The Devil's Candy Review (Film, 2015) #31DaysofHorror
The Devil’s Candy is a possession/haunted house film with a metal soundtrack and edge. A family moves into their dream house, even though they are told their dream house just had two people die in it a few days before. The father starts to exhibit the same signs and troubles of the surviving member of the previous family who lived there. First he hears whispers. Then, the only way to stop the whispers is to create. Good thing this father is a professional painter and not someone whose only release is one chord on a guitar. The film follows the parallel narratives of the two men possessed by whatever force lives in the house.
All too often, though, The Devil’s Candy falls for one of the biggest traps in all of horror. The nighttime scares are so dark that you can’t really make out all the details. The opening sequence, for example, has a really great concept. A man cannot sleep because of the whispers he hears at night. He winds up playing a loud power chord on an electric guitar over and over until a family member comes to stop him. He claims it’s the only way to stop the voices. This description is all speculative, as I could barely make out a face from the shadows in the scene. This happen consistently in the scare scenes and really hurts the film. For full disclosure, if you haven’t read me mention it before, I do have light sensitivity issues, so this kind of lighting style doesn’t sit well with me. I think you’ll agree by the screenshot, though, that it is beyond dark. Enough of the film has better lighting that it’s watchable, but it’s distracting enough in the moment to really hurt the overall quality of the film.
A closeup shot of the man trying to stop the whispers while playing guitar. At least that’s what I can gather happened in this scene.
It really is a shame. The other technical qualities of the film are great. The sound design is spot on. When the whispers come in, they build at a slow, steady rate. Soon enough, they take over the full soundtrack unless the person being effected fulfills whatever is necessary to satisfy the voices. The whole film is about extremes of noise. If the whispers and otherworldly sounds don’t consume the soundtrack, the heavy metal music fills in the gaps. The whole film is loud. The variety of sounds and music just makes the volume an integral part of the film.
The parallel narrative structure is what really makes The Devil’s Candy stand out in the possession/haunted house genre. The two characters, clearly effected by this same force, face entirely different circumstances. The father, a skilled painter with a loving support system. is able to harness the darkness to create art. It’s dark and disturbing art, but it is art nonetheless. His wife supports his efforts, even as the bills start to pile up and new commissions aren’t coming in. The father has the freedom to choose how he handles this otherworldly force because he is otherwise in such a stable situation.
The other man is not so lucky. While he comes from money, he clearly suffers from some kind of intellectual disability. That scene too dark to really see at the beginning has his mother state that he has to go back to the facility. The pressure exerted on this second man is too much for him to cope with, utterly destroying any chance he ever had at stability in his life. He never stood a chance when being manipulated by this otherworldly force because he simply does not have the skills and structure in place in his life to fully care for himself before the possession begins.
The Devil’s Candy provides an interesting undercurrent about privilege and status. When the two plotlines intersect, it’s tragic and disturbing. The differences are weaponized against each other to really powerful effect. While I would typically take issue with the second character being portrayed as having incredibly violent tendencies, the screenplay makes it very clear that the man is not violent because of his mental wellness or intellectual capabilities, but because of the otherworldly forces that have possessed him. It’s a very clear line of distinction that actually makes such an aggressive sounding film feel sensitive.
The Devil’s Candy is not an easy film to watch. It’s loud and filled with disturbing images. The overall story is unpredictable. The third act is upsetting in a way that is justified by having fully realized characters, strong lore, and a believable world. It is extreme, but it feels real, and that’s the draw of the film.
The Devil’s Candy is currently streaming on Netflix.
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