The best horror movies take the normal and everyday, and spin the sinister events and spooky goings on from there. The subject of pregnancy, and the physical and psychological changes it brings have already been dealt quite brilliantly with Rosemary's Baby in 1968, and it really says something that it has taken nearly forty five years for found footage horror Devil's Due to tackle the subject again.
Zach Gilford and Alison Miller play newlyweds Zach and Samantha, who, after a lost night on their honeymoon, are surprised to find out that Samantha is pregnant. Recording everything for posterity, Zach soon discovers that the pregnancy, and the dark changes it brings out in his wife, has sinister origins.
While it is steeped firmly in the realm of found footage, Devil's Due has a very traditional narrative structure. Most movies of the genre at least try to play off the conceit that the events you're watching actually happened, this movie moves forward in a much different way. It feels like the movie could have easily worked in a more traditional way, but the familiarity warranted a hook. That's not to say Devil's Due doesn't make the most of it's hook, mixing up different camera styles from hand held to CCTV, even taking a cue from Paranormal Activity and Chronicle. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett do their best to build a creepy atmosphere, admittedly using their hook to great effect. One scene, presented in silent, grainy CCTV footage, of a once vegan Samantha devouring raw meat in the middle of a supermarket is played perfectly, and really helps build tension. The scares are few and far between here, relying on generic jump scares to keep the action moving, and again it's the atmosphere that keeps you interested.
The story on the other hand hand is paper thin, spinning it's wheels for much of it's run time. It also falls victim to the age old found footage problem of trying to explain why someone would still be filming when confronted with something that would normally have them running in the opposite direction. It takes it's time to get going, and when it feels like it could kick into high gear, it continues at a slow pace. The story is nothing new, seen before in not only Rosemary's Baby but countless other movies of this type. It also doesn't help that Zach and Samantha aren't that relateable or fleshed out, never really engaging you to care about what is happening to them. It's when the third act approaches that Devil's Due picks up, delivering a finale that really shows what the concept can deliver. But ultimately the story goes nowhere, the ending negating everything that went before, with the whole movie adding up to nothing.
It may have flashes of brilliance, but Devil's Due is a generic found footage movie, with a story and concept we have seen down better before.
Zach Gilford and Alison Miller play newlyweds Zach and Samantha, who, after a lost night on their honeymoon, are surprised to find out that Samantha is pregnant. Recording everything for posterity, Zach soon discovers that the pregnancy, and the dark changes it brings out in his wife, has sinister origins.
While it is steeped firmly in the realm of found footage, Devil's Due has a very traditional narrative structure. Most movies of the genre at least try to play off the conceit that the events you're watching actually happened, this movie moves forward in a much different way. It feels like the movie could have easily worked in a more traditional way, but the familiarity warranted a hook. That's not to say Devil's Due doesn't make the most of it's hook, mixing up different camera styles from hand held to CCTV, even taking a cue from Paranormal Activity and Chronicle. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett do their best to build a creepy atmosphere, admittedly using their hook to great effect. One scene, presented in silent, grainy CCTV footage, of a once vegan Samantha devouring raw meat in the middle of a supermarket is played perfectly, and really helps build tension. The scares are few and far between here, relying on generic jump scares to keep the action moving, and again it's the atmosphere that keeps you interested.
The story on the other hand hand is paper thin, spinning it's wheels for much of it's run time. It also falls victim to the age old found footage problem of trying to explain why someone would still be filming when confronted with something that would normally have them running in the opposite direction. It takes it's time to get going, and when it feels like it could kick into high gear, it continues at a slow pace. The story is nothing new, seen before in not only Rosemary's Baby but countless other movies of this type. It also doesn't help that Zach and Samantha aren't that relateable or fleshed out, never really engaging you to care about what is happening to them. It's when the third act approaches that Devil's Due picks up, delivering a finale that really shows what the concept can deliver. But ultimately the story goes nowhere, the ending negating everything that went before, with the whole movie adding up to nothing.
It may have flashes of brilliance, but Devil's Due is a generic found footage movie, with a story and concept we have seen down better before.
