A
few years ago, a quartet of filmmakers known as Radio Silence, comprised of
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin, Tyler Gillett, Chad Villella and Justin Martinez, helmed
a segment of the horror anthology film V/H/S about four friends who show up for
a Halloween house party, only to realize that not only are they in the wrong
home, they have stumbled onto an exorcism. The segment ends in a melee of
brilliantly staged and horrific mayhem and inventive visual effects.The film
premiered at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Magnolia
Pictures.
The
group’s 2010 short film Mountain Devil Prank Goes Horribly,went “viral” and led
directly to the V/H/S assignment. That in turn led to Bettinelli-Olpin
and Gillett getting the nod to direct their debut feature film, “Devil’s Due,”
with Villella and Martinez serving as executive producers.
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| Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox |
The quartet’s work on “Devil’s Due” showcases a series of ramped-up scares,
shocks and an overall disquieting tone. But, notes Gillett, they were
also striving to make a thriller that “feels really emotionally connected and
character driven from the start. In “Devil’s Due,” 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.
“The film is not just a highlight reel of scares and crazy supernatural
images,” he continues. “It’s about these two people who are at the
beginning of their lives together. DEVIL’S DUE tracks their relationship
and how it progresses as a strong supernatural element starts to seep in.”
“We’re genre fans but we’re also movie fans,” adds Bettinelli-Olpin. “So
our focus was on the relationship between the young couple and on legitimate,
character-based humor, which is present throughout a lot of the movie, if you
watch for it. The love story is something audiences can really latch
ontoas they watch the couple marry and plan for the arrival of their baby.”
Along with the scares, the filmmakers focus on the two lead characters. “The
style of DEVIL’S DUE allows you to be involved in the relationship between Zach
and Sam in a really intimate and almost voyeuristic way,” says
Bettinelli-Olpin. “And we wanted to own the pregnancy from the start; we
didn’t want to hide it and make you wait. So, the scene where Sam is
impregnated is about 15 minutes into the movie.”
Even
when a specific cast member refused to follow direction, the filmmakers still
found gold in the recalcitrant thespian’s work. Gillett explains:
“We cast Maverick, who plays Zach and Sam’s dog, a couple of weeks before
principal photography, and our animal trainer, Sid Yost, worked his butt off to
train the golden retriever. But Maverick couldn’t do a single thing we
needed him to do. So we just let the cameras roll and let Maverick do
whatever he wanted to do – and it ended up being far more interesting than
anything we had choreographed.”
While Maverick worked on his improvisational and Method acting, the two-legged
performers were tasked with not only delivering their performances, but on
occasion, operating the state-of-the-art, wireless Sony EX3 camera. The
portable camera was small enough, says Bettinelli-Olpin, “that we could do some
crazy things with it without having to build elaborate camera rigs. It
also allowed us to give the camera to the actors, and there are a fair number
of moments where they’re actually operating the camera themselves.”
The naturalistic performances extend to even the smaller roles, including
‘Brittany,’ a young girl who’s receiving her first communion at a ceremony that
goes terribly awry. The part is winningly played by New Orleans resident
Madison Wolfe. “Time and again, we were surprised with how incredible our
entire cast was,” says Bettinelli-Olpin.
“Devil’s Due” opens March 19 in theaters nationwide from 20th
Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.
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