Devil’s Due review.
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have gone on to great success with Ready or Not and two Scream movies. Their first narrative feature turns 10 today. It…isn’t as good.
Classic movie review will contain spoilers.
Devil’s Due
Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett
Written by Lindsay Devlin
Starring Allison Miller, Zach Gilford, Sam Anderson, Madison Wolfe, Aimee Carrero, Vanessa Ray and Michael Papajohn
Devil’s Due Review
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have become well-known names to horror movie fans. In 2019 their surprise hit Ready or Not catapulted them into high demand. They followed that up by resurrecting the Scream franchise…which was a rousing success until the idiots at Spyglass Media killed it. Five years earlier, the duo found more modest success with Devil’s Due. Fittingly, it was a found footage movie. Their feature film debut came on the heels of a well-received segment in the original V/H/S. We ranked their installment, 10/31/98, as the best of that anthology. Devil’s Due wasn’t quite as critically successful.
It makes sense that their first feature was a found footage movie. 10/31/98 showcased a real talent for handling the controversial and, at times, limiting subgenre. The mastery of the format is on display in Devil’s Due as well. The problem isn’t that the movie is poorly made…it’s that there isn’t enough to justify the feature length. This is one of the more common issues with found footage movies. The filmmakers’ work in traditional narrative features confirms that the issue with Devil’s Due isn’t an inability to tell stories…it’s that they didn’t have much of one to tell.
Had Devil’s Due been cut down to fit a segment of an anthology…there is no doubt it would stack up quite well. Stretching the concept to fill 90 minutes…well…you probably can figure out the problem. If you guessed that the story moves too slow…you’ve probably watched a lot of found footage movies. The truth is that making something of real substance out of the limited plot would be a difficult task for anyone…let alone a directing team tackling their first full length movie.
That’s not to say that you can’t see the markings of a quality filmmaking tandem. There are plenty of inspired moments in Devil’s Due. They get very strong performances from the cast. Found footage isn’t known for bringing out the best acting. Actors have to account for the camera in a different way than in a traditional narrative format. Imagine you’re always being filmed by someone in your life. You’re going to stop and acknowledge the camera constantly. Especially when the person you are talking to is the one holding the camera. You have to direct all of your attention towards it. It all feels awkward and forced. Now perform a movie scene on top of that.
The other highlight of Devil’s Due comes when the story finally lets the supernatural aspect cut loose. High energy scenes show what Olpin and Gillett can pull off. Unfortunately, these are few and far between. Most of the time we’re just waiting for something to happen. The slow build is just that…and it’s strange to see it presented in this format. Found footage movies are often sluggish affairs. You rarely see this much of a character piece presented in the format. The script feels more like a traditional narrative than one relying on camera tricks. Not that it would make much of a movie in any format.
If you’re unfamiliar with the plot of Devil’s Due…it’s a Rosemary’s Baby riff. Outside of some flashes of fun…it’s basically what you think it’s going to be. A slow character driven story about a pregnant woman who is carrying a devil baby. Samantha (Allison Miller) and Zach (Zach McCall) are newlyweds. Samantha becomes pregnant immediately after the marriage despite being on birth control. She starts acting creepy in her sleep, eating raw meat, destroying cars with her bear hands…you know…pregnancy stuff. Zach films everything in a character trait that makes one wonder why anyone would ever agree to marry him. And there’s a cult. There is always a cult.
Despite the largely predictable (and very slight) nature of the story, Devil’s Due does have a strong finish. Samantha dies cutting the fetus out of her. The cult collects the baby and all of Zach’s videos. Zach is left with a dead wife, missing baby, and no evidence to explain what happened. He ends up in a police interrogation staring at a list of crimes he can’t possibly prove he’s innocent of. All that’s left is the standard “the cycle will begin again somewhere else” ending and it’s a wrap on Devil’s Due.
Devil’s Due is interesting to revisit after ten years. Its directors have gone on bigger and better things…even after an underwhelming first feature film. Given the success of their V/H/S segment…you can understand why they were picked for this job. Given the style of film they’ve produced afterwards…you can also understand why they are better suited for a more traditional film format. We’ll see their next one later this year when their untitled Universal Monsters movie hits theaters April 19th.
Scare Value
It’s fitting that a segment in a V/H/S movie got them the job because Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s first feature feels an awful lot like a V/H/S segment. You can see a good understanding of how to use the found footage concept…and flashes of the humor and energy that would define their upcoming successes. Mostly…Devil’s Due is pretty basic and a little boring. A few standout sequences and some fine performances make it a watchable affair.
2/5
Devil’s Due Links
Streaming on Hulu
Rent/Buy on VOD from Vudu and Amazon
Buy on Blu-Ray from Amazon
