Film

The Devil's Due

Name: The Devil's Due
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2014
Cast: Christian Collins, Daisy Dai, Nicolas Murphy, Zack Purdy

Fantasy

A zippy twelve-minute comedy about an artist who cuts a Faustian bargain for filmmaking greatness. It's snappy, playful stuff with a sharp hook—the kind of short that knows exactly what it is and doesn't overstay its welcome. For anyone who enjoys dark deals played for laughs and the absurdist humour of ambition gone sideways.

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like short, deadpan comedies where a modest ambition curdles into something absurd, and you enjoy a bargain whose fine print turns out to matter more than the hero expected.

Skip it if you want a fully developed story with room for character, since this is a brief sketch with little time to settle in and its jokes land quickly or not at all.

What it asks of you: Only about twelve minutes of attention, and it moves briskly, so it is a quick, light sitting rather than a commitment to anything long or heavy.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Bedazzled2000

A modern take on the devil-makes-a-deal premise that balances genuine laughs with surprisingly warm-hearted sentiment about what actually matters in life. Smart, charming, and bracingly funny.

But The comedy can feel dated in spots, and the film gets a bit sentimental in ways that might undercut the darker premise you're expecting.

The Twilight Zone1959

Masterclass in short-form storytelling with a darkly comic edge. Episodes about ambition, shortcuts, and cosmic bargains will hit exactly the same notes—and the endings pack real sting.

But Black and white, deliberately paced, and some episodes lean slow-burn rather than snappy. Demands patience from viewers used to modern pacing.

Faust1994

Sokurov's baroque fever-dream of the Faustian legend is visually intoxicating and deeply weird—a meditation on ambition and evil wrapped in gorgeous, unsettling imagery.

But It's deliberately oblique and painterly rather than funny. Long, atmospheric, and genuinely requires active watching. Not a crowd-pleaser.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Devil's Due

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Ballad of Little Jo1993

Both explore the quiet horror of striking a deal that requires you to stop being yourself. Both are about the cost of becoming something else in order to succeed.

A woman poses as a man to survive in the Old West—a slow, meditative film about assuming a false identity to get what you want, and the price of that deception. Maggie Cassidy is extraordinary, and it's genuinely strange cinema.

But It's austere and slow. Visually beautiful but emotionally cold. No arc, no catharsis—just a life lived in quiet deception. Some find that transcendent; others find it bleak and boring.

Doctor Faustus1967

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The Offering2016

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But It's properly unsettling rather than funny, and the tone shifts into genuine dread. Wrong pick if you want comedy.

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny2006

Two guys on a quest to find a magical guitar pick—silly, committed to the bit, and genuinely hilarious if you're into absurdist rock comedy. The devil appears. It's a good time.

But Extremely dumb. The humour is juvenile and the plot is paper-thin. If you hate stoner comedy, you'll hate this.

Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny poster

The Witches of Eastwick1987

Darkly comic supernatural romp with Jack Nicholson as a deliciously theatrical devil. Witty, weird, and surprisingly sensual beneath the comedy.

But The tone is scattered—part satire, part fantasy, part drama. It doesn't quite land as comedy or drama, and that inconsistency bothers some viewers.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail1975

Masters of absurdist comedy taking on quests and dark bargains disguised as a medieval adventure. Sharp writing, fearless jokes, complete command of their style.

But The humour is relentlessly British and deliberately arbitrary. If you need plot coherence or character development, this will frustrate you.

The Happiness of the Katakuris2002

A wildly uneven but endearingly strange film about a family running a bed-and-breakfast where guests keep dying. Bizarre tone-shifts between musical comedy and genuine creepiness. Takashi Miike at his most uncategorizable.

But Tonally chaotic in a way that doesn't work. It careens between tones so aggressively that nothing lands. Some viewers find it charming; others find it exhausting.

The Singing Detective1986

Both are short-form works about storytelling itself and the fantasy of creative power. Both play with the meta-question of what it means to make art and what price ambition extracts.

A feverish miniseries by Dennis Potter where a bedridden crime novelist hallucinates his life as a noir film. Wildly inventive—shifting between reality, fantasy, noir, and musical number. Television as fever dream.

But Narratively dense and deliberately disorienting. Some episodes feel like punishment for paying attention. And it's dark in ways that undercut any comfort.