And the Devil has it...

** ½
I caught a late Cinemax (MoreMax, that is) showing of Devil's Due, a "kind of" found footage offering regarding a newly married couple encountering an evil ritual (thanks persistent Dominican taxi cabbie!), with a fortune teller working as a harbinger of doom, informing them of a cult that awaits them.

A majority of the film is about how they are ill-prepared to handle what rests within the demonic fetus currently developing in the belly of foster beauty Samantha (Allison Miller), just wed to dreamboat Zach (Zach Gillford), as the two try (and fail miserably) to live their lives. The demonic possession does serious damage to Sam, in particular, while Zach attempts to solve her dilemma. But the cult that wants the child born aren't about to let Zach (nor is the demonic spirit plaguing Sam) save the day.

I liked some of the effects in the movie, and how found footage (through the eyes of the camera) is used by the filmmakers.The way Zach is levitated and the cult seen from his perspective (when possessed Sam hurls him away from her, the camera is quite a rollercoaster ride of flipping and aerial flight) can be quite eye-popping in the visual delivery. You feel as if you experience the same horror and violence as Zach. The scene in the hospital where Zach learns about the Antichrist from his priest who was giving communion to his child, Sam sitting in church seemingly immune to what was happening (the nosebleed and coughing that sickens the priest really creates horror in the attendance), is another well developed scene. It is due to how the priest, still recovering from the trauma, almost delirious, and weakened, speaks of what this particular symbol shown to him by Zach represents. Then, once told, the priest commands Zach to get out of the room, with a fierce assertiveness that is rather jarring and unexpected.

The destructive nature of the demonic entity possessing Sam is never more shockingly brought to us as it is when a group of teens discover her feeding from a cow, causing them to levitate. One boy is lifted way into the sky, falling onto a car, the camera he was using dropping into the front seat, only the kid's hand dangling over, communicating to us he was kaput. It is a brief break from the Zach and Sam plot, but this does tell us the force of nature that exists inside her.

And Zach's plight, in an interrogation room as the police hear his story and posit questions to him, not believing one word he says, is quite effective. Blood all over him, bodies left behind, and this mystery cult responsible, Zach's situation is grim. And his wife's misfortune simply due to a bad vacation detour thanks to an evil cabbie...yeah, not exactly the marriage this nice couple had planned.

I think you could pick apart the "found footage" part of the film and question the legitimacy of how "this could be recorded or that" and "how was this footage found", but ultimately this is about the method of the presentation and how it tells a story. As a storytelling device, I think found footage has its advantages. It can show us experiences in a different way, and parlay what happens to characters in a visual style that allows for experimentation and creative freedom. Devil's Due is an example of this I felt. Sam's demonic pregnancy and its cruelty towards those who threaten to ruin the coming of the Devil is told to us in a way that is unique and inventive.

I think the horror genre itself has provided its share of films in the Rosemary Baby / The Omen vein. Devil's Due is just one of many I have seen the last few years. Not too shabby was this one. I was expecting worse. The plot isn't all that compelling but the presentation is rather impressive.