Movie Review: Devour (Spoilers)

Woah there. What the hell? Literally.

This movie is…interesting.

The plot is similar to that one movie where the video game is evil and Elizabeth Bathory is trying to kill them Stay Alive, which was the first official horror movie I ever saw and I love it. But this…

The opening scene is some random guy walking through the same woods that Twilight jacked, and then shooting a mountain lion. He’s then seen gutting the poor beast with his bare hands (like the man your man could smell like) and then he hears a noise. His hands still bloody, he stumbles to a house with a naked woman crying on the floor inside. He asks if she’s okay, touching her on the back with his bloody hands, and so she freaks out and attacks him with a snake which clamps down onto his jugular and tears it open as he yanks the serpent off. We then see him with the dead mountain lion, and realize that it was just a dream.

There’s some crappy, cheese voice-over. This guy turns 21. His whore friend is being creeped on by their professor, and the pothead wants his other friend’s girl.  His pothead friend signs him up for this game called ‘The Pathway’. The Pathway is an internet game that calls you and tells you some messed up stuff to do. The pothead and his other whore best friend are already playing. So The Pathway calls the guy after his boss fires him because his also pothead nephew needs a job. Also, he removed a peice of wax from a woman’s circuit board without charging her 75 dollars.

The Pathway asks the guy what he wants to do to his boss. The guy says, ‘kill him’. The Pathway responds, ‘But then you’d just be doing him a favour.’ and the guy, who has apparently been having these sick daydreams for his entire life, laughs a little. The next day, his boss has been robbed and the video footage shows Bossman directing men to steal his stuff.

The rest of the film follows with random guy having sick daydreams, visiting his paralzyed mother, arguing with his drunken father and watching as his whore/pothead eventually subject to what The Pathway wants them to do, killing and mutilating themselves and others.

Eventually, our hero has enough and seeks out help from a ex-Satanic tattoo artist and the woman who’s computer he removed a peice of wax from. Apparently, a very dedicated Satanist can help him figure out the game. So for the final fourth of the film, random guy is chasing down his real mother’s supposed murderer, who is also a Satanist. He turns out to be the son of Satan, who’s actually a chick. The end is a nice, gory tidbit and it wraps up in a pretty strange manner. Interesting, half-assed film.

Firstly, most of the horror in it is ruined when they began to reveal that The Pathway was a connection with Satan. Far too many films are done like this – playing to people’s fear of the occult. It’s almost sad, because Devour had the potential to be a good film had The Pathway simply been an evil computer game or something. Once Satan is introduced, it’s almost cheesy.

Secondly, the description on the back of the DVD case drove me nuts. They describe Marisol – wax woman -as a “seductive new friend with an interest in the occult”. Sure, she’s pretty. Sure, they make out. Sure, she gives him a deck of tarot cards. But it’s not apparent that she has any further interest. Little things like that drive me insane. It honestly doesn’t help the manner of the film.

So, if you see it and want to rent it or something, or maybe it’s on TV and you have some time, you can watch it. I won’t stop you. It’s not the worst film – the first half is pretty good – however it’s really not worth paying much more than a dollar for and certainly not worth purchasing for any amount.

Rating: 3/10 (Generously)