Devour (2026) by Scott B. Hansen

Director: Scott B. Hansen

Year: 2026

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: The Virginia Bitches

Genre: Creature Feature

Plot:

Traveling through the countryside, vampires masquerading as an all-girl metal band looking to stop off at a local watering hole for their tour stumble upon a savage cult worshipping multiple monstrous beings and their powerful warlock controller, forcing them to stop his demonic plans.

Review:

There was a lot to like and dislike about this one. Among the better elements to enjoy here is a rather fun and frenetic attitude that, despite being way too long for what’s going on here, makes what’s going on here immensely fun and likable. The idea of bringing the vampires along as a rock band, with the way they travel around the country performing and using the notoriety to feed on groupies or other random strangers, makes for a great touch here, explaining how they’ve not been found out while offering a plausible enough storyline to avoid the daylight weakness of their condition. Using their centuries-long sense of understanding how to hide out in the open and taking on others to bring into the group, the family dynamics at play here are incredibly fun, especially once the group is forced to stop at the town for a performance and get dragged into the surreal fight involving the multitude of supernatural beings involved in occult rituals, demon worship, and other arcane happenings.

This serves to introduce an assortment of confrontations with the different figures going crazy in various high-energy sequences, with everyone getting a chance at causing havoc. The first half is spent with the exploits of the vampire band going around trying to suck on various victims on their tour, either taking out general fans of theirs to feast on or looking to bring others into the band to fill their ranks, offering a fun series of scenes where the different bits train the newcomer to the band on what the responsibilities are. Other fun scenes look into the cursed wizard setting about trying to raise the dead, so there’s a solid series of zombie-swarming scenes taking place as well, and the full-on assault with the battle between the gigantic minotaur ripping people apart or stepping on their heads in a cavalcade of spurting blood and splattered entrails. The highlight of it all, the ravenous werewolf attack on the bar full of patrons where it’s super-strength, ferocity, ingenuity, and a full-throttle sequence that never lets up, providing the fun for this one to let loose with its effects, giving this all some likable moments.

There are some issues here that bring this one down. One of the bigger drawbacks is the sprawling, massive storyline that tries to cram too much in, so it never feels coherent. There are plenty of different storylines and subplots going on here, from the roadie trying to become a vampire, the new girl who gets introduced to the group, the lives of the main vampires who have been alive for centuries, the warlock holding the town captive with his ability to spawn different creatures, a vampire hunter looking for the cause of the stories about the town, and a supernatural battle for supremacy that takes place between everyone. This is all immensely confusing and overblown, with all the different storylines coming about as shock twists rather than being built up naturally, leaving it difficult to come to terms with how rapidly this shifts between something new out of nowhere, and with some of this causing the film’s excessively long running time featuring stuff that doesn’t need to be there, it ends up standing out heavily.

Nothing, though, tops the film’s excessive and unnecessary use of AI to add spectacle, as the scenes are so obvious it’s hard to buy into. This is mostly apparent in the worldscapes and creation of the lairs of so many of the fantastic elements in the second half to add a grandeur to the story that doesn’t need to be there, mostly due to it tacking onto the series of subplots that don’t need to be included. Featuring not just the insert shots of something happening that’s far too epic for anything, but also being used for gore and bloodshed in the carnage of the different rampages taking place, as it soon becomes apparent that many of the exploding heads, popped-open skulls, and other gory bits are also done with the use of extremely weak and obvious AI to try to bring it to life. Compared to the practical effects that were featured throughout here, it’s even more obvious how unnecessary and unneeded it all is, and it does ruin some of the experiences and goodwill that’s been built up already to the point of holding it down heavily.

Overview: ***.5/5

A fun, if heavily flawed, creature feature infused with too many AI enhancements, this would’ve been an all-time classic had it kept to more straightforward setups instead of what we get. Those with no preference for those factors, who are curious about it, or who are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like here, while most others should be extremely cautious with it.