Lee Daniels’ latest Netflix project, The Deliverance, boasts an all-star cast that includes Glenn Close, Andra Day, Mo’Nique and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor. But you may not know that the supernatural thriller is based on a real-life story of strange circumstances after a woman moved her mother and three children into a Gary, Indiana rental home in 2011.
According to The IndyStar, LaToya Ammons suspected something was off when she noticed weird things like flies swarming around her screened-in porch and footsteps from her basement staircase when no one was there. But when her mother found Ammons’ 12-year-old daughter levitating above her bed while unconscious, she knew she needed help.
After seeking help from local churches, she eventually found a clairvoyant who said Ammons’ home was possessed by demons. Although she built an altar and burned sage in every room, things only got worse, and Ammons believed the demons had taken hold of her family.
The strange occurrences, that sometimes left Ammons’ children with injuries, led someone to call the Department of Children and Family Services to investigate Ammons. But investigators noticed things in the home like a mysterious oily substance dripping from the blinds, that left them with more questions. After several rounds of exorcisms and plenty of prayer, the family eventually found peace in a new home.
Daniels said he was sent Ammons’ story after working on his 2009 award-winning film “Precious,” but the story was so terrifying, that his mother warned him against taking it on.
“She said, ‘it’s horror’” he told The Root in an interview. “She knows that I’m an open portal when I’m directing, because I demand the truth from my actors. She said, ‘I don’t want it on you.’”
But Daniels said he felt the story was less about demons and more about religion and felt like it was too important not to share.
“I realized that it wasn’t about demons necessarily. It was about her journey in finding Jesus,” he said. “ I know we’re in dark times right now and for me, it’s about forcing you, scaring you to your higher power.”