Dir - Matt Bettinelli-Olpin/Tyler Gillett
Overall: MEH
Some big wigs in Hollywood took notice of the film production team Radio Silence after their top-notch closing segment in 2012's V/H/S, offering them the chance to adapt a screenplay by Lindsay Devlin in the form of Devil's Due. Sadly, the result is an incredibly flawed, major studio produced slab of dullness. The biggest problem is in its found footage structure. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that this story is told in this manner besides 20th Century Fox seeing easy dollar signs. Usually, found footage films sort of justify an elementary reason that people are recording everything. Here, we are given some thin at best rationalizations why a couple expecting their first baby would document mountains of expository dialog, (and then not rewind the tape to watch all the creepy shit that happened on it until eight months later), including but not limited to several doctor visits which last I checked are illegal to videotape in the first place. Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett have said that there was no point in explaining the films editing to an audience that is used to this sub-genre by now, instead saying the movie is intentionally comprised of home video and surveillance footage because....well? Because it is trendy, pure and simple. There are one or two effectively creepy scenes, but the forced framework, predictable and derivative story, (its Rosemary's Baby almost to a tee), obnoxious jump scares, and idiotic behavior from the main male character all join forces to sink this ship and sink it hard.
Dir - Leigh Janiak
Overall: GOOD
Hey look, its Ygritte from Game of Thrones! In her directorial debut, Ohio-born Leigh Janiak does a bravo job with a basic setting, a grand total of four speaking characters, and an ambiguous, unsettling premise shaped around a charming enough couple on their, (you guessed it), honeymoon in the woods. As many great horror movies are efficient at doing, the dreadfulness in Honeymoon is far more about the protagonists' suffering with each other than how many boo scares, CGI monsters, and screechy soundtrack noises the film can make. Gradually and undoubtedly, things begin going very wrong and thankfully, our newlyweds behave compassionately and logically enough towards each other so that their plight is all the more compelling. Both Rose Leslie and Harry Treadaway hide their Scottish and British accents pretty well, (it is a fun game to pick out when they let them slip though), and they do a superlative job as the the ill-fated couple. Treadaway in particular does not make the mistake many other type characters in many other type movies do in that he very much seems to be seriously concerned from the word go, once the unease rears its unflattering head. A lesser cast and a stronger reliance on genre tropes would have been detrimental here, yet thankfully such faux-pas' were successfully side-stepped.
Dir - Veronika Franz/Severin Fiala
Overall: GOOD
Despite venturing into that most repugnant of sub-genres, (meaning torture porn, naturally), writer/director team Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala's Goodnight Mommy veered enough into other more admirable turf to end up being a strong bit of work. Though it could be a little too easy to decipher before the twist is brought to the forefront, things are kept mysterious in a consistently clever way. This is yet another one with a minuscule cast and primarily one setting that keeps things curious and just a tad uneasy before kicking it into more disturbed gear. Depending on ones tastes and tolerance for nastiness, Goodnight Mommy rides this line to some extent, but it never got gratuitous, which is surely an asset to the film in remaining engaging first and brutal second. There is also a minimal yet welcome sense of humor present. Though by the end, the filmmakers were certainly going for more gasps than giggles. The film manages to have a relatively familiar premise and still pulls the rug out from under its audience while being thoroughly creepy in a fantastical, non-supernatural way.
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