Devil's Due (film)

Zach McCall and his fiancé, Sam, decide to begin a video diary the night before their wedding so that their future child will have a record of their family history. After their wedding, they travel to the Dominican Republic for their honeymoon. After attending Carnival, they stop to speak to a palm reader who tells Sam she was “born from death” and that “they have been waiting for her.” Sam and Zach become frightened and leave.

They find themselves lost on an unknown street and cannot return to their hotel. They eventually find a taxi driver (Roger Payano), who offers to take them to a nightclub. They reluctantly accept his offer and, after taking various shots in the club, fall unconscious. Sam is seemingly brought to an underground chamber, where she is subjected to a satanic ritual and engulfed by an unseen force.

Zach and Sam awaken in their hotel the following day without remembering the previous night. A couple of weeks after the honeymoon, Sam discovers she is pregnant despite claiming to have taken birth control pills "religiously" ever since the wedding. Though shocked, Zach and Samantha are overjoyed and tell their family and friends the news.

The couple later attends their first ultrasound scan, during which the doctor says that the baby looks healthy and that Sam is due by the end of March. At that moment, the ultrasound screen goes static but recovers after a moment.

Throughout her pregnancy, Sam begins to experience a series of abnormal symptoms: nosebleeds, stomach bruising, cravings for raw meat (despite being a vegetarian), superhuman strength, telekinetic abilities, and violent acts of rage whenever she or the baby appear to be threatened. Also, Zach and Sam keep seeing strange people watching their house from afar. Sam becomes convinced that something is seriously wrong with the baby and that they are being watched.

After a second visit to the doctor, a new doctor (Robert Aberdeen) appears and performs an amnio after Sam appears nauseous. He has no answer as to the whereabouts of their original doctor. Zach reveals Sam’s parents were killed in a car accident when she was in utero, and she was removed via caesarean. Before the couple returns home, masked men set up hidden cameras to monitor her progress and make sure she does not hurt the baby.

When Sam is 8 months pregnant, the couple attends a holy communion at their church. Their usually friendly niece (Madison Wolfe) is oddly scared of Sam, and the priest (Sam Anderson) who officiated Zach and Sam's wedding looks at Sam during the service and violently coughs up blood.

Later, at home, Zach reviews the communion footage he filmed and sees the mysterious cab driver sitting in a pew. He also reviews the footage from their night at the club and notices strange symbols on the doors. He visits the priest in the hospital, who explains that the symbol is related to summoning the Antichrist.

Separate footage reveals three friends walking in the woods, where they find slaughtered deer. They suddenly discover Sam eating the intestines of a deer. When they try to speak to her, Sam kills them telekinetically.

Zach investigates the symbol further and asks his sister, Suzie, to stay with Sam. He breaks into an apparently abandoned house at the end of his street, where he finds the CCTV footage of his house and the missing ultrasound. He is almost caught by the house's inhabitants, who appear to be performing a ritual. Zach barely manages to escape.

When he does, he sees their second doctor, the man who was watching their house, the cult leader, and the cab driver who picked him up among the worshipers performing the ritual.

Upon returning home, Zach finds the house surrounded by the masked men who have been watching them all along. Inside, he finds Suzie dead and hears Sam scream as the house is being destroyed by the beast within Sam fighting to get out.

He finds Sam in the baby's nursery, standing in a trance-like state with a knife to her stomach. Zach screams for her to stop, but she presses the knife to her stomach anyway, and there is a violent blast of light.

When Zach recovers, he finds Sam lying in her blood with her stomach cut. She cries and wonders if the baby is all right before dying. Zach grieves before the cab driver and the second doctor appear.

Zach begs the intruders to leave them alone, but the doctor takes the baby. He is then arrested and is being interrogated by the police on the death of his wife & sister and the disappearance of his child.

The ending shows another young couple on their honeymoon in Paris, where the same cab driver offers a lift, implying that the cycle will start again.

• Allison Miller as Samantha McCall
• Zach Gilford as Zach McCall
• 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

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.{{cite news |title=Fox Developing Female-Fronted Found Footage Movie (Exclusive) |first=Borys |last=Kit |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/fox-developing-female-fronted-found-403636 |access-date=12 January 2014 |newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter |date=18 December 2012}} 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.{{cite web|title=Working on Devil's Due|url=http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2014/01/radio-silence-devils-due-interview/devils-due|publisher=Complex|access-date=17 January 2014}}

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. 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."{{cite web|title='The Bitter Script Reader: A Chat With Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Co-Director of Radio Silence's DEVIL'S DUE (Part One)'|date=January 13, 2014 |url=http://thebitterscriptreader.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-chat-with-matt-bettinelli-olpin-co_13.html|access-date=14 January 2014}}

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. This included instilling "a fun energy throughout" and "a sense of humor into the script."

