“The Deliverance” is an American horror movie directed by Lee Daniels and available to watch on Netflix.
Cast with Characters
- Andra Day as Ebony – Ebony is the mother of the three kids who moved to the haunted house from Philly.
- Glenn Close as Alberta – Alberta is the mother of Ebony who is a devoted Christian and a cancer patient.
- Anthony B. Jenkins as Andre – Andre is the youngest son of Ebony who ends up becoming the host of the devil.
- Demi Singleton as Shante – Shante is the daughter of Ebony.
- Mo’Nique as Cynthia Henry – Cynthia is the social service officer who looks after the wellbeing of the kids.
- Aunjanue Ellis Taylor as Bernice James – Bernice was the apostle who was performing the deliverance on Andre
Plot Summary
The film circles a black American family who recently shifted to a new home wishing to have a fresh start, unaware of the fact that something evil already lives there who is headstrong enough to kill the family members. This film is inspired by true horror events.
Introducing The Family
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The film starts with a black family moving to a new place with a wish to start afresh. The mother, Ebony, is struggling to keep her three kids with herself and is helped by her mother. Ebony has anger issues and often can’t control herself and beats her kids. Their estranged father does not come home or look after his kids, but his kids are hopeful that he will come back soon. On the other hand at night, Andre, the youngest son, is seen drinking milk directly from a bottle, although his mother says that he is lactose intolerant and that’s when a crow hits the window and dies. Nate, the eldest, is bullied by the corner boys but does not speak up because he does not want to stir up any problems, but those boys are taught a lesson by Ebony when she finds out who hit her son. Grandmother, Alberta, who also had a past, is now a cancer patient and a devoted Christian. Ebony sees Andre talking to himself and asks him to stop it, unaware of the fact that the imaginary friend, Trey, is the evil spirit that lives in the house and thinks of making Andre his host to destroy the family.
How Did The Meeting with the Social Service Officer Go?
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Cynthia is the social security officer who works for the welfare of the kids to give them a safe and healthy household to grow up in. She is skeptical that Ebony is not mentally stable enough to provide for the family and take care of her young children. She regularly comes over to Ebony’s house to look after the kids and this time asks them about the injuries they have on their bodies. She asks Shante about the mark on her hand. To which Shante replies that she does not remember and that she woke up with the mark in her hand. And when asked why Andre is sitting hunched over, he lies that he got hurt in the playground. Cynthia gave her card to Shante because she was suspicious that Ebony might have been hurting her kids. When Cynthia was leaving, Ebony and Alberta saw another woman keeping an eye on the house, which made them ask.
How Did The Night Of Shante’s Birthday Go?
The day was Shante’s birthday. Everyone, including the kids, was having fun and partying. Andre left for his bed because it was his bedtime. But suddenly, Ebony hears a thumping sound from inside of the door that leads to the basement. Unsure of who it can be because she allowed nobody to go into the cellar, Ebony opens the door and finds out that Andre is standing on the opposite side half-conscious. Ebony wakes up Andre and when asked what he was doing in the basement, he replies that he was talking to Trey. Ebony takes him to his room to sleep. After the party is over, Ebony again finds Andre standing near the basement door and again asks why he is standing there. Andre can only say that he is scared. Ebony scolds him to go to his room. Later that night, Ebony heard a banging sound from her room and Andre was seen looking directly towards his wardrobe. Ebony went inside her kids’ room angrily and closed the door. Kids start screaming “Grandma! Help, when Alberta went inside the kids’ room, she saw the three kids sitting and crying in the corner. Ebony was also on the floor and a wall on the side of the room was broken. When Alberta asked Shante what Ebony had done to them, she only said that she woke up on the floor and Ebony was screaming. Nate also said that he did not know. Andre uttered that Ebony threw them on the wall. The next day, the kids are sent to school and that same suspicious-looking woman is still following them with her eyes fixed on Andre.
What Happened At The School?
