
I’m a sucker for religious horror films. Exorcisms, the Anti-Christ, the devil, you name it. Not a big religious person myself, I just marvel at the dark underbelly of what seems to be such a peaceful and loving idea. But with any yin and yang, there is a darkness to every light.
Synopsis:
When a nun in a remote convent claims immaculate conception, the Vatican sends a team of priests to investigate, concerned about an ancient prophecy that a woman will give birth to twin boys: one the Messiah, the other the Anti-Christ.
IMDb: 4.8
Rotten Tomatoes: 50%
Tagline: A virgin will give birth to heaven and hell.
Directors Lee Roy Kunz, who hasn’t directed since 2014, and Cru Ennis, making his feature film debut, directs this cast of relative unknowns (well except for film vet Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abdurrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi, who plays Cardinal Russo) and newcomers. I have had a string of bad luck watching new films, so I don’t have high hopes for yet another directorial debut, but the genre always intrigues me and I’m ready to see some devilishly evil scenes of terror!
Immaculate conception, a one-eyed priest, exorcisms, the fileting of human skin, and the stigmata are all discussed in the first five minutes of the movie, and we’re even introduced to a lead actor who looks like if Jesus and Jared Leto had a baby.
There are some weak sauce jump scares, and music cues that are supposed to startle you, but there really isn’t much here in terms of horror. In general, religious horror is designed to shock or disturb you, not necessarily scare the shit out of you, and this film follows that formula. It’s all about the atmosphere, ideology and visuals.
I swear at one point in the movie, the one-eyed priest is firing a pistol and aiming by using the eye that is missing. He should have held the gun with the other hand and used the only eye that he has to look down the barrel. But what do I know? I’m not a gun expert.
And then there’s the nun who gives birth to not only twins, but the damn Anti-Christ, on a train no less, nary a doctor in sight, and looks and acts perfectly fine right after. I’m no pregnancy expert, nor have I personally given birth, but that’s quite a stretch I would assume. Did I mention she has a nude sex scene shortly after and might be the hottest naked nun I’ve ever seen?
The movie is more of a tame thriller, and the parts that are supposed to shock and awe fall a little flat. I truly expected more based on a pretty interesting premise. The visuals are beautiful and so many shots against the snowy background just pop right off the screen. The dull grey look of the film truly sets an intriguing color palette that evokes dread and danger. I would love to see the director get another chance with a script that is a tiny bit meatier.
Designed to be a slow burn, Deliver Us never really gets to the full-on raging fire part. It just flickers, meandering along, chasing different plot threads, unsure of which direction to go, never really developing its characters into people that we care about.
To prevent the end of days, would you kill both the messiah baby AND the Anti-Christ baby in a dual abortion? What about killing a baby within the same parameters? If that idea scares you, then you might just enjoy this film. If not, then you might get a little bored.