The Deliverance - REVIEW

wow guys if you are a Christian who doesn't normally watch horror movies I want to urge you to at least consider watching the Deliverance on Netflix not because it's a good movie which I think it is but because I believe it's a valuable and important movie stick around and I'll explain why I'm Peter fransen from Christian geeek central.com and spiritblade Productions the IMDb synopsis for the Deliverance reads an Indiana Family discovers strange demonic occurrences that convince them and their community that the house is a portal to hell okay that sounds very generic the whole portal to Hell thing I'm like H I wasn't really getting that from the movie it um I skip most Supernatural exorcism type movies because they do the same sensationalized Hollywood ified crap over and over with all the dumb Smoky spiritual effects and stuff but the Deliverance was clearly doing something different in the trailer that I saw so I gave it a try it is possibly the most realistic on demonic oppression and I say oppression not possession because I think there's all all kinds of baggage with what that word means and what people mean by it and stuff so let's I I think oppression of demons is what this movie is dealing with and uh I think it's probably the most realistic take that I've seen in a movie because it deals so much with a very common aspect of demonic oppression that other movies neglect and that is sin uh as I have talked with pastors I'm a very skeptical person by the way and in terms of Supernatural stuff uh I've not seen any kind of like demonic oppression uh in play in a really intense kind of moment myself um I go to a church that is not like uh superstitious that's very grounded and very uh tries to be very reasonable in their thinking um which is all the more reason why I take note when one of the pastors that I have known personally for years I know their temperament I know that they're not you know Supernatural you know they're not superstitious folks so I know and and pretty much trust I I do still have some skepticism you know but I pretty much trust their their uh their description of their direct experiences and so in talking to a couple pastors that fit the bill like that for me there's very often unaddressed sin in the lives of those who are being oppressed by demons sin that has been allowed to saturate a person's thinking just their Outlook Moment by moment with everything they experienced just so deeply pervading their life and festering in it and in their thoughts to the point of blinding them so they don't even see the connection between their torment that they're experiencing that they want deliverance from and the sin that they have allowed to infest their life and their thoughts and made it just an all too tempting playground for de for demons to oppress them through this movie opens with some text on the screen that that says I need forgiveness for my sins but I also need deliverance from the power of sin and then that phrase goes away and the next one that comes up says I need forgiveness for what I have done but I also need deliverance from what I am now I don't know where those phrases came from if they were originally written to this for this script or if they if you know other people would know them from somewhere else but the the truth of these statements is uh really it really resonates with me um that we need deliverance from the power of sin in our lives that many times we have allowed to take root we've we've given power to uh that we need forgiveness for what we've done but we also need deliverance from what we have become um and uh as Christians we are children of God we are given a new identity um but at the same time we can be uh oppressed by sin we can allow sin into our lives so much that it seems like it's such an integral part of who we are and we need deliverance from that and many times um what's needed is not like some Hollywood style uh holy water SP splashing type of experience with a lot of chanting and stuff I mean the chanting part I don't think is really uh ever probably that necessary um but we need a legitimate um personal Encounter With Jesus where we are giv giving ourselves over to him and trusting in Him um to rescue us from the sin that is affecting our lives so much and that we are just giving ourselves over to uh that's just the process of sanctification where yes the Lord wants us to be with him forever but he also wants to shape us to free us from the torment that sin brings into our lives um so the fact that those that text was put at the front of the movie I was like oh okay that was like I was like I'm really you've really got my attention now anyway the story it's about the Jackson family uh and that includes a single mom ebony raising three kids while also caring for her sick mother and it is a mess of a situation among the adults there are no completely good characters even the Christian character that is instrumental and helping later in the movie says some things I disagree with probably not that the filmmaker and the writer would disagree with but that I would disagree with so in that way I was like sorry I've got to go to lunch soon in that way I was like there are no characters here that I completely agree with that I don't find any kind of fault with in their actions or their thinking or something like that it was just like and I really appreciated that I mean um throughout there are characters speaking truth that badly needs to be heard by Ebony Jackson but those same characters are sinful and even nasty themselves at times which uh makes their truthful words hard to want to accept or makes their help hard to want to accept because there's some other things that come along with their help that are not helpful and that are a mess you know it's just like you see and can appreciate that some people when they are in these really hard places in life really hard circumstances it's so hard to get out of them because even the help that they would potentially be able to receive comes with its own mess its own imperfection that's just the result of human sin being present in all of our lives and affecting even those times when we want to do the right thing and it's made all the more worse when we react to those uh bad things with just more sin ourselves and we keep ourselves stuck in our mess um I mean this is such welcome complexity uh for me because this is how life is we need to train ourselves to be Discerning enough that we can accept truth even when it stumbles out of the mouth of a horrible person otherwise there will be times when we continue down a harmful path thinking we can justifiably blame everyone but ourselves which ebony does for much of this movie um the groundedness of the story also makes the evil more scary because it all the more because of how it's grounded and presented that way all the more feels like something that could happen to you or