Lee Daniels’ very first horror film, The First to Die, is not to be confused with 1972’s The First to Die. Although that film, like John Boorman’s three-time Oscar nominee about idiot canoeists going through hell in rural Georgia, is pretty painful.
Not since “Hillbilly Elegy” has Netflix treated Glenn Close this badly. That’s even true when you factor in her small role in last year’s utterly terrible “Heart of Stone” for the streamer. “The Deliverance” director Daniels, an ambitious storyteller with an admirably checkered track record, is best known for creating the television series “Empire” starring Danny Strong and before that for directing the Sundance darling “Precious” (which, yes, Is based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire – thanks for reminding me).
By 2009, Daniels’ talent as a producer on 2001’s Monster’s Ball had preceded the success of his eventual Best Picture contender, Precious, but the gritty family drama about a black family in Harlem made him a celebrated director. Its grim portrait of a relentlessly abused 16-year-old (Gabourey Sidibe) was dark, brutal and difficult to stomach. Daniels’ approach to creating cinematic realism had its critics, but bold visions make great directors.
Those talents are still very much alive in Daniels, who as a filmmaker has earned the right to recruit one-of-a-kind acting titans like Close, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor and Mo’Nique (of Precious) for a film as ill-advised as The First Man. It’s an exceptionally rough year to be dabbling in the horror exorcism market, but Daniels’ idea of breaking open his own legacy and turning a harrowing drama about a troubled family into an extreme genre project could have worked. Unfortunately, the smart restraint he once showed on Precious – always knowing exactly when to hold back – is replaced here by an uncoordinated execution that has more halfway scary ideas than it can handle or execute well.
Tough-as-nails Ebony (Audra Day) lives with her bombastic, cancer-stricken mother Alberta (Close), is a recovering alcoholic and mother of three children: teenager Nate (Caleb McLaughlin), middle child Shante (Demi Singleton) and youngest Andre (Anthony B. Jenkins). Things are tense in the house long before anything obsessive is hinted at. For one thing, the children’s father was deployed to Iraq months ago, the bills are piling up and Ebony has no idea when he’ll be back. Worse, Alberta says, “The catfish has too much garlic!” Oh, Alberta!
The loudmouth matriarch has a way of getting under Ebony’s skin, and that tension boils over, leading to some reasonably well-written fights that often involve race. Daniels’ willingness to reexamine even the most thorny dynamics of the black experience is commendable nearly 15 years after “Precious.” It’s worth noting, however, that Close’s casting is a bit of a mystery, since the “true story” about the haunting of an Indiana woman that Daniels supposedly tells (her name is Latoya Ammons, look it up) didn’t feature a real-life counterpart to the doomed scene-stealer.
In one of the first scenes, flies start to trickle down from the basement, and a sleepwalking Andre puts on an unforgettably menacing display of drinking milk straight from the carton. Social worker Cynthia (Mo’Nique) adds to the chaos with frequent unannounced visits, while the threat of Ebony’s children being taken away from her looms ever closer. The pining mother swears she doesn’t drink, and something is incorrect in her house. Of course, no one believes her when the children show up with bruises. After all, Ebony hit them – that much the audience can see.
Although there are plenty of references to Alberta’s suspicious devotion to the church, it takes more than 40 minutes before “The Deliverance” decides to be supernatural. That’s a bit of a spoiler, perhaps, but considering how much of Ebony’s nearly two-hour journey is directly tied to obvious references to the devil, it’s hard to ignore in the review.
Had Daniels explored all the fundamentals of a horror film as a dramatic allegory for addiction – as the film’s opening quote (“I need forgiveness for my sins, but I also need deliverance from the power of sin…”)) suggests that he could – the director could have done better than to go straight for ghosts… or are they demons? Reverend Bernice (Ellis-Taylor) tries to carry the film over this spiritual hurdle. Unfortunately, not even the legendary actress, who is one Tony away from an EGOT, can prevent “The Deliverance” from becoming a melodrama similar to Daniels’ earlier “The Paperboy.”
As for the final girls, Ebony has a lot of good moments. Screaming, “Doctor, my son ate his own shit today!” is not one of them. Things for the family deteriorate remarkably quickly, and what happens to the 77-year-old Close in the finale is deep regrettable.
Don’t misunderstand this as if I’m suggesting that something particularly grotesque or interesting is happening. Just understand that what Daniels does to the icon of Fatal Attraction – both visually and through the words this quietly insane script has her say – is so disgusting and so, So silly. Stranger Things actor McLaughlin gets credit for at least selling his role as a promising teenager who, with or without an agent, Needs to pack his things and get out of there.
“Everyone is first to die” certainly has its poignant scenes. Ebony sits with her youngest son before the genre change, reflecting on the cycle of abuse and wondering aloud, “I don’t know how someone like me could become such a good person.” It’s also astonishing that such a misguided film could come from such a talented filmmaker as Daniels. Netflix’s unfortunate attempt to subvert expectations results in a throwaway product that squanders its big names. Ultimately, it’s rougher than Precious – a fabled success that, at least critically, haunts Daniels to this day.
Grade: C-
Netflix’s “Everyone’s First to Die” will be in select cinemas from August 16th. Streaming will begin on August 30th.
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