Devil's Due (film)
Devil's Due is a 2014 American psychological supernatural horror film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by Lindsay Devlin.[3] The film stars Allison Miller, Zach Gilford, and Sam Anderson. The film was released on January 17, 2014.[4]
| Devil's Due | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Tyler Gillett |
| Written by | Lindsay Devlin |
| Produced by | John Davis |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Justin Martinez |
| Edited by | Rod Dean |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 89 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $7 million[2] |
| Box office | $36.9 million[2] |
Plot edit
Newlyweds Zach and Sam embark on documenting their life after discovering Sam's mysterious past. During their honeymoon in the Dominican Republic, a palm reader foretells dark forces waiting for Sam. They unwittingly fall into a trap, drugged and subjected to a ritual.
Back home, Sam's pregnancy unfolds strangely with supernatural occurrences, and ominous figures stalk them. A new doctor raises suspicions, and they realize they're being monitored. A communion reveals the cult's involvement, marked by unsettling events. Zach discovers a plot to summon the Antichrist and tries to expose it.
As the cult intensifies its grip, Zach's sister is slaughtered, and Sam succumbs to a disturbing force. The cult steals their baby from Sam's womb, leaving Zach accused of his wife's death and the baby's disappearance. The story ends with a chilling cycle repeating as another couple encounters the same cab driver, hinting at a sinister pattern.
Cast edit
- Allison Miller as Samantha McCall[5]
- Zach Gilford as Zach McCall[5]
- Sam Anderson as Father Thomas
- Madison Wolfe as Brittany
- Aimee Carrero as Emily
- Vanessa Ray as Suzie
- Michael Papajohn as Police Officer
- Griff Furst as Keith
- Robert Belushi as Mason
- Donna Duplantier as Dr. Ludka
Production edit
On December 18, 2012, Fox announced that Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett would be directing Devil's Due, based upon a script written by Lindsay Devlin.[3] Fox had approached the two directors (who are part of the filmmaking collective Radio Silence) based upon their short 10/31/98 in the 2012 horror anthology V/H/S.[6]
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett had been approached by several other companies for "haunted house projects" but chose to work on Devil's Due over the other projects because they felt that the script was a character based "creepy mood piece" that focused on the deteriorating relationship between its two main characters.[6] In an interview, the directors said they "focused on Zach & Samantha's love story from day one and the horror of watching the person you love degenerate, and being left helpless beyond continuing to love them unconditionally."[7]
The script had been pitched to them as "a found-footage take on Rosemary's Baby," but the directors wanted to find ways to make their movie different from the 1968 film that they both praise and consider a personal favorite.[6] This included instilling "a fun energy throughout" and "a sense of humor into the script."[6]
Along with Allison Miller, Zach Gilford was announced to be in the film, which was shot during April 2013 in the Dominican Republic, New Orleans and Paris.[5]
Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett chose to shoot the film primarily with a Sony PMW-EX3, which they chose so that the film's actors could carry it throughout the film. The Canon 5D, Canon Vixia HF G10 and an iPhone 5 were also used in the production.[8]
Promotion edit
Fox released its first trailer for the film on October 16, 2013, and a second trailer on December 5, 2013. Whereas the initial marketing campaign focused the intimate thriller aspects of the McCalls' love story, later marketing concentrated specifically on the larger horror facets of the film.[9][10]
On January 14, prior to the release of the film, Fox promoted the movie by releasing a video of footage of an animatronic baby carriage and demon baby scaring passers-by in New York City.[11] The video went viral shortly thereafter and has had over 20 million views as of January 17, 2014.[12]
A collector's edition of the Blu-Ray with cover art by Orlando Arocena was released in 2017 alongside 19 MGM & Fox horror films such as Carrie, Joy Ride and Black Swan.[13]
Reception edit
Critical reception of Devil's Due was negative. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds a rating of 18% based on 56 reviews, with an average rating of 4/10. The film's consensus reads: "Derivative and mostly uninspired, Devil's Due adds little to either the found-footage or horror genres that it's content to mimic."[14] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[15]
