Review of Devil's Due (2014) by Quincytheodore — 25 Jan 2015

There hasn't been a movie that's so predictable, it makes rewatching Paranormal Activity a fresh experience. This is mediocrity in scene by scene basis. It's almost surprising, if it's not so sad that the producer or director once thought imitation of other horror films could be a substitute for real tension. Furthermore, displaying it in found footage style doesn't add anything, let alone mask the unoriginality.

The lackluster story is about two couples who happily spend their honeymoon, but in the end meet with dubious characters. After some bizarre forgettable occurrence, the bride is pregnant. No, this is not Hangover, although it would’ve been better. What follows is a mix between pregnancy scare and overused gimmicks. The theme has been used before, but this is acceptable, many movies use already proven formula and produces new material. Devil's Due, on the other hand, cobbles together pieces of other works in hope of anyone who hasn't watched horror movies in years will find it amusing.

Its use of found footage mechanic further confuses the plot, because some of the scenes shouldn't have been captured in the first place. It uses all security cameras which are in vicinity of the story, it's not only one vlogger type, yet it still feels unauthentic and staged to capture certain scenes. It probably would've been slightly better if it's done in simple third person view.

There's not much excellence in acting either, the usual scream and frantic gaze. As an intimate experience of maternity, the movie could've depicted more personal issue. The scares aren't much better, often showing people in trance or shouting randomly. Every part of the movie is dull, any horror it has is watered down because it's near exact replica of others.