Oscar-nominated Precious and The Butler director Lee Daniels is gearing up another hot project — his new film currently in development, The Deliverance. A unique, faith-based thriller that blends elements of an exorcism story with the spirit and grittiness of the Black church — now streaming on Netflix. Suicide is no laughing matter, but that doesn’t mean we all have to be serious about it.
What’s The Deliverance About?
The Deliverance — A single mother, Ebony Jackson leaves her past behind and moves into a home with anew family. That is before their world begins to unravel due to some supernatural happenings that progressively places them at risk of falling apart. As she struggles to outrun her personal demons and those pursuing her, Ebony is mysteriously assailed by forces that may or may not be of this world. Based on events that were reported to have happened, the film follows a dramatization of what is said as haunting over the Ammons family in Gary, Indiana circa 2011.
This is no mere horror movie it s a story of belief, terror and surviving. Director Lee Daniels imagined that it would be something to change from the sort of social nicely being dramas heaped in horror chic like Get Out.([]>(orf__);) He wanted to “scare you into believing in… God” through the book’s gritty realism while out for your faith. This ones draws heavily from the Black church spiritual tradition mashed up with horror for a one-of-a-kind genre movie.
The Incredible Cast
The Ensemble is strong in The Deliverance Cast by none other than Andra Day as Ebony Jackson. Day, the Lawrence native who was recognized for her turn in “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” and has this deep reserves of raw hurt bubbling beneath Melissa’s surface that makes all sense given what Paul says about their relationship later on). Hollywood longtimers include Glenn Close as Ebony’s mother Alabama and Mo’Nique playing a child services agent. Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Omar Epps, Caleb McLaughlin and Demi Singleton all do equally as well in delivering some depth to this get up from the couch level of a story.
Daniels raved about Day’s performance, saying, “Andra can do anything and I love that she agreed to play her idol. I feel like she IS the modern woman. Their collaboration was, according to Day… “a synergy,” as she said while discussing her spirituality with Williams.
REAL Deliverance Story
Loosely based on the true story of Latoya Ammons, who along with her family claimed they were being tormented by demonic forces in their home in Gary, Indiana. The Ammonds claim to have endured black fly swarms, odd noises and even violent physical assaults that they blame on possessions. According to Latoya Ammons, a number of credible witnesses including police officers, nurses and social workers have seen her three children being possessed by demons.
The strange happenings prompted the Indiana Department of Child Services (DCS) to briefly remove Ammons’ children from her care. The case involved three separate exorcisms of Latoya Ammons by a Catholic priest, Father Michael Maginot. Yet Daniels has reconfigured these incidents into a faith-based thriller.
Changes from Real Life
As is the case with most of these fictionalized-true-events stories, The Deliverance takes some creative liberties with its source material. Ammons, instead of a Catholic priest who performed exorcisms in real life; the movie replaced him with Rev. The Golden Age — Bernice James, a Deliverance Minister who is female (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) Daniels did this, he said in an effort to provide a new angle: “We had never seen this story through the lens of an African American woman onscreen.
He also changed a few other specifics to help him investigate race and family dynamics further, like making Ebony’s mother Glenn Close (presumably with tar-black makeup). This gives the movie a chance to explore some character arcs of its own, mainly concerning identity, spirituality and redemption.
A Film with a Purpose
Over at the police station, Daniels met with Ammons and after hearing her story carried out some research on it. The story deeply personal to him, his moral take on the film was profoundly influenced by what he believed and how her mother told those stories. Daniels hired a deliverer to be on set each day, such was his paranoia of the supernatural (as happens with all films about ghosts — see also Poltergeist and The Exorcist).
Final Thoughts
More than simply horror, The Deliverance is an in-depth examination of themes like faith, family and perseverance through darkness. Now, Lee Daniels views the genre through his eyes and gives us a film that is as terrifying as it is thought-provoking. In a year full of great horror singles, The Deliverance is one to beat for anyone who enjoys their scares with high-level acting and a little more meaning.
For fans of horror, faith-based films or a unique perspective -The Deliverance is everything that will keep it on your mind well after the credits have rolled. Now on Netflix, this classic is perfect for a night spent chilling.
