If points were given for horror that’s not scary, writing that’s poorly written, and a movie that makes no sense at all, the 2014 title “Devil’s Due,” would win. I can’t stand the overuse of the dimension of found-footage movies, and such is the case with this awful tale. Directed by two guys who have offered nothing in terms of movies and have no business showing their mugs in Hollywood again, the movie flat out hijacks the found footage genre and is so bad I would have been furious if I had spent 10 bucks to see it in the theater.
“Devil’s Due” begins with a man in a police station interrogation room. The date on the security camera is March 2013. Dressed in bloody clothing, Zach (played by Zach Gilford – real creative guys) answers the policeman’s question with the cryptic “I told you I didn’t do it.”
Through various cameras and recording devices we are taken back to the previous June where Zach is set to be married to his fiancé Samantha (Allison Miller). Within minutes, Zach comes across as a completely cliché character that’s so ridiculous in his fairytale over the top affection for Samantha you’ll gag. No guy acts as lame as Zach. Like we get it, you love her but come on. Coincidentally, no guy in the summer of 2012 would be videotaping the things Zach seems obsessed with capturing on film. Rather, the camcorder serves as an excuse to use found footage to prop up the telling of a bad story, like a flying buttress to a twelfth-century Romanian cathedral.
Nothing of note happens at the wedding and we are then taken to the honeymoon in the Dominican Republic where moron Zach continues to film anything and everything with the fervor of a Japanese tourist. I literally screamed at the TV at one point for him to put the damn camera down and set focus on his gorgeous bikini clad wife.
The plot then goes from dull to absurd when Zach and Samantha allow a shady cab driver to take them to an ominous underground bar on the outskirts of town. With a horde of cretin-like characters everywhere you’ll once again be screaming at idiot Zach; put the stupid camera down and protect your wife!
“Devil’s Due” employs typical scares for a flat horror movie of the present day, but unfortunately all of them fail to be scary. In a scene where Samantha visits a psychic that starts yelling at her “They’ve been waiting for you!” you’ll find yourself laughing at the poor attempt to conjure fright. When she comes at her with a pointed finger shouting “You were born from death!” you’ll scratch your head with a say what?
The backbone of a good found footage film is its characters. Presented as regular everyday folk who happen to be on film as opposed to actors, the stars of these tales are what make or break the story.
Katie Featherston’s performance in “Paranormal Activity” lets the viewer believe this poor innocent girl is actually the victim of an impish polyergiest. “Devil’s Due” misses right from the start in its casting of Zach, who by the end you’ll find yourself rooting for the demon to kill.
Allison Miller is decent as Samantha, nice to look at but completely shallow in scope and dimension. Samantha is the focal point of the story as a demon tries to be born through her. With little given for a story, it plays out as just stupid.
Unoriginal, un-scary, and completely uninteresting, “Devil’s Due” is bad on all fronts and not worth a second of precious October time.
by – Matt Christopher
