(2005)
1.5
Jeremy Wheeler
This Canadian production -- while somewhat impressive for its low-budget roots and loose but inspired plot twists -- is a tedious exercise in shoddy horror that's just as forgettable as 99 percent of its straight-to-DVD kin. The filmmakers have obviously tried to inject some creative right turns into the usual online-game-runs-amok storyline, but there's a difference between inspired ideas and effective execution of the material. Nevermind that the production could've used a few more classes in scare school, with frights stemmed from red-tinged trippy "visions" that often end in bland gore and increasingly perturbed audience reactions. Halfway through, the movie turns demonic and begins its descent into an uninteresting blend of weird and downright confusing blandness. Not even veteran Bill Sadler can help the production as a sort of grand poobah of Satanists. With its hot cast and nods to both the Final Destination series and David Fincher's The Game, Devour tries its best to be a teen cream horror dream with a wild ending, but all it manages to do is sizzle up the screen with its photogenic cast and inconvenience its viewers by sucking up 90 minutes of their movie-watching time.
Devour on AllMovie
Devour (2005)
