Though director Lee Daniels isn’t exactly new to horror, the first trailer for Netflix’s The Deliverance makes it seem like he’s hitting his stride with the genre.
Lee Daniels’ The Deliverance can’t pray away the demons in new trailer
Director Lee Daniels’ new supernatural thriller starring Mo’Nique and Glenn Close is headed to Netflix this August.
Director Lee Daniels’ new supernatural thriller starring Mo’Nique and Glenn Close is headed to Netflix this August.
is a reporter focusing on film, TV, and pop culture. Before The Verge, he wrote about comic books, labor, race, and more at io9 and Gizmodo for almost five years.
Inspired by the 2011 reports of a haunting in Gary, Indiana, The Deliverance tells the story of Ebony Jackson (Andra Day), a woman from Pennsylvania whose life is upended as her sons Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins) and Nate (Caleb McLaughlin) are tormented by a malevolent entity.
While it’s obvious that Ebony’s at her wit’s end as she brings in Reverend Bernice James (Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) to exorcize her sons, it’s also clear that others — like social worker Cynthia Henry (Mo’Nique) and churchgoer Alberta (Glenn Close) — aren’t sure what to make of the mother’s situation. The trailer’s unsettling shots of Andre guzzling milk and being drowned in a tub by his brother both read as signs of them being under the influence of a supernatural force. But it also feels like The Deliverance will try to leave some question as to whether what’s happening to the Jackson family is actually otherworldly and how much of it might just be religiously fueled delusion.
The Deliverance is slated to hit Netflix on August 30th.
Correction, July 16th: An earlier version of this article misstated the Jacksons’ family name in one instance as “Jenkins.”
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