Devil’s Due appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Even with its “found footage” conceit, the image looked good.
Sharpness usually seemed solid. The shooting style meant lots of out of focus elements, but those had nothing to do with the transfer itself. The disc featured delineation that was perfectly appropriate for the various shots, especially given the variety of cameras used; some are uglier than others by design. No issues with jagged edges or shimmering occurred, and I noticed no edge enhancement. Source flaws also remained absent; I saw some video artifacts in low-light scenes, but those were inevitable.
In terms of colors, the film went with fairly natural tones. Though the hues never seemed memorable, they were fine for what I expected. Blacks seemed a little inky but were usually good, and shadows demonstrated decent clarity; again, the nature of the photography meant they could be somewhat dense/noisy, but they seemed more than acceptable. The movie looked more than fine for something in this genre.
The film’s DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack was more active than I expected. Through the flick, the filmmakers slavishly adhered to the “fly on the wall” video photography; there’s not a single shot that didn’t look like it came from a camcorder. However, the multichannel audio violated that sense of realism.
The soundfield didn’t go completely nuts, as much of the material stayed within the stereo realm in the front channels. This was acceptable as a representation of what a consumer camcorder might replicate. In terms of the front three speakers, I thought the track matched the “real-life photography” conceit pretty well.
The surrounds didn’t go crazy, but they added more than one might expect given the “found footage” orientation. They added atmosphere and general material throughout the movie, with a smattering of more active scenes on display. These didn’t make logical sense for the format, but they gave us a bit of dimensionality.
Audio quality was fine. Occasional lines seemed a bit muddy, but most of the speech appeared natural and concise. Music only came from source elements, such as at a club. This meant no score and infrequent music; when we heard songs, they showed decent reproduction. Effects were acceptably accurate. Nothing here impressed, but it was fine for this sort of movie.
When we shift to the set’s extras, we launch with an audio commentary from directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and executive producers Chad Villella and Justin Martinez. All four sit together for this running, screen-specific look at story/character areas, cast and performances, sets and locations, camerawork and editing, effects and stunts, music, and some other domains.
The track launches in lackluster fashion, as it appears it'll offer little more than joking around among pals. The conversation soon becomes meatier, though, and turns into a pretty good look at the creation of the film. We still get playfulness, but not to the exclusion of all else, so we learn a reasonable amount about the movie along the way.
Nine Deleted Scenes occupy a total of 16 minutes, 35 seconds. Since it usually feels like nothing happens in the final version of the film, should one expect to discover anything interesting here? Not really. Indeed, most of the material just gives more tedium, without memorable events on display. Even the extended ending falls flat.
Under Radio Silence: A Hell of a Team, we get a 12-minute, 18-second featurette with info from Villella, Bettinelli-Olpin, Gillett and Martinez. They talk about their early experiences as filmmakers and the creation of their production company as well as the development/production of Due. Some of this repeats from the commentary, but this still becomes a tight, informative program.
Next comes a still gallery called Director’s Photo Album. It includes 149 shots from the production. Some of these offer movie insights, but most feature mugging for the camera and silliness, so they’re not especially valuable.
A few short pieces follow. Ashes to Ash goes for 54 seconds and shows a dead bird that suddenly catches fire. I guess this has a connection to the film – maybe as publicity? – but it comes without explanation, so I don’t know.
In a similar vein, we find the three-minute, 30-second The Lost Time. It shows some Latino kids in a sewer as they discover some satanic ceremonies. These seem connected to “Ashes” but I still don’t get their purpose here.
For examples of early work by the Radio Silence production company, we find Roommate Alien Prank Goes Bad (2:19) and Mountain Devil Prank Fails Horribly (3:26). Neither offers much entertainment, but they’re cool to see for historical value.
The Blu-ray opens with ads for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Joy Ride 3, 3 Days to Kill, Robocop (2014) and American Horror Story: Asylum. Sneak Peek throws in clips for Carrie and The Bridge Season One, and we see the trailer for Due.
A second disc brings us a DVD copy of the film. It includes deleted scenes, a trailer and previews.
Another effort in the “found footage” vein, Devil’s Due bores more than it scares. It adds nothing to the “demon baby” conceit and just turns into a snoozer much of the time. The Blu-ray presents pretty good picture and audio along with a decent set of supplements. I can’t complain about this release, but the movie itself does nothing for me.
