DEVILS DUE is a perfectly competent horror flick with a few nice twists scattered among its otherwise unremarkable storyline. The standard plot in not helped by the films indulgence in the latest horror-flick fad, pretending that the film has been cobbled together from bits and pieces of found footage. The films that started it all, THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT, and PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, had the virtue of being the first, or the first that counted, as well as setting themselves amongst, in the former, a band of filmmakers, and in the latter, entirely in one house. As more and more films use this conceit, the premise of someone filming at all salient moments becomes more and more strained, until the device itself becomes not just derivative, but positively cumbersome.
This knock-off of ROSEMARYS BABY starts with a chipper young couple Samantha and Zach (Allison Miller and Zach Gilford), on their honeymoon in Santo Domingo. Having already established that Zach takes his camera everywhere, and that he is delighted that he has been gifted with an adventure cam to go with his hand-held, we watch the couple as they zip-line, sight-see, and on their last night there visit a fortune teller. She is of the standard-issued variety, with a thick accent, home décor rife with occult flourishes, and, of course, the standard dark warning. The couple bolt into the now dark and deserted streets, only to be rescued by a convenient taxi driven by an affable guy who insists on taking them to the coolest club in the city. And it is, in an underground cave with mood lighting way. Shots of liquor ensue, along with wild dancing, and then, and this is not much of a surprise, the weird ritual in which our couple are unconsciouss as the camera rolls, capturing in kaleidoscopic fashion snippets of solemn chanting, peculiar implements, and a determined breeze catching the hem of Samanthas dress as she is draped over a stone altar.
Naturally Samantha discovers that she is pregnant, despite being on the pill. And in short order, odd things begin to happen that might be hormones, but gradually build into telekinesis, somnambulant violence, and the family dog growling at Samanthas belly.
As a parable about the terrors in impending motherhood and the changes the process of pregnancy wreaks on the woman with child, and on the relationship with her non-preggers partner, DEVILS DUE makes some valid points. Swollen ankles are something to wchih those who have found themselves in this position is something to which they can relate, same with the moodiness. The way Samantha punches out the windows of an SUV that almost backs over her can easily be regarded as both a cautionary moment and a giddy sort of wish fulfillment.
If only it all didnt drag along from pedestrian plot point to pedestrian plot point. On the plus side, Miller and Gilford are enormously appealing. I love the way Miller says kale in a dreamy way while cuddling Samanthas new juicer. Also good is veteran actor Sam Anderson in the otherwise thankless role of the avuncular parish priest with a coincidental interest in end times prophecy. They are all three of them better than the material, finding something fresh in even the klunkiest moments. Kudos, too, for the touches of subtlety in the story, Samantha, for example, not noticing that her underwear are on inside-out the morning after her impregnation, but the camera giving us not much more than a fleeting shot of the label where it shouldnt be. Alas, this is canceled by such things as neither of them having watched any of the videos Zack took of their honeymoon, even as a post-trip show for Zacks large and close-knit family.
Darn.
For a January release, the time boys and girls when studios dump their forgettable flicks, DEVILS DUE is above average. Yes, damning with faint praise, but there have been worse horror films set loose this time of year, and there will be again. This one is patently a bid to launch a franchise, so heres hoping part deux, if there is one, will be an improvement.
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