Devils Due (2014)

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nTitle: Devils Due (2014)

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nDirectors: Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillet

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nStars: Allison Miller, Zach Gilford

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nI thought it was kind of hilarious that just before watchingnDevils Due, they played the trailer for the new Jesus-centric fantasy filmncalled Son of God (2014) because here I was about to watch a film about thenanti-Christ! Suddenly I felt bombarded by a bunch of Christian propaganda! Annoverdose of direct and indirect cinematic indoctrination!  And yes, if you ask me, that is how I see anlot of these Christian based horror movies, as a way to spread the fearninstilled by religion. But whatever, I enjoy a good horror movie, be it basednon Christian mythology or not. It kind of works the same way for me with filmsnlike The Passion of the Christ (2004) and Noah (2014), I’ll watch them evennthough I’m not a Christian because they are entertaining; at the end of thenday, all that matters to me is if it’s a good movie or not. So, was Devils Duena good movie?

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nDevils Due tells the tale of a newlywed couple that decidesnto go to Santo Domingo for their honeymoon.  The husband is the kind of guy who likes to filmnevery waking moment of his life, his wife tolerates it, so he carries thencamera all throughout the film. So anyhow, as they visit a couple of touristnattractions in the island, they suddenly end up in a shady part of town, lostnin the middle of the night in the lonely streets of Santo Domingo; lucky fornthem a kind taxi driver rescues them! Not only that, he offers to take them tona fun part of town, which he does. They end up in a seedy bar getting all drunk!nWhen they get back home from their vacations, they suddenly realize that theynare going to have a baby! But strange things begin to occur and it isn’t longnbefore the mother starts feeling like there’s something wrong with hernpregnancy, like satanic wrong. Is she pregnant with Satan’s child or what?

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nFound footage films are simply another way of telling anstory, so I don’t bitch and moan about them like a lot of people do; thesenfilms are simply a spawn of the digital age we live in, the video age. Actually,nby now these types of films are pretty common place;nthey aren’t going away. Hollywood loves them because they are cheapnto make and audiences love them because they can identify with the style,nbecause it looks like they could’ve shot the movie themselves.  Personally, I dig them because they have an immediacynto them; but I do have to say that whichever filmmaker chooses to make his or hernfilm in this style has a challenge because these films have been done to death.nWhen making a found footage film, the filmmaker has to come up with innovative waysnto keep our interest. Devils Due unfortunately has very little in the way ofnoriginality.

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nNow this is not to say that it’s a bad movie, I actually dugnthe movie a whole lot. Technically speaking the movie is good, the way it wasnshot and the whole found footage thing works great because I felt so muchncloser to the crazy Satanists. And speaking of Satanists, this movie did a verynsmart thing with its depiction of them. It kept them in the shadows! Which ofncourse made them a heck of a lot scarier; if there’s one thing I hate aboutnmovies dealing with Satanists is how silly they always appear. Not on DevilsnDue; on this movie they creeped me the hell out! Another positive aspect of thenfilm is that the performances were solid; both of the main characters werenportrayed convincingly by Allison Miller and Zach Gilford;nso kudos to all the actors involved in keeping this one genuine and decidedly credible.

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nWhere the film comes down a couple of notches is in thenoriginality department. For a seasoned movie buff like myself, this film playsnout like a remake of Rosemary’s Baby (1968) and The Omen (1976) mixed in with anlittle Paranormal Activity (2007) to keep things contemporary. The real problemnis that the film has so many clichés that you can practically predict certainnmoments and even certain scares. It’s not a good thing when you know what’sngoing to happen in a horror movie, or when you can predict a shot. And still, Infound myself enjoying the film. I guess they found an interesting way to tellnus a story we’ve already seen a thousand times before. If I was to mention onenmore movie that this film is similar to it would have to be The Last Exorcism (2010),nwhich I dug as well. But fear not, even with the similarities it shares withnall these other movies, Devils Due does have a couple of original moments innthere to keep your interest. The last few minutes were very gripping. In allnhonesty, I believe that these types of horror films are worn out; the wholensupernatural/Satanist shenanigans should be given a rest for a while! There’snbeen an overdose of these lately! I could formulate a whole list of films thatnare the same as Devils Due. So yeah, this theme has been played out and untilnsomething new and refreshing can be thought up, I suggest Hollywood to leaventhese alone for a while. But of course, since these movies always make theirnmoney back because they are so cheap to make, I guess we’ll keep on seeing themnuntil you, the audience says no more. So what’ll it be people?  

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nRating: 3 out of 5 

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