THE DELIVERANCE
A faith-tinged horror drowned in more than a hundred obscenities.
Should You Watch It?
Here is the decision, plainly. THE DELIVERANCE means to be a Christian story — demons are real, God is real, Jesus is real — and its third act does let faith break through. But by then the damage is done. The movie spends most of its running time exalting demonic power rather than God's, so when the faith element finally shines it feels like too little, too late.
Then there's the language. More than 105 obscenities, at least 60 of them "f" words, plus profanities that misuse the name of Jesus. Even one of the lead Christian characters swears repeatedly — a confusing portrayal that muddies whatever witness the film hoped to offer. Add extreme possession horror and a mother who physically abuses her children, and the content becomes disturbing for many believers, unsuitable for any child.
So our answer is no. Whatever this film gets right about the reality of spiritual warfare, it buries under dread, profanity, and cliché. Skip it.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESA Black family moves into a new home. At the center is the mother — parenting three children alone, a recovering alcoholic whose temper turns physical.
Then something in the house begins to stir. As a demonic presence starts attacking the family, the violence is pinned on the one person already suspected of hurting the children: their mother. What's really in that house, and whether faith can answer it, is where the film goes next.
Is It Any Good?
Three stars, and here is what they buy you: adequate craft and a genuinely scary atmosphere for viewers who spook easily. Director Lee Daniels knows how to sustain dread, and the possession scenes have force.
But the execution rarely rises above the clichés of other supernatural horror. Sleepwalking, buzzing flies, dead animals, a character waking up with bruises — you've seen these beats before, and the film's twists are largely predictable (though it's based on a true story, so temper that criticism). The bigger problem is the protagonist: the abusive mother is too unlikeable, lacking strong redeeming qualities, which makes it hard to feel drawn into her drama. The tone defaults to darkness — even the victorious ending is scored with ominous music, so the movie's backbone feels more like horror than faith. A film whose quality should have been much higher.
The Worldview
The film's stated perspective is Christian: it insists demons are real, that God and Jesus are real, and that everyone needs salvation through Him. A character performing the "deliverance" declares that acting in the power and authority of Jesus Christ makes a demon flee. That's a true and bold thing for a horror movie to say.
The trouble is how the film says it. For most of its length it focuses on the power of the Devil, showcasing that power as something to be feared — which cuts against the conviction that we should fear God first and foremost. When faith finally emerges clearly in the third act, it feels like too little, too late. Director Lee Daniels has said he wants "to scare you into finding your faith," but fear of the Devil is a questionable motivator. Faith should grow from the fear of God's wrath, or better still, from love of God through Jesus Christ.
The mixed signals compound. One Christian character swears and flirts with men, so it's hard to tell whether the film means to hold her up as a good example. And the movie undercuts its own thesis: the person who claims Christ's authority admits she cannot match the demon's strength, and it ultimately kills her. When the demonic is never sufficiently counterbalanced, the power of Jesus gets lost in the noise.
