Devil's Due

'DEVIL'S DUE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Another low-budget supernatural horror 'found footage' flick. The story is about a recently wed woman who unexpectedly becomes pregnant, with the Antichrist. It's an homage to the classic Roman Polanski thriller 'ROSEMARY'S BABY' but it's presented in a style that's a lot more similar to the 'PARANORMAL ACTIVITY' franchise. It was written by Lindsay Devlin (who's only other film writing credit is the 2013 documentary 'IN SO MANY WORDS') and directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett are part of a collective filmmakers group called 'Radio Silence'; they previously co-directed, co-wrote and co-starred in a segment of the 2012 'found footage' horror anthology 'V/H/S'. I think the filmmaking duo did an exceptional job on this (their debut feature film) and found it to be much better than a lot of critics (and 'found footage' movie haters) have made it out to be.

The story revolves around a newly wed couple, named Samantha and Zach McCall (played by Allison Miller and Zach Gilford), that go on their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic. After Samantha gets a weird reading from a fortune teller the two are led to a remote bar (outside the city) by a persistent cab driver (Roger Payano). They both get wasted (on shots) and pass out. It then appears that Samantha is taken to a room, beneath the club, where some kind of ritual is performed on her. When they return home they find out she's pregnant, despite the fact that Samantha has always regularly taken her birth control pills. The two decide to keep the child and then things really get strange. It's of course all caught on video and compiled (from many different sources) for the viewer.

The film (like I said) got mostly bad reviews from critics and horror fans (that hate the 'found footage' genre). It did get a few good reviews (though) from some scary movie aficionados (like director Eli Roth and the popular horror website 'Bloody Disgusting'). I enjoyed the movie; I love the horror genre and like 'found footage' flicks, when they're done right. I think this one was done right; it's scary, funny and just a lot of fun to watch. The rookie directors did a great job and the script is smart and clever as well. The two leads were also adequate enough (for a film like this); the lead woman is very beautiful too and the lead guy reminds me a lot of a political radio and internet talk show host (I watch) named David Pakman. It's just an all around good fright flick, especially if you like the genre. Ignore the haters!

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Absolute Dogsh*t is a term that cannot be used enough to describe this movie. I hated the characters (especially the tw*t of a husband), the stupid shaky-cam, the "scares", the pathetic sub-plot of an ancient cult, the trailer that gave away absolutely everything, and did I mention the tw*t of a husband? No doubt there'll be a sequel, and another, and another. Remember when there were actually good horror found-footage films? Me neither. Hollywood is just saturated with them, none of them good. A complete and terrible rip-off of Rosemary's Baby. Just don't watch it. If I could give it a minus rating I would. Definitely in the category of one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

Had a lot of hope for this movie. I liked the actors and they did well. Miller and Golford both played their parts excellent. Sam Anderson always plays whatever part he gets very well did great too.... I guess I'm just disappointed at the POV filming. POV just doen't add anything to a movie. I really believe this would have been a great movie otherwise but this Rosemary's Baby wannabe just doesn't cut it The story was great but whoever decide to film it this way made a huge mistake. STOP trying to film this way. It only worked in maybe Paranormal Activity 1 and 2.... That's it... Same goes for found footage movies. It worked in Blair Witch and that was all for that genre.

This was really deceptive marketing and hype that drew me into this movie. I am very sorry I went. The acting, directing, production design, continuity, editing and of course the story, screen writing and execution were just abysmal. There was nothing of quality in this film. The characters were stupid, the camera work was jarring "handheld reality TV" nonsense and on top of it all, the plot was told in a far superior manner by Roman Polanski in "Rosemary's Baby" forty years ago! It just shows that with some production money, a digital camera and some reality-TV "Blair Witch"/"Paranormal Activity"-type marketing approach, you can sell any kind of garbage to the American public. I urge you not to support this film, or any future endeavours of anyone involved with this project (cast, crew, director or screenwriters)....

Samantha and Zach get married. For their honeymoon, they went to visit the Dominican Republic. One night there, they were brought by their taxi driver to a mysterious place where they get drunk and drugged. Nevertheless, they still managed to get back home safe and sound.

Not long after, Samantha finds out she was with child. From there, the further along the pregnancy Samantha got, the more bizarre and more violent behavior she would display. As she nears her due date, can Zach still do anything to avert the diabolical fate that seems to await his wife and baby?

Like many current horror films, "Devil's Due" is told through camera footage. Aside from the cameras Zach and characters carried around, there was also footage from security cameras. The first thirty minutes were practically just needless wedding coverage.

When it got around to telling the story, the pace was also quite slow. Mundane daily events like going to the supermarket or the obstetrician were punctuated by some disgusting or violent scenes which would have been a big deal had it happened in real life. Here, they happened, but there seemed to have been no consequences that follow their occurrence.

The best moments of this film were those scenes showing Samantha's repulsive eating habits, her super-telekinetic powers, and her effect on Catholic priests. The rest of the film was unfortunately forgettable, all the way up to the predictable climax. 3/10.