Plot: What’s it about?
Jake Gray (Jensen Ackles) is having some bad dreams, to say the least. Not just dreams either, but waking visions that haunt him to no end. His mind is overtaken by visions of violence, murder, and self mutilation, the kind of things that keep you awake at night. After all, if he sees these things when he is awake, imagine what he might witness in his dreams. He has no explanation for the visions either, which makes the situation even more eerie, but he soon finds a connection. His best friend gives him a birthday gift of a new video game, one that is loaded with religious context, violence, and just twisted visuals. The game is called The Pathway and Jake soon begins to realize that his visions are inside the game itself. The same images he saw in his mind, he now sees on the screen, not a pleasant experience. And when the visions move from the video game to real life, Jake is trapped in a world of immense terror. Even when he turns to mystical arts to fend off the evil, will Jake be able to escape this sick new world?
As a diehard fan of horror cinema and a devoted Dominique Swain follower, I was quite pleased to see what promised to be a combination of both worlds. Swain in a horror movie. Of course, previous films have also made that same claim, but turned out to be thrillers, not true horror movies. But with the red hued cover artwork and portrait of a devilish creature on the back, I figured Devour was in fact a horror movie. Indeed, Devour is just that, but sadly, but it isn’t a very good horror movie. The storyline has a spark of potential, but that goes untapped and instead, we have an overdose of cliches. I hate the “it was all a dream” plot device to no end, so in this case, I was quite disappointed. I don’t mean to spoil the experience, but Devour uses that plot device again and again, to the point of exhaustion. On the plus side, you will see some enjoyable blood and gore, though it is mere window dressing and the violence is random at times. Of course, Swain is a pleasure to watch in action, while costar Shannon Sossamon is also easy on the eyes. Devour is not that good, but for hard up horror fans, the disc is more than worth a rental.
Video: How does it look?
Devour is presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen. This might be a direct to video release of a low budget monster movie, but Sony’s work on the transfer is excellent, so the movie looks awesome. The image is very clean and shows no real flaws, even the print is totally devoid of grain or other debris. The dark scenes have stark contrast and superb detail level, while daytime sequences are bright and just as impressive. I suppose we should have expected a clean presentation, since the movie moved right to home video, but I had some doubts about how good this movie would look here. But Sony has proven those doubts to be wrong, as this movie looks terrific in this release.
Audio: How does it sound?
The soundtrack here is a Dolby Digital 5.1 option, but it isn’t the kind of knockout soundtrack some might expect. The dark atmosphere factor allows some eerie and tense moments, which are well implemented, but this is mostly a basic, unremarkable soundtrack. A few scenes spark up the speakers, with some decent “in the dark” atmosphere, though not enough to warrant any special mentions. The track is solid and covers all the bases, it simply doesn’t move much beyond the expected basics. I found dialogue to be well handled also, as vocals are clear and never muffled in the least. This disc also includes subtitles in English, Spanish, and French, should you need those.
Supplements: What are the extras?
This disc includes no bonus materials.
