In This Horror Movie, the Real Threat Isn’t the Serial Killer, It’s This

The big picture

• La Canda del Diable
  and explores a father-daughter relationship under supernatural threat, with realistic intensity and likeable protagonists.
• The film's pace and use of religious imagery emphasize the threat to Jesse and Zooey's relationship, making it a grounded yet nightmarish experience.
• The film's emotional journey highlights the power of faith in family and loved ones, with a powerful father-daughter duo facing supernatural and grounded forces.

When it comes to family, horror has a pretty solid grasp of the complex dynamics that can arise. Movies like Hereditary explore the darker sides of generational family trauma, while films like last year's The Boogeyman show the strength found in a family fighting together against an evil force. However, a 2015 horror film perfectly captures a healthy father-daughter relationship, and it's actually scarier. Sean Byrnedirector of the year 2009 Loved onesmade his sophomore debut in 2015 with his nightmare role, The devil's candy.

The film follows metalworker and painter Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry) while moving to a rural farmhouse with his wife Astrid (Shiri Appleby) and daughter Zooey (Kiara Glasco). He begins to be overcome by some kind of dark force as he progresses, and loses track of time and reality. The hours slip by and his relationship with his daughter begins to falter as a result. Meanwhile, the house's previous owner, serial killer Ray Smilie (Pruitt Taylor Vince), pursues Zooey, as she tries to appease her own dark forces. While the supernatural elements are terrifying and Pruitt is superb in his performance as one of cinema's most terrifying killers, that's nothing compared to the film's deeper meanings. The real horror of The devil's candy arises from the metaphorical threat to Jesse and Zooey's relationship, which is explored through its excruciatingly tense pacing and likable protagonists.

'The Devil's Candy's' Grounded Intensity

The rhythm of The devil's candy is possibly the film's greatest strength. Unlike similar indie horrors, it's not a complete slow burn. At the same time though, it's not an absolute gore fest with tons of scares around every corner. The devil's candy it's somewhere in between, finding genuine scares through uncomfortable and stressful realistic scenarios. Byrne's film uses realistic intensity to its advantage, mainly to emphasize the threat to Jesse and Zooey's relationship.. Ray Smilie is a terrifying serial killer, portrayed as a realistically disturbed individual with an intimidatingly heavy build. He is a child killer who seeks “devil's candy” (children) to sacrifice to Satan. He was also the original owner of the family's new home, which brings him back there. Unfortunately for the trio, Satan has his eyes on Zooey and Ray is forced to surrender.

This leads to one of the film's most intense sequences. Jesse struggles to get through a meeting as the time nears to pick up his daughter from school. After the meeting is over, Jesse walks to his car and drives away, only to get a flat tire and almost fly off the road. No dark images or jump scares are shown; still, there is a palpable sense of dread. Jesse already missed picking her up once, and now he has a psycho to worry about possibly picking her up. This is a father trying to keep his son's trust in him intact, struggling to present himself in the most basic way possible for his family. The sequence is as intense as it is believable. The entire film is paced like this, with all the more fictional elements serving the deeper roots of the story as all great horror should. What helps this even more is the charming uniqueness of the protagonists.

'The Devil's Candy' features an evil father-daughter duo

All the best scary movies are scarier when the audience has realistic intelligence and the majority all in all, nice characters to root for. It makes the stakes much higher and the terror even more palpable. The intensity, violence and terror of The devil's candy all are possible thanks to the strong protagonists. Jesse Hellman and his daughter Zooey are especially unique, and it's the dark forces that threaten their relationship that make the film scarier. In fact, they might be the coolest father-daughter duo in movie history.

The audience is introduced to Jesse and Zooey in their car down a country road, metal blaring from their loudspeaker. The two hit each other's heads with the heavy music. Jesse has long hair and a well-trimmed beard, and Zooey has dyed hair. They are an adorable couple, their bond is strong and meaningful from that first scene. This continues throughout the film, the two well-matched and connected through their aesthetic and musical tastes. Both are also intelligent, which can be a rarity for main characters in horror films. Jesse is a thoughtful and poetic artist, and Zooey is witty and quick-witted. When Ray ties her up and is about to be euthanized, it doesn't take long for her to figure out how to escape the duct tape and get out of the motel bathroom.

What makes this relationship really important is how pure it is. The film serves as an exploration of good and evil, a classic trial of saint versus unholy. To really achieve the longest possible duration of human depravity, the film must create the purest possible relationship to be threatened. It's no mistake that Jesse is a bit like Jesus, leaning on their relationship as a metaphor for all good things. He and Zooey are symbols of holiness. It's not an overtly Christian film in its themes, and it doesn't even attempt to make any observations about Christianity. However, he is using religious imagery and concepts to weigh human good against human evil.

“The ending of The Devil's Candy solidifies its themes of faith and family

Throughout the film, Jesse and Zooey are forced to deal with supernatural and grounded forces that test them. The film's climax cements how truly meaningful their relationship is. Jesse and Ray finally face off in the fiery, fiery finale, and the stakes reach an all-time high. The ending bears some resemblance to the 1976 ending Carrie. It has an orange and bright red palate already batch of fire It also has the same amount of brutality. The film doesn't stop at its kills, showing that this antagonist has no problem taking out anyone in sight to achieve his main goal. Claustrophobia also remembers The Silence of the lambs. Zooey and her mother are trapped in the house at the mercy of Ray the Creeper, and their struggle to escape his gun range is incredibly awkward.

What this ending, along with the rest of the film, is really trying to talk about is the power of faith, not necessarily in religion or God, but in family and loved ones. Even blind faith in higher powers is also criticized. It's an emotional journey, terrifying especially because of how that trust is threatened and almost collapses in on itself. This emotional thread is what makes the protagonists so endearing and what makes the film an emotional, grounded, but still nightmarish experience..

The devil's candy is available to stream on AMC+ in the US

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