The next day of that incident, the kids are sent to school as usual. Ebony was in a disheveled condition thinking about what happened and when she went to the kids’ room she saw the crack on the wall right where she and Andre had once drawn a cross sign. In school, the kids started to behave differently. Andre started to take his pants off and started to throw and eat his shit, Nate started crying hysterically in the middle of the class, while Shante went to her music teacher in between the class and said something while she was bleeding. All three of the children are sent to the hospital and Ebony is given a call to come to the hospital. Doctors run various physical and psychological tests on the kids, but they cannot diagnose what’s happening to them, they can only say that the kids are in psychological distress and ask about the bruises on their bodies. Back at home, at night, Nate tries to drown Andre in the bathtub but does not recall what happened and why he tried to kill his own younger brother. Alberta only saw the devilish look in Andre’s eyes.
Who Is The Suspicious Woman Always Keeping An Eye on Ebony’s Family?
Alberta found the situation at her house to be the work of the devil and went to talk to a pastor in her church. But she couldn’t help her and asked her to try another church. On the other hand, that same suspicious woman follows Ebony to a bar and tells her that there is an evil spirit in her house. That woman introduces herself as an apostle and tells Ebony the story of the house. She told Ebony the story of Janelle, Ahman and their kids and how she performed Deliverance on their son to cast out a demon but could not save the boy and the name of the boy was Trey, Andre’s imaginary friend. That demon ended up killing that family twenty years ago and now wants to kill Ebony’s family. Alberta, back in the house, gets a call on her landline but nobody is talking on the other side. Then she heard someone calling her name from downstairs and went to check and that’s when the demon in Andre attacked Alberta. He choked Alberta to death. Ebony comes back home after meeting that apostle and sees her house on fire and her mother lying dead and understands it was Andre who did it. Alberta is taken away, and the kids and Ebony also leave in their car while driving on a rainy night. Ebony sees Andre acting mad and keeps repeating, “It’s all your fault that your mother’s dead” and his eyes turned black and was so scared that she lost the balance of her car and met with an accident. Ebony went outside and asked for help and the rescuers saw Shante and Nate unconscious except for Andre. All of them were shifted to a hospital for further treatment. The kids are taken away from Ebony to a church foster care. Ebony comes to meet the apostle to ask for help in church.
How Was The Deliverance Performed?
The apostle tells everything about the devil to Ebony and that this devil preys on the weak, so she needs to be strong if she wants to face the devil. In the hospital, Andre is throwing a fit and is kept tied with restraints but very easily breaks those restraints and climbs the wall backwards, which shocks Cynthia. Ebony is adamant that tonight they will perform a deliverance, so she enters the hospital wearing a nurse’s outfit and escapes with Andre. Ebony took Andre back to their home with the help of the apostle. She’ll be the one performing the deliverance. They start with recording the evidence of the deliverance. In the beginning, they start with praying to Jesus and throwing holy water on Andre, which burns his body and brings out the demon, who continues to take the form of, people Ebony loves, starting with her mother Alberta. In the meantime, the other two siblings are seen to be suffering because of the deliverance. But the demon was too strong for apostle Bernice, and she was knocked unconscious and left on the verge of dying. Ebony decides to face the demon herself, who also has the power of vanishing. Apostle Bernice gave Ebony a small bottle of holy water, and she went to the basement where the devil lives. The devil takes the face of Ebony herself and fights her. Ebony continues to perform deliverance by herself without any fear in her heart. In the end, the evil spirit is burned to death and in the basement lies Andre unconscious. The suffering of the other two children ends too.
The Deliverance Ending Explained
The film ends with Cynthia visiting Ebony when she is packing up to leave the house. She came to tell Ebony that they needed to fight against the court to get custody of the children. Ebony told her that she was moving to Philly to her aunt until she got a house and custody of the kids. Six months later, Ebony did get custody of her children, and they all were moving to Philly and they gave them the good news that she would try to work things out with their father.