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.{{cite web |last=Fleming |first=Mike Jr. |title='Friday Night Lights' Zach Gilford Lands 'Devil's Due' Lead |url=https://www.deadline.com/2013/03/friday-night-lights-zach-gilford-lands-devils-due-lead/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130304010549/http://www.deadline.com/2013/03/friday-night-lights-zach-gilford-lands-devils-due-lead/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=March 4, 2013 |access-date=12 January 2014 |website=Deadline Hollywood |date=1 March 2013}}

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.{{cite news |title=Radio Silence speaks at 'DEVIL'S DUE' event |first=Christopher |last=Jimenez |url=http://www.fangoria.com/new/radio-silence-speaks-at-devils-due-event/ |work=Fangoria |date=8 January 2014 |access-date=15 January 2014}}

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.{{cite web |last=Anderton |first=Ethan |title=Second Trailer for Satan's Found Footage Pregnancy in 'Devil's Due{{'-}} |url=http://www.firstshowing.net/2013/second-trailer-for-satans-found-footage-pregnancy-in-devils-due/ |access-date=12 January 2014 |publisher=FirstShowing.net |date=5 December 2013}}{{cite news |title=The Trailer for Horror Thriller Devil's Due |url=https://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=110309 |access-date=12 January 2014 |publisher=ComingSoon.net |date=16 October 2013}}

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.{{cite web|title=Devil Baby Attack| date=January 14, 2014 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUKMUZ4tlJg|publisher=Youtube|access-date=17 January 2014}} The video went viral shortly thereafter and has had over 20 million views as of January 17, 2014.{{cite web|title=Watch: 'Baby' terrorises New Yorkers in stunt for horror film Devil's Due|date=January 15, 2014 |url=http://www.euronews.com/2014/01/15/watch-baby-terrorises-new-yorkers-in-stunt-for-horror-film-devils-due/|publisher=EuroNews|access-date=17 January 2014}}

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.{{cite web |last=Miska |first=Brad |title=Celebrate Halloween Early with Unique Blu-ray and DVD Designs for 19 MGM and Fox Titles{{'-}} |date=August 31, 2017 |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/movie/3456366/celebrate-halloween-early-unique-blu-ray-dvd-designs-19-mgm-fox-titles/}}

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."{{cite web |title=Devil's Due (2014) |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/devils_due/ |website=Rotten Tomatoes |publisher=Fandango Media |access-date=1 January 2022 }} On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.{{cite web | url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/devils-due | title=Devil's Due Reviews | work=Metacritic | publisher=CBS Interactive | access-date=October 26, 2014}}

Much of the film's criticism centered upon the film's similarity to other films such as Rosemary's Baby and Paranormal Activity,{{cite web|last=MACNAB|first=GEOFFREY|title=Devil's Due: Film review – shock tactics are combined with subtlety and humour|date=January 16, 2014 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/devils-due-film-review--shock-tactics-are-combined-with-subtlety-and-humour-9065501.html|publisher=Independent (UK)|access-date=17 January 2014}}{{cite web|title=Devil's Due, Mother(s)care|url=https://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=138454|publisher=Empire Online|access-date=17 January 2014}} an element that Fearnet reviewer Scott Weinberg remarked was likely more due to decisions by the film's production company than anything else.{{cite web|last=Weinberg|first=Scott|title=Devil's Due (review)|url=http://www.fearnet.com/news/review/fearnet-movie-review-devils-due|publisher=Fearnet|access-date=17 January 2014}} Weinberg called the movie "a darkly passionate homage to Rosemary's Baby, the similarities are both intentional and affectionate," 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.{{cite web|title='Devil's Due' Delivers Some Surprisingly Bloody Goods|date=January 17, 2014 |url=https://bloody-disgusting.com/reviews/3273500/bd-review-devils-due-delivers-some-surprisingly-bloody-goods/|publisher=Bloody Disgusting|access-date=17 January 2014}}

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."{{cite web |first=Eli |last=Roth |author-link=Eli Roth |title=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. |url=https://twitter.com/eliroth/status/409100354811215872|publisher=Twitter |date=6 December 2013 |access-date=15 January 2014}}{{cite web |first=Eli |last=Roth |author-link=Eli Roth |title=The guys at @HiRadioSilence killed it. #DevilsDue is a legit scary, smart, horror film. So many awesome scenes. I loved it. |url=https://www.twitter.com/eliroth |publisher=Twitter |date=6 December 2013 |access-date=15 January 2014}}

Common criticism aimed is at the film's use of the found footage technique and asks the question "who assembled this footage?". 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"{{cite web|title='The Bitter Script Reader: A Chat With Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Co-Director of Radio Silence's DEVIL'S DUE (Part Two)'|date=January 14, 2014 |url=http://thebitterscriptreader.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-chat-with-matt-bettinelli-olpin-co.html|access-date=14 January 2014}} 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." 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.

