Watch movies outside the country with secure Aeroshield Smart DNS
Summary
- “Deliver Us” is a religious horror film that explores the concept of feuding brothers from various world religions, centering around identical twin brothers who may be the Messiah and the Anti-Christ.
- The film aims to provide a thought-provoking experience by delving into the existential question of why a good God would allow evil to exist.
- “Deliver Us” adds to this tradition of terrifying and thought-provoking storytelling.
What if the Messiah and the Anti-Christ were siblings? That’s the frightening predicament presented in the upcoming religious horror flick Deliver Us. The film follows the story of Sister Yulia, a Russian nun claiming Immaculate Conception and suffering through a hellish pregnancy. She says her unborn twins communicate with her, and while one is good, the other is evil. As the atmospheric trailer reveals, the Vatican (concerned about an ancient prophecy that a woman will birth twin boys, one the Messiah and the other the Anti-Christ) sends a priest to investigate the perplexing ordeal. Once there, he discovers a secret society plans to kill the nun and her children. Check out the trailer below courtesy of Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing.
In a statement, directors Cru Ennis and Lee Roy Kunz shared that Deliver Us is intended to incite “a thought-provoking experience” by drawing from a recurring theme in world religions:
“Deliver Us is a theological horror film that explores religious prophecies from various cultures throughout history. A universal thread in world religions is the story of feuding brothers: Cain and Abel, Thor and Loki, Set and Osiris, Zeus and Hades, and in our case Jesus and Lucifer. We center our story around identical twin brothers to tap into this cultural consciousness and to explore ‘the problem of evil’–the question of why a good and all-powerful God would permit the flourishing of evil. By presenting this existential dilemma within the horror genre, we aim to engage viewers on multiple levels to not just frighten but provide a thought-provoking experience,” they said.
Besides co-directing, Kunz penned the screenplay alongside Kane Kunz and stars in the film. Deliver Us also stars Maria Vera Ratti, Aleksander Mikoš McCarthy, Hans Robert Varts, Alexander Siddig, Jaune Kimmel, and Thomas Kretschmann.
The film premiered at the Popcorn Frights Film Festival on August 10 and lands in theaters and VOD on September 29, 2023. Check out the film’s poster below.
Religious Horror & Its Place in the Genre
The religious horror sub-genre has solidified its place in the horror sphere with a history that dates back over a century to the release of Georges Méliès’ Le Manoir du Diable (The House of The Devil). The 1896 short, which tells the story of an encounter with the Devil and various attendant phantoms, was not initially intended to be a scary film. Still, its plot and characters led to the categorization.
Numerous religious horror films have since gained acclaim, including Rosemary’s Baby, Carrie, The Omen, The Wicker Man, and perhaps the most well-received religious horror feature ever, The Exorcist. The latter debuted in 1973 and scared audiences with its terrifying portrayal of the demonic possession of a 12-year-old girl and her mother’s attempt to rescue her through an exorcism at the hands of two Catholic priests. The Exorcist went on to become the first horror film to earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture, and while it didn’t earn that coveted award, it did earn the Oscars for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Sound.
The film franchise is now back in the spotlight due to famed director William Friedkin’s recent passing, the film’s 50th anniversary, and the upcoming anticipated sequel, The Exorcist: Believer. Directed by David Gordon Green, the Blumhouse film is a direct sequel to the original movie and welcomes Ellen Burstyn back as Chris MacNeil, Regan’s mother. The Exorcist: Believer and Deliver Us are not the only new religious horror outings delivering scares this spooky season. The Nun II, which follows a nun as she faces a demon nun, is currently in theaters.
.