Film

Deliver Us from Evil

Name: Deliver Us from Evil
Genre: Thriller, Crime, Horror
Released: 2014
Cast: Eric Bana, Edgar Ramírez, Olivia Munn, Chris Coy, Dorian Missick

Other titles called Deliver Us from Evil: the 2006 film, the 2020 film.

A New York detective confronts the possibility of demonic possession when rational explanations fail a string of brutal crimes. Scott Derrickson's *Deliver Us from Evil* is a procedural-horror hybrid that grounds supernatural dread in gritty urban crime scenes. It's for viewers who want their exorcist narratives dressed in detective work and want their cop thrillers genuinely unsettling.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like gritty police procedurals that slowly tip into possession horror, where the detective's weary street logic gets pushed against something he can't file a report on.

Skip it if you want your scares frequent and loud, since this one spends long stretches on cramped investigations and jittery character talk before anything supernatural really lands.

What it asks of you: Almost two hours at a deliberate, grimy pace, with patience needed for the procedural groundwork before the frights arrive in earnest.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Exorcist1973

The canonical possession film: methodical, theologically rigorous, and architecturally perfect. It builds dread through accumulated detail rather than jump scares, and its famous set pieces earn every bit of their power through character and context.

But Deliberately slow-paced and meditative in a way that modern horror often avoids. If you need constant momentum, the first half can feel like watching a priest prepare paperwork.

Insidious2011

James Wan proves you can make a genuinely terrifying haunted-house film on a modest budget with a strong emotional core. The supernatural logic is consistent, the scares are inventive, and the family dynamics matter.

But Red-faced demons and some design choices haven't aged well visually. The sequels derailed the concept entirely, which can taint rewatching the original.

MINDHUNTER2017

A methodical procedural about criminal psychology that respects the intelligence of both its characters and audience. The early episodes about building interrogation technique have the same investigative texture as *Deliver Us from Evil*.

But Serial killer procedural fatigue is real, and this doesn't have supernatural stakes to distinguish it. If you've overdosed on true crime, you'll find less hook here.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Deliver Us from Evil

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Midnight Mass2021

Both use demonic possession as a framework for asking whether evil is supernatural or human, and both lean on faith-versus-doubt as their true subject.

Mike Flanagan's miniseries about faith crises in an isolated community uses possession and body horror as metaphors for religious manipulation and doubt. It's a sermon disguised as horror, and it has real theological teeth that *Deliver Us from Evil* reaches for but misses.

But A seven-hour meditation on belief and mortality with lengthy monologues about the nature of faith. If you want plot momentum instead of philosophical wrestling, this will exhaust you.

The Conjuring2013

Derrickson's contemporary with nearly identical DNA: a paranormal investigation anchored by a strong married couple, grounded mise-en-scène, and genuine atmospheric dread. James Wan's control of space is masterful.

But It's the template that got repeated into exhaustion. Watching it now means seeing the scaffolding of a dozen inferior films layered over it.

Sinister2012

Scott Derrickson again, and this time the marriage of cop-thriller severity with cosmic horror actually works. Ethan Hawke as a true-crime writer chasing something beyond comprehension is precisely calibrated tension.

But The found-footage sequences are genuinely upsetting in a way that will feel gratuitous if you're watching casually. Not comfort viewing.

Se7en1995

A serial killer procedural that treats the grind of detective work with absolute seriousness and pairs it with escalating theological horror. The killer's motivation is philosophical, not just psychopathic.

But Relentlessly bleak and graphically violent. The ending is designed to damage the viewer. Rewatching doesn't make it easier.

Resurrection2022

A trauma-horror hybrid where disturbing events have plausible psychological explanations that slowly crack. Margaret Qualley carries the entire film with her unraveling performance, and the ambiguity is exquisite.

But Takes 90 minutes to earn its dread and never provides catharsis. If you need the film to comfort you by the end, this will frustrate.

The Wailing2016

A Korean mystery-horror that refuses to settle on whether its evil is supernatural or human, weaving faith, doubt, and investigation into a genuinely mind-bending structure that respects viewer intelligence.

But Nearly three hours, in Korean with subtitles, and deliberately ambiguous in ways that will infuriate some viewers. No clear answers, only questions about what you were willing to believe.

Night of the Demon1957

Jacques Tourneur's supernatural procedural preceded *Deliver Us from Evil* by decades: a skeptical investigator slowly convinced of the occult. Atmospheric, intelligent, and genuinely eerie for its age.

But Black-and-white British horror from the 1950s moves at a funeral pace. The special effects are quaint by modern standards, which some find charming and others find soporific.

Lamb2021

Both films trust that restraint and visual storytelling can carry supernatural dread better than exposition. The evil in each is allowed to simply *be*, without diagnosis.

An Icelandic folk-horror film about a couple raising a creature of unclear nature in isolation. It has the same grounded aesthetic and procedural logic as *Deliver Us from Evil*—the uncanny placed in ordinary domestic space—but achieves it through mood and image rather than explanation.

But Almost nothing happens until it does, and then it becomes genuinely upsetting. Shot in bleak Icelandic countryside with no score. Patience is required; payoff is not guaranteed for all viewers.

Brick2006

Both films are essentially detective stories where the investigation itself is more interesting than the solution. The structure and the procedural detail matter more than revelation. Competence is the real subject.

Rian Johnson's high school noir applies hard-boiled detective logic and Raymond Chandler dialogue to a murder mystery set in a suburban school. It proves that genre procedure—the thing that makes *Deliver Us from Evil* tick—can be transplanted into unexpected registers and still grip.

But Teenage characters speaking in deliberately mannered noir dialect can feel insufferably clever on first approach. The conceit requires buy-in, and if you resist it, you'll resent every line.