A family moving into a new home to find something sinister waiting for them, some supernatural force that puts their lives at risk, is perhaps one of the oldest tropes in horror. It's a well that creators keep going back to because it's so viscerally frightening. Your home is the place where you're supposed to feel the safest, so it becoming the place where you're in danger is one of the ultimate betrayals. Sean Byrne's film The Devil's Candy is a wonderful addition to this genre, one that manages to subvert expectations and forge its own path in a darkly claustrophobic and frightening tale.
The Devil's Candy focuses on struggling artist Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry), whose dark art style fails to get him many sales, and is forced to paint things he has no interest in to bring money home. When the opportunity for Jesse and his wife, Astrid (Shiri Appleby), and teenage daughter Zooey (Kiara Glasco) to move into a huge farmhouse in a small Texas town the family jumps at the chance. Jesse even gets to turn the large barn into a studio where he can try to dedicate himself to his craft.
At first everything seems normal, but then Jesse begins to experience strange moments, draws to certain images and ideas, whispers in his head that inspire him to create new pieces of art that exceed anything he's ever made before. He's convinced that he's found his muse, but something sinister lies behind it all; the same thing that once drove the home's previous inhabitant to kill his own parents, and now drives him on to hurt children. And Zooey is the girl he's set his sights on now.
One of the things that immediately sets The Devil's Candy apart from a lot of other horror films is music. Not in the sense that the film has a good soundtrack (it does but that's not what I mean), but in how much music, particularly metal music, shapes the entire style of the film. Jesse and Zooey are metal fans, and whether it's their clothing, the way they decorate the house, or them head banging as they drive, the bond the two of them share through their love of the genre instantly creates a wonderful bond that you can feel from their first scene together. With so many horror films having father figures that feel distant, almost disconnected from their children it's amazing to have one where you can sense the love between them; which makes the deterioration of that relationship hit even harder when it happens.
Ethan Embry has the task of playing a man who begins to lose himself. At first it's just to his art, to the passion that he suddenly feels ignite within him. He's a man who's been trapped making commissions that fail to speak to who he is and what he's feeling, so when that fire finds him he takes hold of it with both hands. Sadly, this is the first step towards finding himself losing the things that really matter to him; his wife and daughter. He becomes distant, stays out in his studio more and more, misses appointments, and fails to be there when Zooey needs him the most. His passion begins to become his downfall, and we have to watch as Jesse grapples with his desire to be the best artist he can be whilst not wanting to lose the people he loves. It's a hard role to play, yet Embry manages to inject so much humanity into Jesse, which stops him from being just another horror arse-hole father and instead he becomes and almost tragic figure.
The films antagonist, the almost child-like Ray Smile, played amazingly by the hugely talented Puritt Taylor Vance, acts as a wonderful counterpoint to Jesse. Similar to Jesse, Ray tries to lose himself in art; this time in music. However, where Jesse's art is a passion that pours out of him Ray's desperate deafening playing of the electric guitar to try and drown out the same terrible influence that is driving Jesse to create his dark paintings of dying children. Moreso than Embry's performance, Puritt Taylor Vance's is one of the most important ones in the film to get right. It would be easy for Ray Smile to become a monster, a simple child killer driven by cruelty, instead he almost feels like a victim. Ray is portrayed as childlike and innocent much of the time, someone whose true kind nature tires to fight back against the monstrous force influencing him yet sadly fails. It's a shocking portrayal that makes you want to see the villain survive and get help, rather than seeing him meet a cruel end.
The Devil's Candy is the first film I've seen from Sean Byrne, and I found it incredibly impressive. Whilst there's only a relatively short runtime the film moves at a decent pace. The film manages to spend enough time with the characters that you become invested in them and want to see them well, and the quieter moments of interaction between them become some of the best parts of the film. There's also plenty of scenes that follow Ray where we get to witness the twisted things the voice in his head tells him to do, as well as scenes that show Jesse falling prey to the same force. I found it honestly surprising how economical The Devil's Candy ended up being with its screentime, always given enough whilst creating an almost leisurely pace that left me shocked just how much was crammed into it without it feeling bloated. With so many films either leaving me wanting more, or feeling overly long, The Devil's Candy hit the sweet spot and showcased how good a craftsman its director is.
The new 4K UHD and Blu-ray release has a new 4K restoration of the film that looks incredibly crisp and clear. The film looks absolutely fantastic, and this high quality picture really came into its own when the film got the chance to show off some of the artwork that Jesse was crafting, giving the viewer a wonderfully clear look at the wonderfully dark and twisted work provided by Stephen Kasner. Alongside the film there's also an audio commentary track by director Sean Byrne, which goes into a lot of the details about the behind the scenes of the film, providing the viewer with a deeper understanding of the narrative being created, as well as how the film itself was made. There's also a series of interviews which feature Byrne, as well as Ethan Embry, Director of Photography Simon Chapman, Editor Andy Canny, and Production Designer Tom Hammock that give further insight into the creation of The Devil's Candy. The extra features are rounded out by some behind the scenes VFX, and two of Byrne's short films. The physical release also comes with some collectors art cards, and a 120-page book with essays on the movie.
The Devil's Candy was a film that slipped under my radar when it was first released, so I'm pleased that the new 4K release allowed me the opportunity to get to discover it now. It's a wonderfully intimate film, one that puts a very realistic family at the centre of the 'scary new home' horror trope in an interesting way, bolstered by some fantastic performances. If you've not seen it before this new release is the perfect opportunity to check it out; and if you're already a fan of the film this new release will make a brilliant addition to your physical media collection.
The Devil's Candy is available on 4K UHD/Blu-ray from Second Sight from 25th May 2026.
No comments:
Post a Comment