deliver Us From Evil were the same person but after seeing this movie, I now see some similarities. One of the worst parts of this movie is the lack luster relationship between Bana and his wife Jen, played by former G4 host Olivia Munn. A lack of on screen chemistry is a killer and theirs is second to none when it comes to barely having any emotion. Even the emotional scenes, like a surprise pregnancy, is almost laughable by her inability to sustain an accent, not that her counterpart Bana did a better job but for the sake of the film, they should have let her speak the way she normally does. Her character could have relocated to New York and it would have saved a lot of "serious" lines from the hilarity that accompanied them. Edgar Ramierz plays a drinking, smoking, "not your mom and pop" priest who helps Sarchie on his quest to discover what's going on and why this is happening. After a woman who throws her child into a lions den and loses her wits, Ramirez character reveals that he knows her well and offers his assistance. The only real disappointing scene featuring the priest is during the exorcist where he break focus a lot easier than you'd expect and at the same time, something you wouldn't expect given his experience with the paranormal before. This movie, sadly, is all over the place from start to finish and only towards the end does it round itself out. This would have been a great mini-series given the pacing and as much as they tried to pack into it but if you're looking for a good paranormal feature, this isn't the one.
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