The film opens with a squad of marines in Iraq attacking an enemy position. Over running and killing the enemy, three of the marines discover stairs leading down into the ground. Following the passage carved out underground they stumble across a mysterious room. Their flashlights blink out and something attacks them from out of the darkness.
Jump to New York city some time later where we meet police officers Ralph Sarchie (Eric DEADFALL Bana) and his partner Butler (Joel COMMUNITY McHale). They patrol the Bronx and often are called into more difficult situations due to their special training and equipment. One such situation is to help beat officers at the Bronx zoo during a blackout find a mother who slipped into the crowd after tossing her son into the ravine separating them from the lion's den. Sarchie does find her with the aid of night vision and she appears to be in a drugged state.
The mother is remanded into the car of Mendoza (Edgar Ramirez) a street clothes wearing priest. Mendoza asks strange questions such as did the mother exhibit super human strength that lapsed Catholic Sarchie scoffs at. But after encountering more weird occurrences involving the three marines from the beginning of the film Sarchie starts to believe Mendoza's assertions that the Marines are possessed and spreading their contagion via an ancient spell.
Director Scott Derrickson is no stranger to films about demons as he helmed HELLRAISER: INFERNO, THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE and SINISTER. And DELIVER US FROM EVIL has all the expected genre incantations; jump scares, the possessed speaking in tongues, exorcisms and so forth. However, what struck me as different was the amount of action. Not once, but twice Butler pulls out a knife (he carries at least two) and engages in a knife fight with a suspect he is trying to apprehend. Butler doesn't unholster his sidearm or bring to bare a taser or pepper spray, he prefers to use a knife. There are plenty of foot and car chases, often enough I thought I was watching a run of the mill cop drama instead of a horror film. During the credits I spotted Jerry Bruckheimer's name and it all became clear.
The film neither rises as a cop drama nor a possession film, instead we get what is predictable in both genres. The only missing element was the black police chief yelling at Sarchie and Butler that he'll have their badges. It's not a bad film, the acting and directing are fine, but with a glut of possession films in recent years why bother to see the same film with just a few pieces jumbled about.
The 'Inspired by actual accounts' tag line is as believable as the opening scrawl of THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE.
** out of ****
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