KevinR1990

Deliver Us From Evil is the Modern Major General of horror movies. On pretty much every level aside from being scary, it ranges from decent to pretty good. The actors all deliver solid performances, the main characters are well-written and interesting, the police investigation side of the story (the part that separates this from other exorcism movies) was very good, and it's even got a good sense of tension courtesy of experienced horror director Scott Derrickson, maker of the excellent Sinister and the alright The Exorcism of Emily Rose. The problem, though, is that it just isn't scary. Like, at all. Worse, apart from one creative scene early on involving a lion den at the Bronx Zoo, the scares it does employ are mostly cribbed from other, better supernatural horror films, particularly the climatic third-act exorcism scene that bordered on the comical but never came close to being flat-out frightening. Furthermore, the film's structure falls apart in the third act, as it suddenly asks us to care about the protagonist's wife and daughter, who until then had received little development separate from him and existed only to serve as fodder for the film's rote second-act scares. The wife's one character trait is that she's upset about how distant and married to the job he is, and the little girl is just there to look precocious and vulnerable. It's a horror film with no edge (odd for a film that earned its R rating), no creativity, and worst of all, awfully few serious scares.

It's a serious shame, too, because this is a film that gets just about every other part of the equation right. Eric Bana's NYPD officer Ralph Sarchie was a great character, well-written and well-acted. I was seriously interested in this guy, in his attempts to cope with the emotional trauma of his job, in his legitimately dark past as a cop, and in his journey to redemption and coming to terms with what he had done. In a better horror film, Ralph Sarchie would've been an excellent protagonist, not least because the film is an adaptation of the real Sarchie's memoirs (having never read them, I can't vouch for how closely the film sticks to the book, or whether or not the book itself is stretching the truth) yet doesn't turn him into an obviously heroic "Mary Sue". Edgar Ramirez was also great as Father Mendoza, the religious foil to Sarchie's skeptic, with the confession scene near the end serving as a showcase for both actors and a great exploration of their characters. Even Olivia Munn and Joel McHale, two actors whose backgrounds are in comedy, take their thankless roles as Sarchie's wife and partner and make them interesting, often in spite of the script. Lastly, when not cribbing frights from other movies, director Scott Derrickson succeeds in making this film look straight-up creepy, making me wish that much more that there were any payoff to the layers of tension that he weaves through this film's "scary" moments. I frequently got shades of the man who made Sinister, one of the few truly creative "found footage" horror movies I've seen in a long time, which makes me wish that he had a better script to work with here.

The fact that it handled its human side so well made me wish that much more that Deliver Us From Evil wasn't such a rote, by-the-numbers affair as a horror movie. Even if you're desperate to see a good fright-fest in theaters, you'd be better off staying home and watching one of the dozens of films that have done this sort of material much better.

DISCLAIMER: If you're going to watch this movie, then PLEASE do so only with the deleted scenes included. The theatrical edit got utterly butchered in the editing room, where what must have been nearly twenty minutes of scenes were removed from it, leaving it much worse for wear. The DVD includes all of the deleted scenes on the disc (though, sadly, they're not woven into the film itself), as well as the original ending, complete with director's commentary. From what I've heard, the version of the movie that airs on SyFy includes these scenes woven into the film.

Now, with that out of the way...

Disturbing Behavior is your typical late '90s/early '00s teen horror picture made to capitalize on the success of Scream. Like others of its ilk, it has its share of cringe-worthy "totally radical" dialogue (Nick Stahl's character is the worst culprit on that front), though fortunately, it doesn't try to copy Scream's hip self-awareness like so many others attempted (and failed) to do. It's pretty well-written and directed for what it's worth, with an X-Files vet helming it and a good, if not terribly original, script (it's pretty much The Stepford Wives in high school). The theatrical cut removed a terrible amount of character development, leaving the cast largely a collection of caricatures (the goth chick, the controlling parents, the stoners, the evil scientist, the crazy guy who knows the truth), but with those scenes included the cast becomes much more fleshed out, becoming much more like actual human beings with thoughts and motivations rather than robots like the film's villains, going through the motions. And I dug the Pink Floyd shout-out during the climax.

It's B-movie teen schlock, yeah, but it's the good kind. The original theatrical cut gets a 5 from me due to how thinly written it is, but with the deleted scenes included, I'd bump it up to a strong 7, leaning towards an 8. One thing I didn't understand was how the "Blue Ribbon" program is supposed to turn troubled teens into moral, upstanding, diligent students, yet they're shown acting like even bigger jerks after their brainwashing, with one of them murdering two people, including a cop, in the opening scene. Kind of bugs me.

I watched this last night via the PlayStation Network's movie rental service. Before I get started, I'd like to say that, while I haven't seen the '56 original, I have seen the '78 remake with Donald Sutherland, which I feel ranks as one of the best horror films I've seen. Going into this, I wasn't expecting it to live up to the '78 version, but I was expecting to be entertained. And while it wasn't a great movie, it did fulfill my expectations.

First off, the special effects for the pods are phenomenal. The pods are all practical effects, which is made more impressive by the fact that, unlike the '78 version, they had the option of CGI at this point. The scene where the pods are attacking Marti and Steve (two scenes for the former) are extremely tense, and honestly had me thinking "oh my god they're actually gonna do it they're gonna kill the main characters". However, I feel that the effects here are overused. In '78, when you saw Elizabeth crumble into dust as a result of being absorbed by her pod, it hit hard. Here, however, the same effect is used at least half a dozen times for cheap shocks, wearing it out quickly.

The setting also served to provide some nice commentary on the '90s. All of the films are basically products of their times. In '56, the theme was, depending on how you look at it, either the Red Menace or McCarthyism. In '78, it was pop psychology, born-again Christianity, and the alienation of urban life that got satirized. Here in '93, the theme is the conformity of modern life, which turns people into soulless pod creatures even without aliens taking their bodies. It's fitting that the takeover is already underway when the Malones arrive at the base, because to some extent, the soldiers have long ago suppressed their individuality in the name of their community. It's just how the Army works. And by having the protagonist be a teenage girl, the concept is extended to suburban drudgery as well. Some have complained that this defeats the whole point of the movie, but I feel that it strengthens it. After all, what is the difference between the titular body snatchers and the mindless conformity of our suburban lives? And now you know why the basic "body snatcher" idea is so scary and effective -- it can be applied to anything, in any era.

The acting is serviceable. Gabrielle Anwar and Meg Tilly are the standouts here, the former carrying much of the film and looking damn good doing it, and the latter delivering the "where you gonna run" speech, which is the film's single greatest line. Forest Whitaker and R. Lee Ermey are wasted though, each having only a couple of scenes, and the latter not breaking from his typecasting as a hardass authority figure. Billy Wirth gets the "hero" role and plays it well enough, although he and Anwar had no chemistry. Their kiss was one of the most unconvincing that I had ever seen, and the most unintentionally funny scene in the movie. Terry Kinney is rather plain as the dad, while Christine Elise does well in her small part as the general's rebellious daughter. One complaint that I have is that the pod people have a bit too much emotion. You're supposed to believe that they're soulless and emotionless (like, well, pod people), but seeing them raise their voices, as if they're angry, takes away from this.

Overall, I had a good time with this movie. It had its scary moments, some standout performances, and good ideas behind it, but overall, the execution didn't quite live up to the promise. If you're looking for a modern take on the "body snatcher" story, I'd recommend The Faculty, although this is also worth a watch.