Set in Pittsburgh in 2011 and inspired by the story of Latoya Ammons<\/a>, The Deliverance<\/em> takes a while to get to its spookier elements, other than the persistent flies infesting the new home of the Jacksons. Instead, it focuses more on the Black family\u2019s struggles: Mother Ebony (Andra Day) is an alcoholic, who deals with visits from Child Protective Services after her absent husband reported her to the agency in an attempt to gain custody of their three children, young Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins) and teens Shante (Demi Singleton) and Nate (Caleb McLaughlin). She battles with her white mother, Alberta (Glenn Close), who has recently moved in while she undergoes chemo. Soon, the kids, especially Andre, begin acting strangely in their new house, but the authorities are more likely to blame their mother rather than believe that something supernatural might be the cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is absolutely racism at play in The Deliverance<\/em> (and in the real world where far more Black families experience a CPS investigation<\/a> than other racial groups), but, uhh, other humans are statistically more likely to leave bruises than demons, whose existence is up for debate. Ebony absolutely deserves to be treated with humanity and not assumed to be abusing her children because she\u2019s Black. Yet while the film addresses her treatment, she also hits her son in the mouth in an early scene, causing him to bleed and undermining its message with one brutal slap. The Deliverance<\/em> is tough to watch, reveling in the grim lives of these characters in ways that have nothing to do with the demon inhabiting their house. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For anyone who\u2019s seen a Daniels movie (or read the bananas Wikipedia summary of The Paperboy<\/em><\/a>), they know that he\u2019s a filmmaker unafraid of going there, without any real concern for taste or tone. And The Deliverance<\/em> goes absolutely wild at a few points, but not in ways that are interesting\u2014other than Close\u2019s grandmother character, who steals the movie with crazy choices and eyebrow-raising dialogue. Everything else is a slog; it\u2019s not scary, unsettling, or eerie. It\u2019s just unpleasant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The script from David Coggeshall (Orphan: First Kill<\/em>) and Elijah Bynum (the similarly bleak Magazine Dreams<\/em>) is filled with characters saying variations on, \u201cFuck you, bitch,\u201d back and forth, and it\u2019s a shame to see Day and Close, as well as co-stars Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Mo’Nique, stuck with this screenplay that doesn\u2019t give much nuance to their characters. Mo\u2019Nique won an Oscar and Day got a nomination for their previous collaborations with Daniels, but all of these actresses show how much better they are than this material at every turn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Daniels has made a grim and grimy drama that never finds its footing as a horror movie, even while it mines predecessors like The Exorcist<\/em> for its attempts at shocks and scares. Its thematic muddiness undermines its attempts at meaning, leaving something that is somehow both overcooked and underbaked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Deliverance” streams Friday on Netflix<\/a>.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/deliverance1-1024x682.jpg\")
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