DELIVERY: The Hughes Verdict

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Directed by:
Written by:
Starring: ,

What is it all about?

With Reality shows the rage in America, a film crew decide to follow a couple expecting their first baby.  The camera starts to roll as soon as the wife announces she is pregnant and while the studio believes a huge ratings smash is being filmed,  they never expected the terrifying story that was set to develop…………

The Trailer……

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jaEg60Orzc8[/youtube]

The Hughes Verdict!

So where did this little beauty come from?

Remember last year’s tale of a young newly married couple coming back from honeymoon to find that the wife is pregnant and strange things started to happen.  It sucked right!  Well you be forgiven to stop and hesitate just for a moment before you embark on the similar themed Delivery, which if you like me, took ages to watch, simply because I am getting tired now of this well used found footage lark, with films now virtually carrying the same blueprint.

Its a genre that is being milked for all its worth, a routine we haven’t seen in the horror genre since Michael Myers picked up a kitchen knife and for many years after, many other bogeymen followed.  While this has been in my collection for a while, I don’t know what made me sit down and watch this straight to DVD offering, maybe trying to stop myself from ARROW overload (46 episodes in 5 days is not good), but when I sat down and pressed play, I did not know what a delight I was all set to face.  You see Delivery is good…..really good…….and quite clever!

What Director Brian Netto and co-writer Adam Schindler have done is looked at the found footage going around and offered something different.  This is not of that genre…they have created a new sub formula…..the TV documentary and it works all the better for it.

We start with a warning.  In a typical real life crime TV show you have often seen, we start with the Producer of the Reality Show The Baby Show, who tells us the original plan of how they followed a young couple  Rachel (Laurel Vail) and Kyle (Danny Barclay) around, from the moment she knew she was pregnant and to the eventual birth. The producer  Rick (Rob Cobuzio) informs us that it was a tipped to be a ratings success, but then a caption comes up that “9 months after the start of the show, Rachel was dead!”…. so already, we the viewer have the grab that we needed.  How did she die?  What could have possibly gone wrong?  Well we about to find out.

Cleverly the film starts with what seems the opening episode of The Baby Show.  We even get the title sequence, the jazzy effects you get accustomed too if you have seen ghastly shows like Housewives of Atlanta and such.  Its a clever ploy by the film because while in one hand, it keeps to this Found Footage craze, we already have the reason why the cameras are always filming.   We always gripe with the same question “Why don’t they just put the camera down” but with Delivery, we have that answer.  Also despite the strange occurrences that start to take place, you always understand why the film crew and the producer never screams “Cut!”…..because they are filming unanswered stuff here and for a TV show which begs for high ratings, they are onto a winner.

For the most part of Delivery, patience is required.  The opening half, nothing really happens, but the sense of doom you can not shake.  We see Rachel announce to her friends that she is pregnant, the in law inspecting the new house, there is nothing of note that suggests danger.  In fact you be wondering just how will Rachel die……

Its when Kyle discovers Rachel bleeding and a trip to the hospital that things start to unravel, more so when the expecting Mum arrives back home and their once loving dog starts barking at her (never a good sign in horror) that we begin to realise that we onto a new high tech Rosemary’s Baby here, but even then Delivery not once sells out to the horror crowd and for that, it should be applauded.   Keeping scares to a minimum and not wasting its budget on any CGI effects, the film follows down the Blair Witch path by making the entire premise feel grounded and realistic.   I would even say that when the film does tip into Supernatural fare, it kind of ruins the build up because its more scary not knowing what is happening, something that Myrick and Sanchez realised when they were making that bitch in the woods flick way back in 1999.

Even when the crew of the TV show are not around for some shots, we have sequences of “Unaired footage” which once again brilliantly adds to the “real” feel of the entire film.  The couple themselves holds a small camera to document everything and when we cut to just the Producer talking to us, the sense of dread and tension is really kicking in

As each month disappears and the due date arrives, Rachel becomes more unhinged, Kyle is left in both states of desperation and frustration, while odd things just keep on happing, and if you haven’t been spooked by the sight of “twigs” since Blair, then welcome back to that memory as Delivery jumps on the bandwagon with a simple scare effect.

Found footage lives or dies by its ending and last few moments of the climax.  There are too many to even write down just how many left you thinking “Is that it”, but Delivery nails it.  The hours of the birth is a rocket to the horror genre and that “scene” will leave you shaken and stunned.  Not going into any spoilers here, but there was no way I was expecting THAT!!!!  If many feel Delivery is a slow bore with no horrific moments or scare scenes, then they surely must have given up before the climax.  Its horrible, nasty and downright stunning that will leave you feel dirty and in need of a hot bath.  Not many scenes in modern horror leave this hardened horror veteran in a state of shock, but wow Delivery….you surely delivered……

I never expected anything out of Delivery, but what I got was a brilliantly directed, written, slow burn horror that is sheer delight, with an ending that will leave you mentally scarred for days after….

Simply brilliant…………..

Rating: ★★★★☆

 

 

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About Ross Hughes 567 Articles
Since my mother sat me down at the age of five years of age and watched a little called Halloween, I have been hooked on horror. There is no other genre that gets me excited and takes me to the edge of entertainment. I watch everything from old, new, to cheap and blockbusters, but I promise all my readers that I will always give an honest opinion, and I hope whoever reads this review section, will find a film that they too can love as much as I do! Have fun reading, and please DO HAVE NIGHTMARES!!!!!!

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