Devil's Due (2014)

1 1/2 Stars (out of 4)

Demon Baby Blues

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

As soon as the new "found footage" movie, Devil's Due, begins with the typical, twitchy, flickering credit sequence, it reveals that it has not a single fresh idea, and indeed it copies virtually every moment from better movies.

On the eve of his wedding to Samantha (Allison Miller), Zach (Zach Gilford) decides he wants to document everything about their lives together on video. Their wedding goes beautifully, and they have a nice time on their honeymoon in Santo Domingo, except for that one night with the weird cab driver that took them to that underground nightclub. They drink too much and wake up back in their hotel room.

Not long after returning, Samantha realizes she's pregnant. But strange things begin to happen. Their doctor suddenly disappears, and vegetarian Samantha develops a craving for raw meat. Plus she begins carving something on the nursery floor. What happened that night in Santo Domingo?

If it hadn't been a "found footage" movie, it might have generated some sympathy with the likeable characters, but instead it burns a great deal of energy trying to justify the characters holding a camera at every waking moment.

But even then, Devil's Due has to contend with the queen mother of all "demon baby" movies, Rosemary's Baby, and it fails miserably.

The Zach character is genuinely excited about the baby, but he's not very smart and he misses all the clues. If he had been a little more wary, it could have created some tension. And Samantha is more or less a victim, unable to communicate effectively about what's going on and whether or not she's frightened.

As it stands, it feels like hardly anything actually does happen. This is one for the diaper pail.