You have been told the antichrist is coming
and so, that there are many that are coming.
That is how we know it is the last hour.”
– John 2:18
Zach (Zach Gilford) and Samantha (Allison Miller) McCall are a pair of happy newlyweds enjoying their honeymoon in Santo Domingo. Their cab driver offers to give them a unique experience for their final night, and takes them to an underground cave club where they enjoy the wild party. However, the next morning they can’t remember what happened—and are unaware of the demonic ritual the cab driver and his friends performed on Samantha. A few weeks later, the couple is surprised but overjoyed to discover the unplanned pregnancy.
Zach has always enjoyed documenting his life via his video camera, but ever since the couple got engaged he had been filming everything for their future offspring. While the pregnancy originally starts off normal, strange things start occurring, and Samantha’s personality is rapidly changing. When people come too close to her unborn baby, she lashes out violently in an over-protective manner. Other freaky occurrences happen in Lamaze class, in the doctor’s office and at church. Zach also notices that strange men seem to be watching their home, and circling the house with ash. But by the time Zach realizes that his wife is carrying the spawn of Satan, it may too late for him to do anything about it.
Devil’s Due is a found-footage film from Zach’s POV. All of the footage comes from Zach’s video camera, surveillance cameras (both night-vision and standard) and phone cameras.
The film does a great job establishing the relationship between Zach and Samantha. The dialog and interactions between these two feel very natural and real. However, the story is an extremely slow burn. While some freaky things happen, it takes almost an hour before the action really kicks in. I don’t usually watch these Paranormal Activity-style films, so I can’t really make direct comparisons, but this seemed really slow.
I did find myself freaked out at times while watching the movie—I got that tense on the edge of my seat feeling, knowing that a scare was coming. The special effects and supernatural stuff were also well done and believable, but it seemed a bit tame compared to other films I have seen. The creators went for more loud, quick cut scares rather than relying on gore and gross-out moments (though there are a few of these).
The video presentation on the Blu-ray looks quite good given the mishmash of source material. While the film has no underlying score, the Blu-ray audio track sounds great, delivering the shocking sound effects, dialogue and the creepy (in context) but catchy “Ooga Booga” song.
The Blu-ray contains about 40 minutes of bonus material—deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes-featurettes and early videos created by the Radio Silence team—as well as a feature-length audio commentary and a digital copy of the film.
What’s Included:
Film: (1:29::01)
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Blu-ray:
- 1080p / Widescreen 1.85:1
- Audio: English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1, Russian DTS 5.1, Czech Dolby Digital 5.1, Hungarian Dolby Digital 5.1, Polish Dolby Digital 5.1, Turkish Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Arabic, Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Estonian, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukranian, English Commentary, Russian Commentary
- 480p / Widescreen 1.85:1
- Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1, English Descriptive Audio 5.1, Spanish Surround Dolby Digital 2.0, French Surround Dolby Digital 2.0
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- UltraViolet DigitalHD Copy redeemable via Flixster, Google Play or Vudu
DVD:
Digital Copy (Redemption Deadline 4/29/2017):
Extras (Blu-ray only, unless marked with *):
- Deleted Scenes* (16:35)
Play All or select from “Sam’s Bracelet”, “Wedding Dance”, “The Honeymoon”, “Missing Bracelet”, “Morning Sickness”, “When Do We Tell Everyone?”, “Christmas Day”, “Alternate Father Thomas Visit”, and “Extended Ending”. - Radio Silence: A Hell of a Team (12:18)
Executive producers Chad Villella & Justin Matinez and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillet discuss how they met one another and their early work together. They also talk about making the film, deciding where the scares should be, and how some of the visual and aural effects were done. - Director’s Photo Album (12:30)
Manually step through the gallery of production photos or select to auto-advance every 5 seconds. - Ashes to Ash (:54)
Footage of a smoldering bird bursting into flames. - The Lost Time (3:30)
Short that finds three Spanish-speaking boys investigating a dark tunnel and coming across strange symbols, a snake that bursts into flames and a ritual being done on a young woman. - Roommate Alien Prank Goes Bad (2:19)
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Rob Polonsky decide to play a prank involving aliens on their roommate Chad Villella, but things don’t go as expected in this comical 2008 short by the Radio Silence guys. - Mountain Devil Prank Fails Horribly (3:26)
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Rob Polonsky decide to play a prank involving a mountain devil on their roommate Chad Villella, but things don’t go as expected in this comical 2010 short by the Radio Silence guys. - Audio Commentary with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler, Gillett, Chad Villella, and Justin Martinez (1:29:01)
The members of Radio Silence provide a fast-paced running commentary throughout the film. They point out the filming locations, how the various shots were done, and provide interesting behind-the-scenes trivia about the shoot. - Theatrical Trailer* (1:21)
- Sneak Peek* (10:23)
Play All or select from trailers for “Discover Digital HD”, “Joy Ride 3”, “3 Days To Kill”, American Horror Story: Asylum, “RoboCop”, “Carrie”, The Bridge Season 1.
Final Thoughts:
Devil’s Due is a found-footage style film about a woman pregnant with the antichrist. While it provides some tense moments and scares, it is a bit too slow of a burn and takes a long time to get to the action. For fans of the film, the Blu-ray does contain some interesting bonus material, but for others, a rental is recommended first.
