Deliver Us from Evil
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: October 13, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
23
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Brilliant and psychologically transfixing documentary. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
Most powerfully, Berg also films a number of O'Grady's victims as they recount their trauma and, in some cases, loss of faith. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Courageous, shattering and exceptional documentary. Read full review
100
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
A heartbreaking look at broken trust. Read full review
100
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
As a study of a predator, "Evil" is fascinating and enraging. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Neither sensationalistic nor sentimental, Ms. Berg’s film is clear-sighted, tough-minded and devastating, a portrait of individual criminality and institutional indifference, a study in the betrayal of trust and the irresponsibility of authority. Read full review
90
SlateDana Stevens
Not one of your pass-the-popcorn date movies. It's a howl of rage. Read full review
90
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The outrages of pedophile priests have generated screaming headlines but relatively little understanding of the Catholic culture that permitted and concealed such crimes, which makes this informed documentary by Amy Berg all the more valuable. Read full review
88
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Deliver Us From Evil is so horrifying it makes "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" look like a walk in the park. Read full review
88
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
The most infuriating revelation in Amy Berg's powerful documentary is the lengths to which current Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahoney and other church officials went to protect Father O'Grady and themselves, even though it meant knowingly delivering countless other children into a child molester's hands. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
This superb documentary about the Catholic Church's worst pedophile scandal is in many ways far scarier than any fiction. Read full review
88
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Amy Berg's riveting documentary, tracks O'Grady's predatory trail from San Andreas, Calif., to Ireland, where he is now living on a church pension that was apparently meant to buy his silence. Read full review
88
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It isn't often you get to meet the devil in all his glory, but here he is in Deliver Us From Evil, and his name is Father Oliver O'Grady. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
With Deliver Us from Evil, Berg has been uncompromising in the picture she paints. She pulls no punches and makes no apologies. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Stephen Cole
Another angry, searching document about pedophile priests, Deliver Us from Evil makes for unexpectedly gripping drama. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Deliver Us From Evil has a few things wrong with it, including an egregious musical score, but without resorting to sucker punches, it takes your breath away while making your skin crawl. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterSheri Linden
With an immediacy and intimacy that news reports can't provide, this deeply affecting documentary explores the pedophile crisis that has shaken the edifice of the Catholic Church. Read full review
80
VarietyRobert Koehler
So harsh and damning is the pic toward the current Catholic leadership -- personified by Los Angeles-based Cardinal Roger Mahony, who oversaw O'Grady's stewardship at various central California parishes in the 1970s and '80s, that charges the church operates "like the Mafia" sound spot-on. Read full review
80
Village VoiceElla Taylor
Berg by no means excuses Father O'Grady, but she offers evidence of a devastating childhood that explains his pathology. For the ambitious creeps who allowed him to indulge it, and who still sit in office, there's no excuse. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
When victims and their families talk about having their lives wrecked by a sexually abusive priest in the forceful documentary Deliver Us From Evil, that destruction is as much spiritual as psychological. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleRuthe Stein
The spellbinding power of this almost certain Oscar nominee for best documentary comes from its chilling subject matter. Read full review
70
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Deliver Us From Evil has its flaws. Certain passages are diffuse, others are argumentative, and there's a discomfiting staginess to the climax... Yet the film's concern for the victims, and their families, is one of its strengths.
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
Works best when it concentrates on O'Grady and the ever-rippling effect of his transgressions. Viewers may not remember the victims whose stories practically pierce the heart, but they're unlikely to forget O'Grady's deceptively innocent face. Read full review
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