to me or to someone that we know um I've heard little to know firsthand accounts again from people I personally TR trust and know not to be superstitious I've heard little to no firsthand accounts of demonic oppression with the predictable Hollywood spectacle I'm not saying that those those things don't happen that those accounts aren't real ever but it seems to be the case that demonic oppression is often less Sensational which is why it can go unaddressed or be confused with mental health problems it can even come alongside legitimate mental health problems that also need to be addressed but when it's in the mix like that man it's all the it's really scary for how stealthy it it makes that demonic oppression that demonic influence most of the Deliverance deals with this kind of demonic oppression the kind that blends into an already all to ordinary ordinary uh broken home um in fact one of the movie's greatest strengths is how emotionally invested I became with these characters who are in tragically normal real world experiences and I'm just longing for them to see their sin not as someone that's like wagging my finger and standing above them but just like relating is like yes I can relate to that mess in a different way in my own life and I want you to experience some of the freedom that I found I want you to experience the the Forgiveness just the lightness that comes from taking that to Jesus this movie functions so well as a family drama and that makes the supernatural horror all the more intense now near the climax things do ramp up and go into some more Sensational Hollywood territory supern naturally I was a little bit disappointed with that um and for a little bit it felt like the Pivot Point at the climax would make the ending and solving deep human problems just feel too easy but thankfully there was a kind of another turn I was like okay they retained the realism that I would really want in this kind of moment and the ending felt ultimately to me both earned and satisfying uh as far as cast great cast uh Andre day delivers a varied performance as uh Ebony Jackson that had me angry at her for much of the movie frustrated with her but also feeling compassion for her um Glenn Close also brings the goods uh which shouldn't have surprised me as Ebony's mother and she plays the complexity of a deeply flawed woman who came to Jesus late in life with some great Nuance I mean she is the primary Christian that in in a Ebony's life and she'll say some things now and then that I'm like oh that's good yeah you should listen to that but then she'll turn around and she still has so much sin at work in her own life that is doing so much damage and certainly that did a lot of damage in the past before she came to Faith um that it's just like oh it's understandable why the message would not be received coming from her um and I think uh that's Glenn Close her performance but also you know needs to be credited to credited to how the character's written the moral complexity of that character the child performers are all solid I thought for the most part and not as to do more than they are able I'm pretty sure in it maybe there's just some minor cases but I'm really pretty happy there too really a solid cast with no complaints okay so let's talk briefly about the visuals most of the movie keeps Supernatural events practical shot practically in camera very grounded and it serves the movie very well but in the climax it opens up visually and dips into CG effects much more than I would want uh which took me out of the experience a few times um thankfully by then I was so invested in the characters and the story that it did not prevent a strong ending uh it just hindered it a little from what it could have been uh all right themes anything of moral philosophical or spiritual significance going on in the themes of this thing that could trigger trigger some worthwhile thought uh or conversation um there's so much uh and Christians will disagree on some finer theological points presented as truth here because it seems to be written from a particular denominational perspective but I would urge you to not give in the temptation to let other people know in person or online how right you are about your theology and all the places this movie gets things wrong or goes down a particular denominational path because this movie upholds Jesus as the answer to sin Brokenness and spiritual oppression more than any movie I've seen in this genre there is a lot in this movie that many Christians will agree on and we should really see as glass half full like a I can't believe this movie is being made and it's being made well with this kind of ideology behind it was it made by a Christian um probably just based on my experience watching it um there is so much that could be talked about during and after watching this movie that would be an easy springboard for worthwhile meaningful conversation that readily brings Jesus and the Bible into that conversation and that thought as well but I didn't want to confirm the director's Faith before watching and and making my review I didn't want to that to color it uh necessarily probably what stood out to me though atically most was the fact that as I mentioned earlier truth sometimes comes to us through seemingly the worst most damaged prideful or hypocritical Messengers available uh it's our duty before God to never be that kind of messenger but it's also our duty not to Miss Truth when it comes by that or any other delivery method um and that was a I think a strong takeaway for me all right no idea what your tastes are in movies but if I were a time traveler I'd go back and talk and Sayer watch it buy it when it's available on Blu-ray recommend it invite people over to show it to them this is not my favorite horror movie from a pure geek Aesthetics perspective that's I'm going to go for more lovecraftian type stuff to scratch my geek horror itches but the Deliverance is a very strong intense dramatic movie with characters I cared about and so many worthwhile things to sort through that are coming from a biblical Christian perspective of at least one variety uh so much there to be mind in thought in conversation if we're willing to do the work of discerning and talking graciously about that and those themes with others anyway it's rated R for uh violent content language throughout and some sexual references and those are all of my thoughts for now on the Deliverance uh I'd love to get your thoughts and reactions in the comments below please like share subscribe click that Bell I want to thank the spirit blade insiders for making this review possible you can get info about the benefits of joining over at patreon.com/scishow and seek the truth for more chat about Geek Entertainment answers to your questions and news from The Wider world of Christian geekery get the Christian geek Central Podcast today on iTunes and other podcast services