Sunday, October 18, 2020

Delayed Reaction: The Devil's Candy

Premise: A mad man terrorizes the family who moves into the house where he and his parents lived before he killed them.


Wasn't I just complaining about movies that assume horror fans love metal? This movie did nothing for me. It was a lot of my least favorite things in horror. I found the heavy-metal loving daughter annoying. She's written like the daughter every Metallica fan wished they had. Other than the fact that Ethan Embry was almost unrecognizable, his character was a bust. He's the edgy dude who can't believe he's doing art with butterflies in it, like he's some sort of pansy. No, his real art is when he starts making demonic imagery with fire and upside-down crosses. Rad, right? The villain is annoying too. He plays his electric guitar really loud, because it's the only way to drown out the voices (and look bitchin' at the same time). He also watches religious programming really loud, because we all know, watching any religious show immediately makes you brainwashed yet also possessed. Really, the only person I didn't have an issue with was Shirri Appleby who played this like she was going to take the paycheck, not ask any questions, and try to act like she fit in this world.

What really annoyed me though is that Pruitt Taylor Vince's Ray was an implausible threat. How is he so hard to find? This isn't a big town. He's not exactly a cunning guy. As soon as there's a police report on him, shouldn't they be like, "Oh he's the guy we're getting all those noise complaints about at the hotel"? He seems to be on foot most of the time and walking to a remote farm house. It's not like he's sneaking around. The cops are unbelievably incompetent at the end. And I don't mean "unbelievably" like "very" or "extremely". I mean the degree to which they are in competent is a degree that I don't believe. Again, remote farmhouse. How the hell does he sneak up on them and pin one cop between cars? And how is the other cop not 100% ready to shoot him down? People just aren't responding to situations like humans in this, and that's really annoying. Like, remember when the large creepy guy shows up unannounced at the house, chatting up the young daughter, then the wife and daughter get mad at the father for forcefully getting rid of him. Remember how implausible their reaction to the situation was?

As I said, none of the stuff I like about horror is in this movie. Except maybe Shirri Appleby. I could see her as the mom in a Blumhouse horror movie. It actually doesn't have to be a mom role either. I'd just like to see her in more than this and what UnREAL became.

Verdict: Strongly Don't Recommend

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