“The Deliverance” delivers a chilling yet heartfelt portrayal of a mother’s unwavering love in the face of supernatural terror.
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Directed by Lee Daniels, The Deliverance is a supernatural film based on the story of Latoya Ammons and her family, who lived in a haunted house in Indiana.
Honestly, I’m not the biggest fan of based-on-a-true-story horror films. They tend to get under my skin too much and keep me awake at night thinking about them. It’s just hard to watch something horrific that you know happened to real people. However, I went into this viewing without knowing it was based on reality, so it was too late for me to back out. It ended up being quite a happy accident.
It’s important to note that the first half of the movie doesn’t really feel like a scary movie. Give it time; it definitely gets there.
The main cast consists of Andra Day as Ebony Jackson (the mother), Caleb McLaughlin as Nate Jackson (the eldest son), Demi Singleton as Shante Jackson (the middle child), Anthony B. Jenkins as Andre Jackson (the youngest), and Glenn Close as Alberta (Ebony’s mother).
Keep reading for my detailed thoughts on the film and why I found it to be a satisfying surprise. Be forewarned, however, that there are significant plot spoilers ahead. If you’d rather remain unspoiled, skip ahead to my Final Thoughts.
I watched The Deliverance on one of the biggest streaming services out there, Netflix.
The Story (Spoilers Ahead)
The beginning of the film was quite slow-paced. It just shows the everyday life of a not-so-perfect family: three kids without a father, a mother who just got out of rehab, and a sick grandmother who’s more of a friend than a parent. They seem to be just trying to make ends meet and live a normal life, but their home is filled with strange occurrences.
The child who had the first encounter with the bad spirit was the youngest, Andre, as he claimed to have a friend named Trey. That’s when stranger things started happening, which mainly affected the kids’ behaviors, even in school. There was even one instance when Nate tried to drown Andre in their bathtub. Fortunately, Ebony and her grandmother were there to help.
Ebony just got out of prison and has a history of abusing her children physically when drunk. That’s why she gets regular visits from Cynthia from Child Protective Services.
There’s this other woman in a car who watches them from afar. Ebony thought she was with Cynthia, but when she confronted her, the woman told her that she was a pastor who performed a deliverance to a family who was possessed by a demon 20 years ago. Supposedly, the mother of the said family killed everyone and eventually took her own life, too – and she believes the same thing is happening to Ebony’s family.
Ebony doesn’t believe her at first, but she soon becomes painfully convinced after witnessing the possession firsthand.
This leads to Ebony and the pastor trying to perform a deliverance to save her kids’ lives.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Deliverance is a beautiful film about a mother’s love and the lengths they are willing to go to save their children. No matter how much baggage a mother brings with her or how many bad decisions she may make, most of them all want the same thing: for their kids to be safe, well, and happy. The movie also showed how faith can bring people together, especially families. Even though it’s a horror film, it’s the type of movie that will make you appreciate your mom even more.
Overall Rating (Out of 5 Butterflies): 4
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