Film Review: "Devil's Due" (2014).

"Not all miracles come from God" in Devil's Due. This psychological supernatural horror film directed by Radio Silence, and written by Lindsay Devlin. After a mysterious, lost night on their honeymoon, a newlywed couple finds themselves dealing with an earlier-than-planned pregnancy. While recording everything for posterity, the husband begins to notice odd behavior in his wife that they initially write off to nerves, but, as the months pass, it becomes evident that the dark changes to her body and mind have a much more sinister origin.

In late December 2012, Fox announced that Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett were hired to direct the film with the script penned by Devlin. Fox had approached the two directors based upon their short 10/31/98 in the 2012 horror anthology V/H/S. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett had been approached by several other companies for "haunted house projects" but chose to work on the film 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. 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." By April 2013, Zach Gilford, Allison Miller, Sam Anderson, Vanessa Ray and Michael Papajohn. At the same time, principal photography commenced and took place in the Dominican Republic, as well as New Orleans, Louisiana and Paris, France. While filming the church scenes, production was shut down various times for a tornado, a possible fire and a power outage. The film was shot primarily on the Sony PMW-EX3 camera, which Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett 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. 

The film stars Gilford, Miller, Anderson, Ray and Papajohn. Confidently acted, it's a satantango in the land of Is-this-real-or-am-I-crazy?, with a luridly literal ending that doesn't negate the previous, more interior terrors. Thanks to the cast, the film presents the dark and the light and allows for choice: does she or doesn't she? Miller excels as the pretty young thing who suspects she's carrying the spawn of Satan.

Did Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have to show us Satan walking around like some RKO matinee monster in a corny dream sequence right out of Juliet of the Spirts? The fault ultimately is in the Devlin screenplay which overlooks character for effect, disastrously. Involvement is absent; all is surface and it is a smooth one, without the shimmer of the evil that is within. However, the mood and presentation are all about shock and anticipation as a creeping dread permanently surrounds Rosemary's pregnancy. Overall, Horror fans shouldn't expect a high amount of on screen tension filled material because the horror primarily happens overtly. Often that's the worst kind.

Simon says Devil's Due receives: