The Devil's Candy

A family has just moved into a beautiful home in rural Texas. Jesse works hard as an artist to support his wife and daughter. Although more interested in metal and dark, original art, he opts to paint butterflies for banks to pay the bills. His daughter Zooey struggles to fit in at school and his wife Astrid is worried about money. While all this is going on, they have no idea about the grisly murder that took place their and how the murderer will obsessively return to do his master's bidding.

When I heard Sean Byrne directed another film after The Loved Ones, I knew I had to see it. The Devil's Candy doesn't disappoint. It starts out as many horror films do with a loving family moving into a new house. This family is a little different than the usual clean cut variety. Jesse has a long hair, a torso full of tattoos, and a love of heavy metal music. His daughter has a tattoo of her own and dreams of playing a red, flying V guitar for a crowd of adoring fans. His wife Astrid has dyed hair and sometimes smokes weed with him to unwind after a hard day. It's so refreshing to see this depiction of a family because people are incredibly judgmental about dyed hair, tattoos, metal music, etc and tend to value them as degenerate or somehow negative. That shouldn't be the case at all especially seeing these things more and more in everyday life. One of the things that annoys me the most is the use of metal music to denote evil. I see it all the time at events like Universal's Halloween event and it never felt true to me. Here, Jesse and Zooey sing along to it together, much to Astrid's chagrin, and have bonded over the music. It even serves to keep the sinister voices at bay for our main villain, Ray. I hope to see more stories like this that go against outdated, traditional ideals.

The forces of evil in the film come in different forms. First is Ray, visually striking in his bright red track suit. He hears the voice of the devil telling him to commit the most gruesome acts of violence, starting with killing his own parents. I felt a bit of sympathy for him because he obviously didn't want to commit these acts, but succumbed to the voices when he couldn't stand it anymore. His main targets after his parents are children, dubbed the devil's candy, and he's shown watching televangelists while he dismembers them. Once he isn't trying to fight against his urges, Ray is completely terrifying, evidenced by how easily he killed the police protecting Jesse's home. The second force of evil is presumably the devil, tormenting both Ray and Jesse with constant whispers that won't quiet unless obeyed. The third comes in a Faustian bargain. The devil's whispers put Jesse into a trance and he paints the most eerie, magnificent paintings of his whole career. Belial Studios, decked out in stereotypical red, offers him the deal of a lifetime essentially at the expense of his family. Jesse steadfastly refuses anything that would put his family in danger, which is rare to see. The different forms of evil assaulting the family and the villain on all sides

The film is visually and aurally amazing, as was The Loved Ones. My favorite scene is a montage that merges Ray's murder and dismembering of children and Jesse's painting. It would seamlessly switch between them and sometimes show both in a split screen. As the montage went on, it grew more and more difficult to discern which was paint and which was blood. It was both macabre and beautiful. The uses of red as evil stand out in interesting ways even though the concept isn't particularly innovative. The music has a wide range, of course with a lot of metal bands such as Slayer, Sunn O))), and Machine Head. One scene features some sacred music by a female Gregorian Chant group, Aurora Surgit. After Zooey is captured by Ray and she's laying on his bathroom floor, a gorgeous version of Dies Irae, a song about the day of judgment, plays while she is figuring out how to escape. The music becomes dramatic and accented as Ray frantically looks for her after she's finally escaped. The music suits the mood of the scene exactly.

The Devil's Candy has aspects of The Loved Ones, but feels completely different. Every aspect from the acting to the visuals to the music is well crafted. I truly felt for the family since their dynamic was realistic and heartfelt. Seeing how much crap happened to them made me genuinely upset me. Sean Byrne has earned my confidence and I will watch any movie with his name attached. Both films are very different than other films in the genre and this one is easily on of the best of the year. I can't wait to see what else he can come up with.

My rating: 5/5 fishmuffins