Candy Land

It's not horror, it's not action, it's not drama, not even a fantasy!

I don't know how and why this movie was released.

I don't know what kind of acting is this exactly.

Most of the movies supposed to be meant something (true story or there is a wisdom on it and maybe sometimes could be funny but in this movie there was nothing but wasting time.

I don't recommend this movie to any kind of natural human no matter what their age is and specially the teen age. It will not benefits them nothing but a bad and crap thoughts and drag them to a different path.

And I am sure that many people will agree with me.

Opening scene: 10/10. Newb producer, writer and director John Swab sure knows how to capture and maintain the audiences attention. This is Swab's only sixth filmmaking credit, and although not perfect, there is not one dull moment throughout the film's comfortable 93 min runtime. The pacing was decent for the most part, and his directing and camera shots were excellent. Even the colorful cast of outcasts performed well, although Olivia Luccardi as Remy could've used better cast direction in the first half. The story itself was a combination of genres mixed together and it actually worked. It wasn't perfect writing, but all this put together by a relatively inexperienced filmmaker was impressive. It's certainly worth at least a one-time watch, and a well deserved 8/10 from me.

A truck-stop hooker thinks twice when a cult turns up to save her soul, but her fate may be sealed when one of the cult decides to go on the game with her.

People say this harks back to '70s exploitation movies - and it does, but in two ways: one good, one bad. The good comes in the open and frank sleaze of the prostitution biz, with completely candid performances showing us how it works, what it does to people, and I guess above all how the workers retain their kindness and empathy. These characters are very nicely put together, and I was totally engaged by them for the first half of the story.

It helps that the cinematography and the writing and editing keep the scenes on point, with a good flow. As well as the acting, maybe the best quality of the production is the sound design, with a subtle shriek when a pair of eyes are opened and a faint heart-patter during a virgin's first time.

The bad comes in the second half, when we enter straight up slasher mode. That genre rarely appeals to me, so I can't be too hard, but there really is nothing of interest to say as all the character-building is thrown away in favour of a lurid and unenlightening mania. Also, there's no real jeopardy for the villain since nobody entertains any suspicion, making the plausibility break down as the climax approaches. And then, as in all metaller productions of horror, the music has to go tongue-in-cheek, combining Christmas carols with scenes of bleak death. No idea why they always pull the rug out from under interesting stories.

The one movie this reminds me of is from the '70s - Alice, Sweet Alice, which has the same shape of a disturbing, engaging start and a lurid, pointless end.

Overall: Good story finished off by typing into ChatGPT: 'write the ending of a religious slasher.'

It's 1996. Sadie (Sam Quartin), Riley (Eden Brolin), Levi (Owen Campbell), and Liv (Virginia de Witt) are prostitutes working a truck stop in the desert, locally known as Candy Land. Sheriff Rex (William Baldwin) often makes sexual demands on Levi. Nora (Guinevere Turner) is their madam. Remy (Olivia Luccardi) is a runaway from the local religious cult who befriends the group.

As an inside expose on this underworld, this has its moments. As a horror, it runs into a few problems. The biggest one is that it needs more mystery. The movie needs to deliver some red herrings to throw off suspicions. It's probably trying to suggest an unknown someone from the cult. The killer is too obvious and it's soon revealed anyways. This is partly interesting, but could be so much better.

Candy Land is another good example that it doesn't take a lot of different sets or a huge budget to create a visually appealing work - what a nice cinematography, but even better, what an incredible editing! - that, at the same time, fulfills its goals of entertaining with quality.

All this could seem like a kind of sexploitation. That's what the beginning of the first act implies. Calm down. Let those who already had stones to throw calm down. Let those who thought they were going to watch a porno also calm down. The first 15 minutes show more explicit nudity than what we're used to in North American cinema (which, truth be told, is very limited), but that's pretty much the end of it. Better yet, these women are true characters, all of them are very well built and are dignified by a story that doesn't just want to show their tits nor wants them to be seen only with pity. They do what they have to do, things are going relatively well and they form a real team with moments of real camaraderie that are very well-built. There's also a man in the same circumstances, but Candy Land's greatest triumph is that it's always interesting in the way it tells its story and explores gray areas.

Even when it commits excesses - such slaughter in such a short space of time makes us have to question our credulity in the story - it continues to be a work with something to say and very well constructed. It is in its excesses that it also has many of its virtues, but it is in its simplicity that its characters conquer us. It tells us a lot about prejudice, religious fanaticism, and friendship, without forgetting to entertain us and give us a real bloodbath.