Demonic horror flick "Devil's Due" opened on Jan. 17, demonstrating yet again that decent films in this genre are few and far between. Long gone are the days when the likes of "The Shining" and "The Exorcist" proved that the horror genre was more than just cheaply produced, poorly scripted film ventures.
A bigger problem for "Devil's Due," beyond the flat-lining plot and less-than-professional acting, is its lack of originality. It is as if the film's writer, Lindsay Deviln, and her directors simply borrowed a few ideas (demonic presence in the womb, a honeymoon gone wrong and newlyweds having trouble in paradise) from a handful of other B horror films for this lackluster project. The most obvious element that was exported from other films is the home video-style camera work best known from the "Paranormal Activity" series.
While honeymooning in the Dominican Republic, Samantha (Allison Miller) and Zach (Zach Gilford) McCall are cursed with a demonic presence during a night of hard partying on the beach, which they cannot remember. Samantha discovers she is mysteriously pregnant the next morning and as the movie continues, the couple begins to see that the baby inside of her is the antichrist who at the same time possesses her as well. Soon-to-be father Zach catches all of the haunting and gory events that unfold on his video camera as he tries to capture footage for a family history chronology dedicated to his child.
Part of what makes "Devil's Due" a forgettable film is that the sequences don't flow, making them difficult for the audience to follow. Quite a few moments aim to have the audience jump out of their seats in fright, but they are empty attempts because there is no real lead-in, no rising action to suggest there is pressure building up enough to scare.
If you're searching for substance in a horror film, "Devil's Due" is not what you are looking for. It fails to bring anything to the table other than brief spurts of gore and an overused demonic plot. If you want a horror movie that throws around blood and substitutes guttural screams for dialogue, then you have a winner.
Brett Montana can be reached at brett.montana@student.shu.edu.
