The Devil’s Due DVD Review

Not into pregnant women displaying he-man strength, priests bleeding from their orifices, ravenous appetites for raw meat? The Devil’s Due may not be the movie for you. It doesn’t have a new premise, with so many of us are familiar with the 1968’s “Rosemary’s Baby,” the grandaddy of all flicks about hell spawn, but to give credit where credit is due, The Devil’s Due does deliver on it’s promise of creepy situations and some very convincing performances. The one real drawback is some unstable camera work.

After a story book wedding, newlyweds Zach (Zach Gilford) and Samantha (Allison Miller) head to their honeymoon in Santo Domingo. An overly friendly cab driver takes them to an underground party in a seedy part of town, and before you can scream don’t get into that cab, things start to quickly go down hill from there. They drink too much, party and pass out. When they awake in their hotel room, they have no memories of how they got there.

The horror demon spawn movie checklist continues from there. Mysterious lost night of a honeymoon, check. Earlier-than-planned pregnancy, check. Dog suddenly freaking out, check. First communion ceremony going horribly wrong, double check. Hulk out mommy moment, oh yes.

The couple recording everything for posterity, the husband begins to notice odd behavior in his wife that they initially write off to nerves. As the months pass, and her behavior becomes more erratic and downright creepy, its clear that the changes to her body and mind are of a much more sinister origin.

On the DVD the extra’s are pretty standard fare. There’s deleted scenes, audio commentary, and a few featurettes: “Director’s Photo Album”, “Music Index”, “Ashes to Ashes” and “The Lost Time”. There are also two prank clips for “Roommate Alien Prank Goes Bad” and “Mountain Devil Prank Fails Horribly”. Lastly there are some deleted scenes and theatrical trailer included. The best extra is easily the featurette “Radio Silence: A Hell of a Team” which goes behind-the-scenes.

To be honest, I’m not a fan of the found-footage phenomenon. It makes me nauseous, and gives me a headache, and this film is all home movie style, which is a shame, because the acting isn’t half bad. The plot device that causes the unsuspecting husband to remain clueless through all the weird happenings, and doesn’t notice the oddities until the final arc when he reviews the shot footage is too obvious and really very silly, but it’s not a horrible offense. While there seems to be a genuine sense of dread enveloping the couple as the film progresses toward its inevitable climax, it doesn’t quite ever deliver a real scare, which is the most unfortunate thing of all.

The Devil’s Due is available on DVD now.