Movies
[BD Review] ‘Deliver Us From Evil’ is Striking But Uneven
I’ve been thinking about this review for the past two weeks, so I guess you could say that it’s been haunting me. But, with the film’s release merely hours away at the time of this writing, I have to finally put pen to paper. Let’s see how it goes.
With Deliver Us From Evil writer/director Scott Derrickson (sharing a screenplay credit with Paul Harris Boardman) has delivered a hugely ambitious horror film that (largely successfully) sets out to balance supernatural horror with a gritty widescreen police procedural. It’s a film that works in many ways, but I emerged from my screening split down the middle. I had been looking forward to this movie for over a year since visiting the set, and what I wanted it to be kept butting up against what it actually is. As a fan of the imagery and tone of Sinister (Derrickson’s prior film), I was looking forward to a bigger budget extrapolation of that exact aesthetic. And that’s not what Deliver Us From Evil is.
But is Deliver Us From Evil good on its own terms? Mostly. From a technical standpoint, it is certainly better constructed than most horror movies. It also follows through on its thematic intent with a clarity that’s lacking in most genre films. But it still kept me at arm’s length. It’s hard to chalk this up to any one element though some of the film’s expository dialogue lands poorly and there’s a music cue at the end that robs a climactic scene of some of its mysticism. There’s also a great Indiana Jones character beat that’s paid off and then set up, which kind of made me gnash my teeth at the missed opportunity. But, ultimately, at 118 minutes, there’s simply too much stuff that works “well enough” intermingling with the stuff that actually works really well. It’s this oscillation between compelling and competent that lends Deliver a somewhat lurching quality that I couldn’t quite embrace.
The good news is that the stuff that’s compelling is truly effective. An opening raid on Iraq (a nice hat tip to The Exorcist that also manages to achieve its own significance) is excitingly staged and provides a more epic sense of scope than you’d expect. And, as with Sinister, there’s no shortage of haunting and effective imagery. Almost any scene with Sean Harris (playing a discharged veteran who didn’t quite emerge from Iraq the way he went in) pops with admirable menace. There’s a decency and compassion in the handling of Eric Bana’s arc (playing a fictionalized version of Sergeant Ralph Sarchie) that I really admired. And the buddy cop element works almost exactly as you’d expect in a Jerry Bruckheimer production, which is to say brisk and fun.
As I said earlier, I left Deliver Us From Evil split down the middle to the extent that I wanted to see it again to truly find out which side of the fence I fell on. While I haven’t been able to make that happen, two weeks have passed and I’m not mad at it the way I normally am with films that betray the audience or take them for granted. Deliver Us From Evil isn’t lazy. Its aim is true. And it has enough good, nasty stuff bubbling up inside of it to recommend to the vast majority of horror fans. I have a nagging suspicion most of you guys will embrace it and wonder what the hell my problem is.
The holiday weekend means a light week for new horror releases, but it does bring the return of Dark Castle Entertainment to select theaters. It’s being joined by 6 new horror movies.
Here’s all the new horror releasing June 29, 2026 – July 3, 2026!
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
You wished for it. The highest-grossing horror movie of the year (so far), Curry Barker’s Obsession, arrived on Digital on June 30.
In Curry Barker’s theatrical debut Obsession, after breaking the mysterious One Wish Willow to win his crush’s heart, a hopeless romantic finds himself getting exactly what he asked for but soon discovers that some desires come at a dark, sinister price.
Michael Johnston (“Teen Wolf”), Inde Navarette (“Superman & Lois”), Cooper Tomlinson (“That’s a Bad Idea,” Milk & Serial), Megan Lawless (The Death That Awaits), and Emmy Award-nominee Andy Richter (“Conan,” Elf) star.
Based on a story by director James Kondelik (Behind The Walls) and a screenplay by Canadian writer Victor Rose, survival thriller Pitfall headed home to Digital on June 30. Family is murder in this Cineverse release.
In Pitfall, a young man becomes separated from his friends in the woods and plunges into a ten-foot pit lined with spikes, impaling his leg and leaving him helpless. As reality sinks in and his situation grows dire, he realizes the fall wasn’t an accident.
