Deliver Us From Evil
Screen Gems | Release Date: July 2, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
40
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
13
Negative:
12
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
70
TheWrapInkoo KangJul 2, 2014
For all its embarrassment of riches, “Deliver” never manages to transcend its bloody, screechy, pulpy origins. That makes the film both a horror tale and a tragedy. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinJul 1, 2014
Buckle up for the ride that is Deliver Us From Evil, a highly intense and effective mash-up of police procedural and horror show. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNeil GenzlingerJul 1, 2014
Scott Derrickson, the director, and his special-effects crew really deliver the creepy goods here, providing an apt climax for as taut and credible a movie involving demonic possession as you’re likely to see. Read full review
67
HitfixDrew McWeenyJul 3, 2014
It's a dark and grimy film, and while I think it's juggling a whole lot of cliches, there is something genuinely admirable about the way it tells this story and the way it handles the supernatural onscreen. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianStephen WhittyJul 2, 2014
It's all clichéd, of course, and has been since "The Exorcist" but it's still effective, perhaps more so with anyone who, like our hero cop, comes from the world of scented smoke and altar boys. Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickJul 2, 2014
Expertly serves shivers, buckets of gore — and pretty much every cliché of the genre. Read full review
63
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJul 1, 2014
Though Derrickson offers some new twists on old tricks, and evokes a mood of menace with rainy streets, gloomy interiors, and the transformation of comforting everyday objects into something horrible, the story soon devolves into variations of many movies we have seen before. Read full review
60
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaJul 3, 2014
Although everything here works for the most part, there is also a definite lack of oomph as the movie pushes toward the inevitable climax. Read full review
58
Film.comKate ErblandJul 2, 2014
For all its darkness, [it] never really scares up anything new. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniJul 2, 2014
Like other entries of its pulpish ilk, the picture packs lots of violence, a fair bit of gore, and plenty of cheap scares. Read full review
50
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsJul 2, 2014
Director Scott Derrickson and his co-writer, Paul Harris Boardman, deliver a routine procedural with unremarkable frights. Read full review
50
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeJul 1, 2014
While the supernatural side of the film suffers a flaw or two — continued references to The Doors are superfluous and sometimes chuckle-inducing — its central conflict works. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJul 1, 2014
Half the time, Deliver Us From Evil is genuinely interested in Sarchie's all-too-human demons, and half the time we're marking time until the big exorcism and an ending that keeps the door open for a sequel, should the market demand it. Read full review
42
The PlaylistKevin JagernauthJul 2, 2014
In Bana and Ramirez, who share a palpable bro-mantic, odd-couple quality, the film finds its most charismatic element... but shoves it aside to deliver a movie that will dully meet the barest of expectations instead of trying to exceed them. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd Jul 1, 2014
The action scenes are clumsily filmed and choppily edited. Read full review
40
EmpireKim NewmanAug 18, 2014
You’ll be jolted a couple of times, but these aren’t scares that will stay with you. How about retiring “based on a true story” in favour of “based on a good story”? Read full review
40
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanJul 2, 2014
Actually, Ramirez should probably have been cast in the lead, since things flatten out whenever he disappears. Read full review
40
VarietyAndrew BarkerJul 2, 2014
A professionally assembled genre mashup that’s too silly to be scary, and a bit too dull to be a midnight-movie guilty pleasure. Read full review
40
VarietyAndrew BarkerJul 2, 2014
Deliver Us From Evil is a professionally assembled genre mashup that’s too silly to be scary, and a bit too dull to be a midnight-movie guilty pleasure. Read full review
40
The DissolveScott TobiasJul 1, 2014
Derrickson gives it everything he’s got, but when a film offers “Break On Through (To The Other Side)” as a spiritual pathway, it’s hard to take seriously. Read full review
38
McClatchy-Tribune News ServiceRoger MooreJul 2, 2014
Deliver Us from Evil takes a very long time to deliver us from dullness. Read full review
38
USA TodayScott BowlesJul 1, 2014
Even horror neophytes won't be spooked by a film that looks as if it were shot with a smartphone and an Itty Bitty Booklight. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineEd GonzalezJul 1, 2014
A jump scare isn't just a jump scare in the films of Scott Derrickson, which isn't to say this wannabe master of horror has entirely perfected the art of sudden dread. Read full review
37
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanJul 2, 2014
The question at the heart of Deliver Us From Evil, a garden-variety serial-killer thriller tarted up as an exorcism drama, is not whether good will triumph over evil. Rather, it’s this: What in God’s name possesses good actors to make dreck like this? Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyKyle AndersonJul 1, 2014
This rote exorcism-is-real claptrap. Read full review
30
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJul 2, 2014
Bana is a likable actor, but he doesn’t bring any vulnerability or transparency to the part; it’s hard to tell what he’s thinking, if he’s thinking anything at all. And so, we move from one bleak, bludgeoning setpiece to another. But with each loud noise, the film loses us more and more. Read full review
30
Village VoiceAmy NicholsonJul 1, 2014
Despite the screaming gore, the movie is so rote that it can’t even rouse us for the de rigueur exorcism. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubJul 2, 2014
At best, it will be remembered as "that exorcism movie with Eric Bana." More likely, "that exorcism movie where everyone has a bad New York accent." Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsJul 2, 2014
Little more than an ugly collection of tropes stolen from "The Exorcist" and "Seven." Read full review
25
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Geoff PevereJul 1, 2014
If this movie doesn’t leave you howling at the very idea of demonic possession, you’re in dire need of an exorcist. Read full review
20
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisJul 9, 2014
The mutilated, slobbering, howling possessed in Deliver Us From Evil crawl on all fours like animals, and furiously dig into surfaces until their fingers bleed, but they’re nothing more than a sideshow, freaks on display for your perverse enjoyment. It’s unsettling, but never terrifying. Read full review
20
The GuardianJordan HoffmanJul 2, 2014
This is television-level moviemaking top to bottom, from its preposterous premise, scenery-chomping performances, idiotic sound cues and force-fed jump-scares. Deliver Us From Evil delivers formula, and in a formulaic fashion. Read full review
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