The Real Story Behind Deliver Us From Evil Is Horrifying

A decade ago, "The Black Phone" director Scott Derrickson terrorized audiences with his 2014 horror flick, "Deliver Us from Evil." After first making the based-on-a-true-story film "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" and then launching the terrifying "Sinister" franchise in 2012, Derrickson continued down his demon-possession path for another story that has its anchors in reality. Based loosely on the memoir of former NYPD Sergeant Ralph Sarchie, titled "Beware the Night," the film was a box-office success, raking in nearly $90 million on a $30 million budget. Though perhaps not as exceptional as Derrickson's previous horror outings, it got the attention of audiences due to the perception that it was a true story.

Despite the film's "true story" claims, critics responded negatively to "Deliver Us from Evil," noting that although Eric Bana was an inspired casting choice, the horror flick struggled to say anything new about the demon possession genre. These criticisms weren't new to Derrickson, however. He had been likewise criticized for "The Exorcism of Emily Rose" nearly a decade prior. "I think that most of the critics who didn't like the film were reacting to its spiritual content," the director told Biola Magazine when speaking of "Emily Rose" in 2005. But what really happened to Ralph Sarchie, who inspired the film in the first place? Did he actually have a demonic encounter, or was that all for Hollywood show? Well, the truth about Sarchie's experience might surprise you.

It's worth noting that "Deliver Us from Evil" itself is only inspired by Ralph Sarchie's real-life paranormal adventures. Even director Scott Derrickson noted this when he explained that he took — with Sarchie's blessing — the most interesting of the sergeant's individual cases and compiled elements together to form a streamlined narrative. "It's the real Ralph Sarchie, how he thinks, how he talks, what he does, how he's changed as a person as a result of the stuff he does," Derrickson told Complex in 2014. "But the main storyline is fictional, and I had to do that in order to make it work as a movie."

So what happens in "Deliver Us from Evil"? Well, the film follows 46th Precinct Sergeant Ralph Sarchie (Bana) as he and his partner, Butler (Joel McHale), investigate a series of seemingly random occurrences — a mentally unstable mother, a former Marine who beats his wife, and a dead painter — only to discover that they're all connected to a former Marine unit who encountered something evil while in Iraq. When a Spanish priest named Father Mendoza (Édgar Ramírez) is brought in to help, Sarchie is initially skeptical, but comes around as they encounter the possessed Mick Santino (Sean Harris).

At the end of "Deliver Us from Evil," the demon kidnaps Sarchie's family, and the NYPD sergeant is forced to assist the priest in an exorcism to find them. The experience changes him forever. The end titles reveal that, following these events, Ralph Sarchie left the NYPD behind in favor of continuing his work with Father Mendoza, echoing the reality of Sarchie's experience.

Even if "Deliver Us from Evil" is just a story, Ralph Sarchie's accounts from "Beware the Night" are frightening because he claims to have personally experienced them. In his book, Sarchie explains that his journey to becoming a "religious demonologist" was one that took considerable time. Though he was trained to be skeptical of everything as a police officer, he saw things on the job that defied explanation. It was only after countless cases that felt more spiritually malevolent that he came to accept the supernatural around him. 

One of his most notable cases was "The Halloween Horror," where Sarchie helped Dominick and Gabby Villanova deal with a demonic presence in their home. Though it initially presented itself as a ghost appearing as white smoke, Sarchie explained that it was a demon in disguise, one that wanted to sexually assault their daughter, Luciana. Once Gabby Villanova was possessed by the spirit, it took an exorcism to draw the demon out. In another account, Sarchie found himself up against a young possessed young woman who spoke in languages she didn't know, gained incredible strength, and knew things about others that defied explanation. It took multiple exorcisms to help her.

Aside from demons themselves, Sarchie has also investigated cursed objects and homes with occult histories, so it's no wonder that he worked closely with Ed and Lorraine Warren — yes, the couple who inspired the multi-part "The Conjuring" franchise — in their similar battles against evil. As Sarchie puts it in the 2014 documentary, "Sarchie," "You don't have to believe in God, you don't have to believe in the Devil. It doesn't withdraw you from this battle ... You need to pick a side."