The Devil's Candy (2015) **1/2

In 2014 I watched Sean Byrne's debut film, The Loved Ones (2009). I enjoyed that film overall, though it was least favorite of the three films I discussed with co-founders/hosts Lee Howard and Michael Mackenzie for the Movie Matters Podcast Halloween Special V (which you can listen to here). Unfortunately, I liked Byrne's sophomore feature, The Devil's Candy (2015) even less.

TDC is pretty well-made overall, but it feels very underdeveloped story-wise, easily forgettable, and, frankly, I'm surprised at the amount of love for this one. Also, I'm not sure if this is only present via streaming or on the Blu-ray as well (I watched on Hulu), but the dark scenes looked like absolute garbage (washed-out blacks were gray, atrocious banding, bad compression, and I couldn't even tell what was what). 

Further, Ethan Embry is not a convincing metalhead/artist, coming off as more of vain, skinny-ripped poseur who just can't seem to keep his shirt on. Pruitt Taylor Vince is creepy but feels typecast. Shiri Appleby is quite literally a useless character. The teenage Kiara Glasco gives the film's best performance but the character still deserved better, in my opinion. The sound design is cool, the painting that Embry's character works on is really cool, and there's a decent sense of menace throughout. 

The finale gets really disturbing for a little while but then the ending is just…kind of cheesy. Lots of bad CGI fire, weirdly drawn-out moments, and unbelievability. It's too bad because TDC had some serious potential. I'll probably still check out whatever Byrne does next, but at the rate his films get made and now with the pandemic, that could be some time. In any case, I'm not holding my breath.