An Underwhelming Netflix Horror Drama

Lee Daniels’ new Netflix movie “The Deliverance” is trying to be two things at once. For most of its runtime, it’s a down-to-earth family drama with an unapologetically prickly protagonist. Then, the film descends into the hoariest of cliches as it turns into a heavily religious possession horror pic, complete with potty-mouthed demons and children contorting their bodies in unnatural ways. Neither of these approaches are particularly successful together, although the family drama stuff works much, much better than the horror movie trappings. Billing itself as being based on true events (sure), “The Deliverance” is at its best when its focusing on its flawed main character. That would be single mother Ebony Jackson, played with real grit by Andra Day, who starred in Daniels’ “The United States vs. Billie Holiday.”

Ebony is not a likable character, and the film isn’t afraid to lean into that. She drinks too much, and when she drinks she gets violent. In fact, she’s violent even when she’s sober — at one point, she smacks her youngest son Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins) in the face after he asks for more milk, drawing blood in the process. When a pest control guy who happens to be Asian comes by to take care of something, Ebony hurls a racist remark his way because he dared to ask her to pay him for his services. And while you get the sense that she loves her children — in addition to Andre there’s also Nate (“Stranger Things” actor Caleb McLaughlin) and Shante (Demi Singleton) — she’s frequently quarreling with them. She’s also frequently quarreling with her no-nonsense mother Alberta, played by a scene-stealing Glenn Close. It’s implied multiple times that the abuse Ebony hurls at her children is something she learned from Alberta — a fact Alberta isn’t proud of, and something she’s tried to atone for by finding religion.

The fact that “The Deliverance” is so unafraid to have such a conflicting protagonist is definitely one of its more interesting aspects. The script, credited to David Coggeshall and Elijah Bynum, doesn’t try to make excuses for Ebony, it simply wants us to take her as she is. Day’s performance is the key to making this work — in a lesser performer’s hands, this character might be downright unbearable, but Day is able to find a raw humanity in the role. We may not forgive Ebony’s decisions, but at the same time, we can understand where she’s coming from. Hurt people hurt people, as the saying goes. 

Ebony, her kids, and Alberta have just moved into a house in Pittsburgh, and right off the bat, things start to go wrong. Andre starts sleepwalking, and when he’s not doing that, he’s having conversations with an imaginary friend (I bet you can guess where that’s going). Meanwhile, an alarming number of flies keep coming out of the basement — a fact the family ignores for way too long, in all honesty. Later, all three children will behave erratically at school, something that earns Ebony unwanted attention from school officials, doctors, and Cynthia (Mo’Nique, quite good in a small part), a social worker who has a habit of popping up at Ebony’s home at the worst possible times.

The everyday struggles of Ebony and her family are the far more interesting elements of the movie, which is why “The Deliverance” loses steam when it turns into a generic possession movie full of shouts to Jesus. Ebony eventually teams up with a demon-fighting reverend (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) who knows a thing or two about her new home, and this is when “The Deliverance” really goes off the rails. 

While the horror elements of “The Deliverance” are lacking and in some cases, laughable, the film does mostly stay afloat thanks to its performances. As already mentioned, Day carries the film nicely, and I want to see more of her in as many movies as possible. She should be a bigger star by now. She’s backed up by Close, who honestly might be the movie’s biggest draw. Sporting a series of wigs and colorful outfits, Close shows that she’s seemingly up for anything, and she’s definitely not afraid to go big. Without giving away spoilers, a third act moment has Close hamming it up to the extreme, and while this could’ve backfired horribly, it ends up being one of the movie’s more lively details.

Still, none of this is enough to completely save “The Deliverance.” I’m a big horror fan, and yet I honestly feel like Daniels would’ve had a stronger movie on his hands if he had just jettisoned the supernatural stuff entirely and stuck to the earthly drama. Daniels is a filmmaker who isn’t afraid to go over-the-top, but he seems to not have much of a grasp on crafting supernatural horror, and that hurts a movie that clearly wants to be scary and never is. 

While horror fans might not get much out of “The Deliverance,” it might be worth watching for the performances alone. At the very least, several of the acting choices Glenn Close makes here will burn themselves into your brain and make you forget all about her turn in “Hillbilly Elegy.”

/Film Rating: 5 out of 10

“The Deliverance” is streaming on Netflix starting August 30, 2024.