Is Jake the anti-Christ? Is Jake an evil prophet and doesn’t even know it? Does he have a power that lies dormant? Is this entire movie a rip-off of “The Game”? If so, why did I like this so much? Those and many more questions kept me scratching my head along with why Dominique Swain always looks hot, and why Ackles isn’t more famous. “Devour” is a mix of “The Game,” “The Omen,” and “Wishmaster” with a humble college student named Jake whose experienced haunting horrific day dreams all his life. The night of his birthday, he’s introduced by a friend to a game called “The Pathway” which not only interrupts his life, but grants him wishes, ensures revenge on the people who cross him, and provides a nightly call from a mysterious man who taunts Jake seductively. I don’t know what appealed to me about this movie, but I was never bored. I wanted to see the entire sequence of events through to the end and was actually quite curious to see if they’d go for a Tom Clancy atmosphere or just outright rely on satanic theatrics to get us through the doldrums. “Devour” may be a lot of things, but it sure is fun, and I found the character of Jake quite sympathetic however broad he may have been drawn.

I went in to “Devour” about ready to expect anything and everything but the plot that was explained to me on the websites, and I was very pleased. Winkler’s direction is awfully atmospheric with some interesting visuals and memorable sequences. “Devour” is low budget, but it doesn’t always look it. Among the cast, Dominique Swain looks great and gives a strong performance as a constantly objectified self-loathing girl who seeks approval from Jake, and yet hates herself enough to keep him at a distance. Jensen Ackles is very good as the humble hero who is forced into a situation that he may not be able to get out of anytime soon, and the source of this satanic force is wisely always kept ambiguous. Is this the doing of a group of people, or a sentient satanic monster? “Devour” is a definite good time killer if anything, and while it may not please everyone, it will fill that need for satanic gaming that we all have come to enjoy, and the climax while hokey does give a cute dose of ambiguity that will leave you scratching your head and wondering what was fact and what was fiction.

Many things crossed my mind in this flick, particularly why so many people enjoyed playing this game and why it was called The Pathway. What’s the appeal of this game? We never learn enough about it to really gauge our interest, and we never learn of why it’s so enticing for the writers to justify people spending money on it and revealing their personal information. With every little plot device for these movies, there’s a certain temptation that comes with these demonic machinations. 976-Evil, the Ring Tape, The Hellraiser box, Carrot Top movies, but there’s never a truly defining explanation that would give us a reason for these people to base their lives on and around this grand game. In the end though, “Devour” is confused from beginning to end. Its genre confused, it’s confused about the pay off, and it never decides what it truly wants to be, take the horribly disjointed and disgusting climax which shows the Gross brothers really just comprised an unusual Goulash of plot devices to never provide a sense of cogence. It’s all so incoherent and irritating at times and it really falls apart as the second half winds down. Adorable Sossamon adds nothing to this as she plays the same character here she’s played all her career providing the reactionary emotional girlfriend for our hero with an ultimate purpose that nonsensical and irrational.  When all is said and done “Devour” aspires to really be nothing more than a modern “976-Evil,” except in this case it’d be “976-Evil.com,” and the allusions are weak.

Aw hell, I liked it. It has a nice little array of second tier actors, an interesting story, and a convincing performance by Jensen Ackles who keeps the movie afloat with enough competence to render him likable, even if it’s genre confused as all hell.

• Best Tagline EVER: Don’t get Mad. Get Evil.

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