Candlewood

I watched this so you don't have too. I usually love a campy scary movie. This was not it.

It started out intriguing. A blended city family moves to secluded home in woods. Each family member pushing boundaries with the other members of their family. Add legends about the area where they're now living to explain history of haunted land. So much potential to work with.

Then the movie loses the plot. Bad acting and weird special effects made for a long boring movie. It's like the director had a vision, but after 10 minutes got frustrated and quit trying. None of the characters had any redeeming qualities. The "story" had huge plot holes which I don't really care about, I was just glad it was over.

"I went into Candlewood hoping for a solid horror film, but what I got was something much more profound. From the very first scene, I was hooked - not just by the creepy atmosphere but by the emotional undercurrents running throughout the film. The director, Myke Furhman, did an incredible job of blending the supernatural with human emotions, making the horror feel real and impactful. I was especially moved by the way the characters dealt with their personal struggles amidst the terror. It was a beautifully layered film, and I can't wait to see it again. Highly recommend it to anyone looking for a horror movie that actually has heart.

I actually got to see this film at some private screening. I am a former NYers now living in this CT town where apparently the movie was filmed. Its about some local folklore and a family that moves to this town. So it def struck a nerve. It was a fun ride and I actually laughed some some hilarious one-liners. It was more of a thriller and a psychological horror film that anything really gory. I found the acting really great and the cinematography really cool. This film does not scream indie and everyone around me laughed and jumped at the same time. I hear they are making a 2nd one which I will certainly watch. The writing was really smart and pretty great. It's nothing earth shattering but doesn't take itself too seriously. Again, I laughed really hard in parts. Def worth a watch!!

I had high hopes for this movie. Unfortunately, I was extremely disappointed. I heard about the film years ago and was looking forward to it. Being from Connecticut, I had been to the lake many times. There are a lot of interesting stories about the lake. It is a 17 mile, man-made lake and there are a ton a creepy stories about it that we all used to tell each other as kids. All of them more interesting than the story in this movie. Very pedestrian directing effort and not a very entertaining script. All these high ratings must be from people involved with the movie or friends of the filmmakers. Not a good movie at all.

I wasn't familiar with the 2025 movie "Candlewood" from director Myke Furhman prior to sitting down and watching it. And the movie's synopsis definitely sounded interesting enough.

While the storyline in the movie wasn't boring, I have to say that I found it a bit confusing, because I didn't really understand what was going on. It felt like writers Joseph Patrick Conroy, Victoria Flores-Argue and Myke Furhman had written parts of the movie independently of one another and without knowing what the others were writing, and the end result was a bit of a disjointed and erratic script. It wasn't really a scary movie at all, so that was sort of disappointing.

"Candlewood" didn't bring anything new or innovative to the horror genre, and it was somewhat lacking in coherency and the scare department, which made for a bit of a dull viewing experience.

The entire cast ensemble in the movie were all new faces for me, which is actually something that I do enjoy whenever I sit down to watch a movie. And I will say that the acting performances in the movie were good.

The movie wasn't rich on special effects. In fact, there was hardly any effects in the movie. Oh, and I absolutely love how the father could hold a shotgun in one hand and fire it without a shred of recoil. I guess the writers wasn't familiar with the physics of firearms.

There are far better and scary horror movies out there, for sure. But I will say that "Candlewood" certainly was a semi-watchable enough movie for what it turned out to be. But it is hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing.

My rating of "Candlewood" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.