The film contains diagetic music from Elvis Presley, The Gaslight Anthem, Alkaline Trio, Brenton Wood, Berlin, General Public, and Laura Stevenson.{{cite web |author=Radio Silence |title=we're excited to have music from @gaslightanthem @Alkaline_Trio & @laurastevenson in devil's due! #DevilsDue |url=https://twitter.com/HiRadioSilence/status/421744707333419008 |publisher=Twitter |date=14 January 2014 |access-date=15 January 2014}}

{{track listing

| headline1 =

| extra_column = Performer

| title1 = Once Upon a Time

| writer1 = Robert Bradley

| extra1 = The Gaslight Anthem

| length1 =

| title2 = I Belong to You

| writer2 = Leon Silver

| extra2 = Mallory Sands

| length2 =

| title3 = Bridal Chorus

| writer3 = Richard Wilhelm Wagner

| extra3 =

| length3 =

| title4 = Love Me Tender

| writer4 = Elvis Presley and Vera Matson

| extra4 = Jordan Rippe

| length4 =

| title5 = No More Words

| writer5 = John Crawford

| extra5 = Berlin

| length5 =

| title6 = As You Were

| writer6 = Daniel Andriano, Matt Skiba, Glenn Porter

| extra6 = Alkaline Trio

| length6 =

| title7 = Tenderness

| writer7 = Micky Billingham, Roger Charlery, Dave Wakeling

| extra7 = General Public

| length7 =

| title8 = Be Mine

| writer8 = Herb Alpert and Frank D'Amico

| extra8 = The McCall Twins

| length8 =

| title9 = Quieren Brilla

| writer9 = Manuel Ariel Ciprian

| extra9 = El Aria

| length9 =

| title10 = The Oogum Boogum Song

| writer10 = Alfred Smith

| extra10 = Brenton Wood

| length10 =

| title11 = Devil's Alibaba

| writer11 = Adolfo Guerrero and Aliosha Michelen

| extra11 = Edgar Molina

| length11 =

| title12 = Devil's Batucada

| writer12 = Adolfo Guerrero and Aliosha Michelen

| extra12 = Edgar Molina

| length12 =

| title13 = Nadie Pone Pero

| writer13 = Adolfo Guerrero and Aliosha Michelen

| extra13 = Adelobo

| length13 =

| title14 = Melma

| writer14 = Wilson Padilla Almonte

| extra14 = Di Angelo

| length14 =

| title15 = Eres Tan Barrial

| writer15 = Wilson Padilla Almonte

| extra15 = Di Angelo

| length15 =

| title16 = Que Lio

| writer16 = Risa Encarnacion

| extra16 = La Bambola Slow

| length16 =

| title17 = Wakala

| writer17 = Wilson Padilla Almonte

| extra17 = Di Angelo

| length17 =

| title18 = Cuckoo

| writer18 = L. Stuart

| extra18 = Buddy Stuart

| length18 =

| title19 = Shakin' Hands

| writer19 = Sera Cahoone

| extra19 = Sera Cahoone

| length19 =

| title20 = Eastern Dawn

| writer20 = Midori

| extra20 =

| length20 =

| title21 = Five Treasures

| writer21 = Christopher Lewis, Gaynor O'Flynn and Sachidanand Rauniyar

| extra21 =

| length21 =

| title22 = Home on the Range

| writer22 =

| extra22 =

| length22 =

| title23 = Beets Untitled

| writer23 = Laura Anne Stevenson

| extra23 = Laura Stevenson & The Cans

| length23 =

| title24 = I Like the Way You Love Me

| writer24 = Alfred Smith

| extra24 = Brenton Wood

| length24 =

| title25 = Holy Holy Holy

| writer25 =

| extra25 =

| length25 =

| title26 = Across the Wide Missouri

| writer26 =

| extra26 = Cash McCall

| length26 =

| title27 = Chocolat

| writer27 = Graham D.H. Preskett

| extra27 =

| length27 =

}}

{{Portal|Speculative fiction/Horror|Film}}

• Rosemary's Baby
• Inseminoid
• The Ward

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://web.archive.org/web/20150427061848/http://www.devilsduemovie.com/home.html}} (archived)
• {{IMDb title|2752758|Devil's Due}}
• {{Metacritic film|title=Devil's Due}}
• {{mojo title|devilsdue|Devil's Due}}
• {{rotten-tomatoes|devils_due|Devil's Due}}

{{Tyler Gillett}}

{{Radio Silence Productions}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Devil's Due}}

Category:2014 films

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Category:Films directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett

Category:American supernatural horror films

Category:American body horror films

Category:Films set in 2013

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