Much of the film's criticism centered upon the film's similarity to other films such as Rosemary's Baby and Paranormal Activity,[16][17] an element that Fearnet reviewer Scott Weinberg remarked was likely more due to decisions by the film's production company than anything else.[18] Weinberg called the movie "a darkly passionate homage to Rosemary's Baby, the similarities are both intentional and affectionate,"[18] and Bloody Disgusting gave the film a favorable review, praising the acting of its lead characters, the sense of humor and drawing positive comparisons to the directors' earlier work on V/H/S.[19]
However, since initial release the film has found a cult following and director Eli Roth has been vocal in his support of the film and in a series of posts on his official Twitter account, wrote "Don't pre-judge Devil's Due because Rosemary's Baby is a 'holy grail' movie. It's so smart, creative, inventive, and fun. Very very scary. The guys at Radio Silence killed it. Devil's Due is a legit scary, smart, horror film. So many awesome scenes. I loved it."[20][21]
Use of found footage edit
Common criticism aimed is at the film's use of the found footage technique and asks the question "who assembled this footage?".[16] The film's directors claimed that this was a deliberate choice, stating that "Audiences are way too smart to have the 'this is real' found footage wool pulled over their eyes anymore"[22] and that, much like Chronicle, "Devil's Due doesn't pretend to be footage that anyone has found or compiled, it's simply a story told through cameras that exists in that world. In that sense, it's a bit of an experiment that we were able to have fun with and as the character's [sic] lives spiral out of control, we're able to mirror that journey visually by shifting to different POVs. The movie begins very bright, very intimate and full of movement, but as the watchers close in our couple we shifted to a lot more of the static cameras that exist in the world, like the security cameras, with much wider frames. We hoped to use that distance and coldness to mirror the despair and hopelessness that was tearing the couple apart."[7] The film intentionally breaks many found footage conventions throughout, including the deliberate absence of a framing device (such as "these tapes were found by the police"), the use of an animated opening quote, a recognizable cast, a non-chronological narrative structure, and a music cue becoming the end-credits song.
Soundtrack edit
The film contains diagetic music from Elvis Presley, The Gaslight Anthem, Alkaline Trio, Brenton Wood, Berlin, General Public, and Laura Stevenson.[23]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Once Upon a Time" | Robert Bradley | The Gaslight Anthem | |
| 2. | "I Belong to You" | Leon Silver | Mallory Sands | |
| 3. | "Bridal Chorus" | Richard Wilhelm Wagner | ||
| 4. | "Love Me Tender" | Elvis Presley and Vera Matson | Jordan Rippe | |
| 5. | "No More Words" | John Crawford | Berlin | |
| 6. | "As You Were" | Daniel Andriano, Matt Skiba, Glenn Porter | Alkaline Trio | |
| 7. | "Tenderness" | Micky Billingham, Roger Charlery, Dave Wakeling | General Public | |
| 8. | "Be Mine" | Herb Alpert and Frank D'Amico | The McCall Twins | |
| 9. | "Quieren Brilla" | Manuel Ariel Ciprian | El Aria | |
| 10. | "The Oogum Boogum Song" | Alfred Smith | Brenton Wood | |
| 11. | "Devil's Alibaba" | Adolfo Guerrero and Aliosha Michelen | Edgar Molina | |
| 12. | "Devil's Batucada" | Adolfo Guerrero and Aliosha Michelen | Edgar Molina | |
| 13. | "Nadie Pone Pero" | Adolfo Guerrero and Aliosha Michelen | Adelobo | |
| 14. | "Melma" | Wilson Padilla Almonte | Di Angelo | |
| 15. | "Eres Tan Barrial" | Wilson Padilla Almonte | Di Angelo | |
| 16. | "Que Lio" | Risa Encarnacion | La Bambola Slow | |
| 17. | "Wakala" | Wilson Padilla Almonte | Di Angelo | |
| 18. | "Cuckoo" | L. Stuart | Buddy Stuart | |
| 19. | "Shakin' Hands" | Sera Cahoone | Sera Cahoone | |
| 20. | "Eastern Dawn" | Midori | ||
| 21. | "Five Treasures" | Christopher Lewis, Gaynor O'Flynn and Sachidanand Rauniyar | ||
| 22. | "Home on the Range" | |||
| 23. | "Beets Untitled" | Laura Anne Stevenson | Laura Stevenson & The Cans | |
| 24. | "I Like the Way You Love Me" | Alfred Smith | Brenton Wood | |
| 25. | "Holy Holy Holy" | |||
| 26. | "Across the Wide Missouri" | Cash McCall | ||
| 27. | "Chocolat" | Graham D.H. Preskett |
See also edit
References edit
- ^ "Devil's Due". British Board of Film Classification. December 10, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ a b "Devil's Due (2014)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb.