Scripture puts the balance the film misses in one line: "resist the devil, and he will flee from you" — but only after "Submit yourselves therefore to God" (James 4:7).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
Movie has a clear Christian perspective on the supernatural where demons are real, and God is real, and Jesus is real, but it takes a long time to reach this expression of faith, and so the movie can feel confusing to a Christian audience, the movie stresses the need everyone has for salvation from Jesus, a character performing an exorcism or “deliverance” says, “If you act in the power and the authority of Jesus Christ, you can touch a body and the demon will run,” but the first part of the movie focuses on the power of the Devil and demons and showcases this power as a power to be feared, which some may view as contrary to the belief that we should first and foremost fear God, the movie’s expression of the demonic may be disturbing to some, and a side Christian character fails because she doubts herself
Foul Language
At least 105 obscenities (including at least 60 “f’ words), one strong profanity using the name of Jesus, four GD profanities, three light profanities, seven “n” words, mother wears a shirt with an obscenity on it, and one of the lead Christian characters uses foul language multiple times, which is a very confusing portrayal
Violence
Extreme, strong and light scary violence includes mother backhands child on his mouth harder than she wanted, and it causes his mouth to bleed instantly, mother hits son, and, in return, son shoves mother to the floor, a dead cat is found in a home basement, a crow hits a window and dies, son slips on baseball bat, and a toaster falls on him in the process, daughter notices bruises on her arm, and it’s implied the mother may have been abusive to her, but she says, “it was there when I woke up,” boy is found banging his head on the door of the basement and is trapped in a trance (boy says he was talking with his imaginary friend who lives in a hole inside the basement, a demonic presence seems to be harming children and making it appear as if the mother has been abusing them, the three children have an implied encounter with the demon one night, and the next day at school they are behaving very strangely, one of the children throws his own feces at his teacher, the daughter has a period during music recital and stands there as if nothing has happened, the second boy laughs at hearing of the death of the teacher’s brother by AIDS, possessed son tries to drown the other son in the bathtub and snaps out of it because his mother stops him, it’s implied the son has been hiding in the closet talking in an unknown language to someone who tells him he should kill himself, mother talks about a car hitting her young son, there’s a very violent scene where a possessed wife decapitates her husband with an axe (the moment of impact is offscreen, however), the aftermath of the decapitation is shown moments later, a character talks about a possessed mother who strangled her daughter and then hung herself, a woman is attacked by some kind of dark spirit of a child (the spirit is difficult to see), there is a scene where the mother comes home, and the wooden cross on the wall is burning, a boy is seen frothing at the mouth in some kind of seizure of possession, a possessed boy says, “God is dead” and then somehow escapes his restraints and jumps onto the wall, during the exorcism of a possessed boy holy water is sprinkled onto him, and this creates smoke, boy transforms into the form of his grandmother who now has black eyes and sharp teeth, woman is lifted by the throat by an unclean spirit, and then hurled against a wall, woman is then dragged by her hair and thrown into another wall and levitates, a boy begins to vomit and tear his shirt open as he becomes possessed, boy grows claws and begins to tear at his own chest, girl in a bed begins to become possessed and bleeds from her eyes, possessed boy has an unnaturally long tongue, boy attacks his mother and transforms into the image of her, mother begins to become possessed, mother’s body begins to crack into unnatural positions, and she hammers her face against the floor, demons begin to smoke after being rebuked, mother’s possessed children are shown levitating with holes in their hands, and one of them is eating his own arm
Sex
Some suggestive lewd language, mother gets drunk and dances suggestively with men at a party, an older Christian woman flirts with multiple men and tries to dress in an alluring way, and minor character is a transsexual who appears to be growing breasts (shown briefly)
Nudity
No nudity
Alcohol Use
Mother character has an alcohol problem, which is mostly in her past, but at one point in the movie she begins to drink again at a party and becomes drunk
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
No smoking or drugs;
Miscellaneous Immorality
Mother makes racist comment to an Asian man and says, “Now go home and fry that [stuff] up with some soy sauce,” and during the scene of a character choosing to come to God with her problems, where she prays the prayer of faith, the music is incredibly ominous, which makes it feel like there is something unsettling about her conversion, rather than cathartic or positive (it’s a strange directing choice, but it’s ultimately clarified positively by the movie’s ending).
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The director said he wants "to scare you into finding your faith." Is fear of the Devil a good reason to come to God — or does Scripture point us somewhere different?
1 John 4:18 · Romans 2:4The film spends far more energy on demonic power than on God's power. How does the Bible describe the true balance between the two?
James 4:7 · 1 John 4:4A Christian character in the movie swears and flirts, making it hard to tell if she's a good example. What does a credible Christian witness look like, and why does consistency matter?
Titus 2:7–8 · Matthew 5:16The story centers on a mother who harms her children. How does Scripture speak both to the sin of abuse and to the possibility of repentance and healing?
Colossians 3:21 · Psalm 51:1–2The Final Word
There's a real conviction buried in THE DELIVERANCE — that demons are real and Jesus is stronger. But the film smothers it under relentless profanity, extreme possession horror, and a faith message that arrives too late. So our answer is the same one we opened with: skip it. Looking for something to watch together instead? Try our latest family-friendly picks.
