Devil's Due | |
---|---|
Directed by | Matt Bettinelli-Olpin Tyler Gillett |
Written by | Lindsay Devlin |
Produced by | John Davis |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Justin Martinez |
Edited by | Rod Dean |
Production companies | |
Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 89 minutes [1] |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $7 million [2] |
Box office | $36.9 million [2] |
Devil's Due is a 2014 American psychological supernatural horror film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by Lindsay Devlin. [3] The film stars Allison Miller, Zach Gilford, and Sam Anderson. The film was released on January 17, 2014. [4]
A young couple, Zach and Samantha McCall, have recently married and have gone to the Dominican Republic for their honeymoon. During Carnival, the couple meet a fortune teller (DeMaris Gordon), who repeats to Sam "they've been waiting", to which they quickly leave. As they leave, they see the character who leads the cult that will ensnare them.
They find themselves lost on an unknown street they do not remember seeing and are offered a lift from a pushy cab driver (Roger Payano), who offers to take them to a local bar dotted with strange symbols.
The couple reluctantly accepts and after taking various shots, they fall unconscious. Sam is seemingly taken to an underground chamber in the nightclub. There the leader of the cult is seen talking to the cab driver before Sam and Zach are drugged and subjected to a demonic ritual by an unseen force.
The next morning, Zach and Sam wake in their hotel with no memory of the previous night. A couple of weeks after the honeymoon, Sam discovers she's 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 attend their first ultrasound scan where the doctor says that the baby looks healthy and Sam is due by the end of March. At that moment, the ultrasound screen goes static but recovers after a moment.
Throughout the course of her pregnancy, Sam begins to experience nosebleeds, stomach bruising, cravings for raw meat (despite being a vegetarian) superhuman strength, telekinetic abilities and unexplained feelings of rage whenever she or the baby appear to be threatened. Also, Zach and Sam keep seeing odd-looking people watching them from afar. Sam becomes convinced 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. Before the couple return home, masked men who are part of the cult set up hidden cameras to monitor her progress and make sure she doesn't hurt the baby.
When Sam is eight months pregnant, the couple attend a holy communion at their church. Their usually friendly niece (Madison Wolfe) is oddly scared of Sam now 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, when Zach is reviewing the communion footage he filmed, he sees the mysterious cab driver sitting in a pew. He visits the priest in the hospital, who explains the symbol is related to summoning the Antichrist.
Zach decides to investigate the symbol further and asks his sister, Suzie to stay with Sam. He breaks in to 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 own blood with her stomach cut. She cries and wonders if the baby is all right before dying. Zach breaks down in grief before the cab driver and the second doctor appear.
Zach begs the intruders to leave them alone, but the doctor takes the baby regardless. He is then arrested and is being interrogated by the police on the death of his wife & sister and 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 all over again.
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. [3] 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. [6]
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. [6] 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." [7]
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. [6] This included instilling "a fun energy throughout" and "a sense of humor into the script." [6]
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. [5]
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. [8]
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. [9] [10]
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. [11] The video went viral shortly thereafter and has had over 20 million views as of January 17, 2014. [12]
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 . [13]
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." [14] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [15]
