The Deliverance review: What it lacks in frights, it doesn't make up in story

Netflix has come out with its latest horror movie, The Deliverance, from the acclaimed director Lee Daniels, who is well-regarded in the field but is not exactly someone who has done a lot of horror. Sandwiched between a true story, an exploration of trauma, and the idea of Hollywood horror, The Deliverance aims and misses most of the mark, remaining an unsure movie about a single mother and the horrors in their new house throughout its two-hour runtime.

Starring Oscar-nominated star Andra Day and the legendary Glen Close, among others, there is seemingly nothing wrong with this latest Netflix production. But none of it falls in place for the movie, which makes it a mediocre drama and a mediocre horror, unable to attach itself to either side with conviction.

Perhaps this is another failed attempt from Netflix at capitalizing on the growing horror mania. But the movie does have a few things that could, and would, appeal to many viewers across the world.

Read on for a full review of The Deliverance.

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The Deliverance is so unsure what it wants to be that it fails to be anything significant

There are a lot of horror movies that are simply bad- sloppily done, with bad casting, and bad stories. The Deliverance is not that at all. Rather, it had the potential of being a great horror movie, perhaps less on the side of scary, but had the capacity to have a great drama movie with a side of horror.

Instead, it is so unsure from the start what it wants to be that it fails to be anything significant. Hidden in this movie was its ability to become a good drama and the ability to become a good horror, but it ended up being none.

Based on the remarkable true story of Latoya Ammons and her family, the series follows Ebony (Day) and her three children, Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins), Nate (Caleb McLaughlin), and Shante (Demi Singleton), as they move to a new, evidently creepy house. Sharing it is Glenn Close's Alberta, whose dynamic with Ebony is among the best things in the movie.

Day is nothing short of excellent in this movie, balancing the majority of the weight on her shoulders. Her acting is really well-executed but the script does not do justice to the single, struggling mother, whose story could have been going on a much stronger trajectory.

The horror elements are not abundant in any sense, but they are not niche either. From creeky windows to imaginary friends to an exorcism, the movie has hardly anything that horror fans are not tired of already. The conclusion is also not as satisfactory as one would like and this is also technically far behind many other works from Netflix.

There are some elements of faith, which also end up feeling a little underexplored in the near-two-hours journey.

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A sloppy sound design and sub-par technical elements don't help The Deliverance

Apart from the obvious flaws in the story and the film's restless transitions from one element to another, The Deliverance also does not really excel in technical aspects. The sound design of the movie, which seems geared to create the thrills, is far from perfect and ends up feeling too much in most places.

The camera work is good, but it is not exceptional, and simply not enough to uplift the movie alone. Close and Day perhaps deserve a shoutout for their respective contributions to the movie, but this remains one of the more forgettable entries from Netflix this year.

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The Deliverance is now streaming on Netflix.