The film stars Richard Harmon (Final Destination: Bloodlines), Alexandra Essoe (The Pope’s Exorcist), and UFC champion Randy Couture (The Expendables) as the ruthless killer who stalks his prey in the woods. Marshall Williams (The Ice Road), Jordan Claire Robbins (The Umbrella Academy), and Matt Hamilton (Murder for Sale) also star.
The Amityville IP leans into Jaws with Amityville Shark House, just in time for the Fourth of July holiday too, as it released on Digital June 30.
Will Collazo Jr. (Amityville Thanksgiving) and Shawn C. Phillips (Amityville Karen) co-direct from a script they wrote with Julie Anne Prescott.
In the movie, after discovering an ominous shark idol hidden beneath the decaying floorboards, Richard unknowingly awakens an ancient and savage force. As the entity begins to merge with him, a quiet coastal town descends into blood-soaked chaos.
With each victim claimed, the monstrous predator grows stronger, fueling a cult’s belief that their dark god has been reborn. Now, the race is on to stop the carnage before evil consumes everything in its path.
Phillips and Prescott also star alongside Tasha Tacosa, Maritza Brikisak, Gigi Gustin (The Retaliators), Adam Marino, and Carl Solomon.
Available on Digital, Blu-ray, and DVD as of June 30 is Jacked, directed by John Fucile from a script he co-wrote with Simon Fraser.
The synopsis: “Set in the summer of 1987, JACKED follows two small-town teenagers whose day at the lake turns into a fight for survival after their car breaks down and they encounter a violent stalker.”
Marla Jean Robison, Tom Koch, Anthony Cipriani, Wynn Reichert, Kam Perez and Bella Marie star.
Get ready to work up a killer sweat and maybe spill some blood with Slashercise, a workout meets slasher hybrid that arrived exclusively on Bloodstream on July 1.
Written and directed by Ama Lea (Deathcember), the retro-styled feature follows “a masked killer known only as Meathead as he stalks the fitness clubs of Los Angeles, turning workout sessions into blood-soaked nightmares. As the city’s top trainers are picked off one by one, a group of determined fitness fanatics must fight back before they become the next bodies on the mat.”
Vanessa Decker (Stiletto), John Bloom (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Spencer Charnas (Ice Nine Kills), Sarah French (Blind), Kelli Maroney (Night of the Comet), Sarah Nicklin (V/H/S/Halloween), Diana Prince (The Last Drive-In With Joe Bob Briggs), Jared Rivet (The Once and Future Smash), Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp), Tiffany Shepis (Victor Crowley), and Lisa Wilcox (A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master) star.
After a record-breaking box office run, A24 and director Kane Parsons’ feature debut is heading back to theaters with bonus footage. AMC Theatres is unleashing Backrooms: Everything Must Go Editiontoday, July 3.
In the film written by Will Soodik, the owner of Cap’n Clark’s Ottoman Empire discovers a strange doorway in the basement of the furniture showroom. He sets out to explore the mysterious, liminal space, walking headfirst into a creepypasta nightmare.
Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsvestar.
AMC describes this release as a “theatrically exclusive post-credit” with additional footage from Kane Parsons. Expect 16 minutes of bonus footage, with the new version clocking in at 2 hours and 6 minutes.
The Last Exorcism director Daniel Stamm and Dark Castle Entertainment are back with Lockbox, in select theaters July 3. It adapts Soren Narnia‘s Knifepoint Horror Podcast story “Winthrop” by Emmy-winning playwright Justin Yoffe.
In Lockbox, “Seeking peace after her mother’s death, Ellen retreats to a rural town and takes in her severely traumatized cousin Winthrop. Their fragile domestic balance shatters when an erratic neighbor warns that Winthrop is dangerous. As strange phenomena escalate, Ellen must put everything on the line to defend Winthrop from a dangerous otherworldly entity determined to track him down.”
Lou Taylor Pucci (Touch Me, Evil Dead), Carla Gugino (The Haunting of Hill House, Gerald’s Game, The Fall of the House of Usher) and Katharine Isabelle (Ginger Snaps, Backrooms) star.
This week’s new release roundups are presented by Lockbox.
Be careful who you let in. Carla Gugino and Lou Taylor Pucci star in Lockbox, only in select theaters this Friday. Get tickets.
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