Deliver Us

A surprisingly decent religious horror film for me. It focuses on a pregnant nun who is expecting twins, all indications point to a prophecy that she is expecting the Messiah and the Antichrist. The church doesn't like that and plans to kill the children, but she manages to escape with two priests. I have to say, the first quarter is solid. There's machete decapitations and flayings as early as the second minute (I wish every movie started like that!!), the subsequent escape is also executed in a suspenseful way, and I enjoyed all the nightmares and visions which are decently creepy. But the film starts to stagnate by the middle and there's a lot of shifting in place. Thankfully it picks up slightly towards the end (the wolves eating are shot in a very raw and uncomfortable way and the disposal of the cops offers some nice gore). There was also some sex and I liked the music. The craftsmanship is also fine, I found the plot interesting and I wasn't bored, so for me a fine one-shot that could have been more stripped down, but certainly didn't annoy me. The atmosphere could have been handled better, but at least the unexpected brutality was pleasing. (03.10.2023)