Deliver Us From Evil

Tonight I saw Deliver Us From Evil, starring Eric Bana and Edgar Ramirez.

Ralph Sarchie (Bana) is an undercover detective for the NYPD. He has a knack for sensing harm and an unfortunate habit of putting his family last. Father Mendoza (Ramirez) is a young priest who keeps turning up where Sarchie seems to need him the most.

When a mother loses her mind at the Bronx Zoo and throws her child into a ravine, Sarchie and his partner are called upon to investigate. What they find is a disturbed woman and a mysterious painter who disappears into the night.

After reviewing surveillance tapes, and putting puzzle pieces together from a few other calls they've responded to, Sarchie and his partner (played by an especially youthful Joel McHale) trace the chaos to a trio of soldiers who served together in Iraq.

Though Sarchie doesn't want to admit it at first, their problems run deeper because all parties involved are influenced by a supernatural force.

Reluctantly, Sarchie allows Mendoza to offer his services and the real "fun" begins. The crucifixes come out, Latin is spoken, insects appear and ... welll ... you know the rest.

Though certain shots are definitely creepy and the actors completely "sell" their fear, I can't honestly say I was too disturbed by it. For a horror movie that's "based on true events," I was actually expecting much worse (and of course, once I did my research I realized that the narrative here is almost completely fictional with the exception of the priest and the cop working together to battle demons, which they apparently still do to this day).

There's a lot of gore and children's toys that get unruly, but nothing here will really send shivers down your spine.

If you want to watch a few hot men battle evil for a few hours, you're in luck, but that's about all you'll get.

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Deliver Us From Evil

Today I saw the documentary Deliver Us From Evil about Father Oliver O'Grady, a convicted sex offender who the Catholic church moved around Northern California for 30 years before any charges were brought against him.

In the film, Director Amy Berg speaks with a surprisingly candid O'Grady (now living an unfairly comfortable life in his native Ireland) and several of his forever-damaged victims.

The accounts are horrific—the sodomy of a young boy who was helping with the landscaping outside the church; the rape and molestation of a 5 year-old girl (while the Father lived with her family); penetration of a 9-month old baby. And this man only served seven years behind bars, yet his number of victims is estimated into the hundreds.

What's nauseating about this story is how easy it was for the Catholic Church to dodge legal bullets throughout the tenure of this priest. They did so little to help the families and put an end to the abuse, you have to wonder if any of the higher-ups have a conscience, let alone an ounce of actual faith. What God would let this happen?

The most heartbreaking element to watch is the guilt of the parents who trusted this monster with their kids and didn't learn of the abuse until their children were grown. It's not their fault, but you can understand the responsibilty they must feel for O'Grady's actions and their absence in noticing.

Hopefully, this documentary will spark a revolution from the victims—those who have been brave enough to come forward and those who have remained silent, but want to somehow make sure this doesn't keep happening. They (along with each and every Catholic on the planet) need to demand reform and justice so this most hypocritical abuse of trust can finally be put to an end.