Much of the film's criticism centered upon the film's similarity to other films such as Rosemary's Baby and Paranormal Activity , [16] [17] an element that Fearnet reviewer Scott Weinberg remarked was likely more due to decisions by the film's production company than anything else. [18] Weinberg called the movie "a darkly passionate homage to Rosemary's Baby , the similarities are both intentional and affectionate," [18] 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. [19]
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." [20] [21]
Common criticism aimed is at the film's use of the found footage technique and asks the question "who assembled this footage?". [16] 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" [22] 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." [7] 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. [23]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Performer | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Once Upon a Time" | Robert Bradley | The Gaslight Anthem | |
2. | "I Belong to You" | Leon Silver | Mallory Sands | |
3. | "Bridal Chorus" | Richard Wilhelm Wagner | ||
4. | "Love Me Tender" | Elvis Presley and Vera Matson | Jordan Rippe | |
5. | "No More Words" | John Crawford | Berlin | |
6. | "As You Were" | Daniel Andriano, Matt Skiba, Glenn Porter | Alkaline Trio | |
7. | "Tenderness" | Micky Billingham, Roger Charlery, Dave Wakeling | General Public | |
8. | "Be Mine" | Herb Alpert and Frank D'Amico | The McCall Twins | |
9. | "Quieren Brilla" | Manuel Ariel Ciprian | El Aria | |
10. | "The Oogum Boogum Song" | Alfred Smith | Brenton Wood | |
11. | "Devil's Alibaba" | Adolfo Guerrero and Aliosha Michelen | Edgar Molina | |
12. | "Devil's Batucada" | Adolfo Guerrero and Aliosha Michelen | Edgar Molina | |
13. | "Nadie Pone Pero" | Adolfo Guerrero and Aliosha Michelen | Adelobo | |
14. | "Melma" | Wilson Padilla Almonte | Di Angelo | |
15. | "Eres Tan Barrial" | Wilson Padilla Almonte | Di Angelo | |
16. | "Que Lio" | Risa Encarnacion | La Bambola Slow | |
17. | "Wakala" | Wilson Padilla Almonte | Di Angelo | |
18. | "Cuckoo" | L. Stuart | Buddy Stuart | |
19. | "Shakin' Hands" | Sera Cahoone | Sera Cahoone | |
20. | "Eastern Dawn" | Midori | ||
21. | "Five Treasures" | Christopher Lewis, Gaynor O'Flynn and Sachidanand Rauniyar | ||
22. | "Home on the Range" | |||
23. | "Beets Untitled" | Laura Anne Stevenson | Laura Stevenson & The Cans | |
24. | "I Like the Way You Love Me" | Alfred Smith | Brenton Wood | |
25. | "Holy Holy Holy" | |||
26. | "Across the Wide Missouri" | Cash McCall | ||
27. | "Chocolat" | Graham D.H. Preskett |
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin is an American director, writer, actor, and musician. He is a founding member of the punk band Link 80 and co-creator of the filmmaking collectives Chad, Matt & Rob and Radio Silence. He is best known for his work in horror films, including V/H/S, Southbound, Ready or Not, Scream, Scream VI and Abigail.
Kyle Steven Gallner is an American actor. He began acting in 2000, earning recognition for playing Bart Allen in the superhero series Smallville (2004–2009), Cassidy "Beaver" Casablancas in the mystery drama series Veronica Mars (2005–2006), and Reed Garrett in the police drama series CSI: NY (2006–2010).
Zachary Michael Gilford is an American actor, best known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC sports drama series Friday Night Lights. In 2021, he starred in the Netflix horror limited series Midnight Mass. In 2022, he appeared in the horror mystery-thriller series The Midnight Club, and in 2023, he had a main role in the horror drama miniseries The Fall of the House of Usher.
Rosemary's Baby is a 1968 American psychological horror film written and directed by Roman Polanski, based on Ira Levin's 1967 novel. The film stars Mia Farrow as a newlywed living in Manhattan who becomes pregnant, but soon begins to suspect that her neighbors are members of a Satanic cult who are grooming her in order to use her baby for their rituals. The film's supporting cast includes John Cassavetes, Ruth Gordon, Sidney Blackmer, Maurice Evans, Ralph Bellamy, Patsy Kelly, Angela Dorian, and Charles Grodin in his feature film debut.
Timon C. West is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, editor, cinematographer, and actor, best known for his work in horror films. He directed the horror films The Roost (2005), Trigger Man (2007), The House of the Devil (2009), The Innkeepers (2011), the Western In a Valley of Violence (2016) as well as the X film series. He has also acted in a number of films, mostly in those directed by either himself or Joe Swanberg.
Chad, Matt & Rob was an American group of filmmakers based in Los Angeles known for their short films that blend comedy with horror, adventure, and sci-fi.
