Deliver Us From Evil

In the 2010 prologue, Griggs (Scott Johnsen), Jimmy (Chris Coy), and Santino (Sean Harris), three American soldiers in Iraq, stumble upon an entrance to a dimly lit, spooky, subterranean chamber that is littered with human skulls. Four years later, that mysterious incident will pique the interest of NYPD Sgt. Ralph Sarchie (Eric Bana), who neglects his pregnant wife (Olivia Munn) and soccer-loving daughter (Lulu Wilson) in his dogged pursuit of wrongdoing in the South Bronx. His laidback partner (Joel McHale) is a reckless adrenaline junkie who enjoys stirring up trouble. Then there's chain-smoking, whiskey-drinking Jesuit priest Joe Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez), who gradually convinces lapsed Catholic Sarchie that there may be supernatural forces involved in three separate crimes that are all tangentially connected to Griggs, Jimmy and—specifically—Santino. They also discover that a particular incantation invites a demon to enter the human world, and that Sarchie's family is in imminent danger, which inevitably leads to a long, formulaic exorcism. Based on the 2001 book by the real Ralph Sarchie and Lisa Collier Cool, this true crime thriller suffers from cliché-riddled dialogue and features numerous grisly and gory scenes. Optional, at best. (S. Granger)