‘Devour’ Unleashes Heavy Metal, Vampires, Werewolves and Witchcraft in Theaters This October
Heavy metal and just about every corner of the monster-movie playbook collide in Devour, a new supernatural horror film from Bad Candy director Scott B. Hansen arriving in select theaters Oct. 13 through Epic Pictures and its genre label Dread.
Rather than settling on a single creature for its musicians to contend with, Devour sends an all-girl heavy metal band into a night populated by vampires, cannibals, a werewolf and a powerful warlock. KateLynn E. Newberry leads a cast that also includes Gus Langley, Alexandra Lucchesi, Chelsea LeSage, Gaven Wilde and Butcher Babies vocalist Heidi Shepherd.
Written by Desiree Hansen, the film follows the band after a disastrous gig leaves its members stranded. An encounter with a woman in danger brings them to a remote town, where they discover the community is under the control of a warlock and populated by considerably more than unfriendly locals.
With cannibals, vampires and a werewolf closing in, the musicians are eventually forced to tap into dark powers of their own if they hope to make it through the night.
The setup gives Hansen an opportunity to combine two worlds that have been central to his career. In addition to directing horror features including Bad Candy and The Possession Experiment, Hansen has an extensive background directing music videos, working with artists including Meshuggah, Willie Nelson, Motionless in White, A Day to Remember, Ill Niño and Fear Factory.
That intersection between horror and music sits at the center of Devour, which embraces an intentionally maximalist approach to its collection of supernatural threats. The premise recalls the heavy-metal horror-comedy energy of films such as Deathgasm, while placing its band inside a broader collision of monster movie, occult horror and survival thriller conventions.
The production also leaned heavily on practical effects to bring that supernatural world to life.
Creature suits, prosthetics, makeup, animatronics and practical gore were used to physically place the film’s monsters alongside its performers rather than building the creatures primarily through digital effects. Veteran creature designer Wayne Anderson led the creature and practical FX work with the OX FX team.
Anderson’s credits include Stranger Things, IT: Chapter One, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Avatar: The Way of Water and The Tomorrow War. He was also a finalist on Syfy’s practical-effects competition series Face Off.
That old-school approach appears particularly suited to a movie built around throwing a roster of classic horror creatures into the same blood-soaked playground. Instead of treating its vampires, werewolf, cannibals and occult elements as separate concepts, Devour uses them as pieces of an increasingly chaotic survival scenario.
The film arrives in theaters following a genre festival run that has included more than a dozen festival selections. Devour received Best Feature, Best Director and Best Vampire Feature honors at the Freakshow Horror Film Festival and was also selected for the Atlanta Horror Film Festival and Days of the Dead.
Hansen previously directed Bad Candy, the horror anthology starring Zach Galligan and Corey Taylor, as well as The Possession Experiment with Bill Moseley. Desiree Hansen, who also worked on Bad Candy, wrote Devour and produced alongside Ryan Shelor and Scott B. Hansen.
Newberry’s credits include Juror #2 and Hulu’s Mike, while Wilde has appeared in The Righteous Gemstones and Halloween Kills. Shepherd brings an additional connection to the film’s metal identity through her work as a vocalist for Butcher Babies.
The North American release comes through Epic Pictures and Dread, the genre-focused label whose history includes releasing Damien Leone’s original Terrifier.
With Devour, the distributor is leaning into a film that appears considerably less interested in choosing between heavy metal, vampires, witchcraft, cannibals and werewolves than in finding out what happens when they’re all unleashed in the same movie.
Devour arrives in select theaters Oct. 13 through Epic Pictures and Dread.
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