- ^ a b Kit, Borys (December 18, 2012). "Fox Developing Female-Fronted Found Footage Movie (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ Uncle Creepy (October 15, 2013). "20th Century Fox Breaks Radio Silence and Releases Devil's Due". Dread Central. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ a b c Fleming, Mike Jr. (March 1, 2013). "'Friday Night Lights' Zach Gilford Lands 'Devil's Due' Lead". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ a b c d "Working on Devil's Due". Complex. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
- ^ a b "'The Bitter Script Reader: A Chat With Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Co-Director of Radio Silence's DEVIL'S DUE (Part One)'". January 13, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
- ^ Jimenez, Christopher (January 8, 2014). "Radio Silence speaks at 'DEVIL'S DUE' event". Fangoria. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- ^ Anderton, Ethan (December 5, 2013). "Second Trailer for Satan's Found Footage Pregnancy in 'Devil's Due'". FirstShowing.net. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ "The Trailer for Horror Thriller Devil's Due". ComingSoon.net. October 16, 2013. Retrieved January 12, 2014.
- ^ "Devil Baby Attack". Youtube. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
- ^ "Watch: 'Baby' terrorises New Yorkers in stunt for horror film Devil's Due". EuroNews. January 15, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
- ^ Miska, Brad (August 31, 2017). "Celebrate Halloween Early with Unique Blu-ray and DVD Designs for 19 MGM and Fox Titles'".
- ^ "Devil's Due (2014)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
- ^ "Devil's Due Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 26, 2014.
- ^ a b MACNAB, GEOFFREY (January 16, 2014). "Devil's Due: Film review – shock tactics are combined with subtlety and humour". Independent (UK). Retrieved January 17, 2014.
- ^ "Devil's Due, Mother(s)care". Empire Online. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
- ^ a b Weinberg, Scott. "Devil's Due (review)". Fearnet. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
- ^ "'Devil's Due' Delivers Some Surprisingly Bloody Goods". Bloody Disgusting. January 17, 2014. Retrieved January 17, 2014.
- ^ Roth, Eli (December 6, 2013). "Don't pre-judge #DevilsDue because Rosemary's Baby is a holy grail movie. It's so smart, creative, inventive, and fun. Very very scary". Twitter. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- ^ Roth, Eli (December 6, 2013). "The guys at @HiRadioSilence killed it. #DevilsDue is a legit scary, smart, horror film. So many awesome scenes. I loved it". Twitter. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
- ^ "'The Bitter Script Reader: A Chat With Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Co-Director of Radio Silence's DEVIL'S DUE (Part Two)'". January 14, 2014. Retrieved January 14, 2014.
- ^ Radio Silence (January 14, 2014). "we're excited to have music from @gaslightanthem @Alkaline_Trio & @laurastevenson in devil's due! #DevilsDue". Twitter. Retrieved January 15, 2014.
External links edit
- (archived)
- Devil's Due at IMDb
- Devil's Due at Metacritic
- Devil's Due at Box Office Mojo
- Devil's Due at Rotten Tomatoes