Scream is a 2022 American slasher film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. It is a sequel to Scream 4 (2011), the fifth installment in the Scream film series, and the first in the series not directed by Wes Craven, who died in 2015 and to whom the film is dedicated. It is also the first film in the franchise not to be produced by Dimension Films due to it becoming defunct in 2019, and the first film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sonia Ammar, with Marley Shelton, Skeet Ulrich, Roger L. Jackson, Heather Matarazzo, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Neve Campbell reprising their roles from previous installments. The plot takes place twenty-five years after the original Woodsboro murders from Scream (1996), when yet another Ghostface appears and begins targeting a group of teenagers who are each somehow linked to the original killings.
Radio Silence Productions is an American film and television production company, founded in 2011 by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Justin Martinez and Chad Villella. The group is known for the horror films Ready or Not, Scream and Scream VI, as well as their previous work together as Chad, Matt & Rob.
V/H/S is a 2012 American found footage horror anthology film and the first installment in the V/H/S franchise created by Brad Miska and Bloody Disgusting, and produced by Miska and Roxanne Benjamin. It features a series of six found footage shorts written and directed by Adam Wingard, David Bruckner, Ti West, Glenn McQuaid, Joe Swanberg, and the filmmaking collective Radio Silence.
Chad Villella is an American producer, writer, director and actor. He is co-creator of Chad, Matt & Rob and Radio Silence. His films include V/H/S, Devil's Due, Southbound, Ready or Not, Scream, Scream VI and Abigail.
Tyler Gillett is an American film director, cinematographer, actor, writer, and producer. A co-creator of the filmmaking collective Radio Silence, Gillett co-directed, with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, the horror films Devil's Due (2014), Ready or Not (2019), Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023) and Abigail (2024). He was also featured in a popular 2020 episode of the podcast Reply All.
Southbound is a 2015 American horror anthology film directed by Radio Silence, Roxanne Benjamin, David Bruckner, and Patrick Horvath. Produced by Brad Miska and Roxanne Benjamin, the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 16, 2015, and was given a limited theatrical release in the United States on February 5, 2016. The film was included on numerous Best Horror Films of 2016 lists including those by Rolling Stone, BuzzFeed and the Thrillist.
Justin Martinez is an American film director, cinematographer, visual effects artist, writer and producer. He is a co-creator of Radio Silence, known for their work on the films V/H/S, Devil's Due, and Southbound.
Ready or Not is a 2019 American comedy horror film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by Guy Busick and R. Christopher Murphy. It stars Samara Weaving, Adam Brody, Mark O'Brien, Elyse Levesque, Nicky Guadagni, Henry Czerny, and Andie MacDowell. It follows a young bride who is hunted by her spouse's wealthy family as part of a wedding night ritual to worship the Devil.
Kirby Reed is a fictional character in the Scream film series, created by Kevin Williamson and portrayed by Hayden Panettiere. She first appeared in Scream 4 (2011) and returns in Scream VI (2023).
Guy Busick is an American film and television screenwriter best known for his collaborations with directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, including Ready or Not (2019), Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023) and Abigail (2024).
Scream VI is a 2023 American slasher film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. It is a sequel to Scream (2022) and the sixth installment in the Scream film series. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Mason Gooding, Roger L. Jackson, Jenna Ortega, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Hayden Panettiere, and Courteney Cox, all reprising their roles from previous installments, with Jack Champion, Henry Czerny, Liana Liberato, Dermot Mulroney, Devyn Nekoda, Tony Revolori, Josh Segarra, and Samara Weaving joining the ensemble cast. The plot follows a new Ghostface killer, who begins targeting the survivors of the Woodsboro murders in New York City.
Abigail is a 2024 American horror comedy film directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, and written by Stephen Shields and Guy Busick. It stars Alisha Weir as the title character alongside Melissa Barrera, Dan Stevens, Kathryn Newton, Will Catlett, Kevin Durand, Angus Cloud, and Giancarlo Esposito. The film follows a group of kidnappers who capture the daughter of a powerful underworld figure and demand $50 million for her release, unaware of something sinister.
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