THE DEVIL’S CANDY (2015)

4 stars

Second Sight. Limited Edition UHD & Blu Ray plus separate UHD and Blu ray releases. 25th May.

An odd guttural muttering sound on the soundtrack. Then the loud blast of an electric guitar. Raymond (a suitably sweaty performance by Pruitt Taylor Vince) is playing to drown out the voice – what is it saying? His little old mum ends up dead, leaving him alone with whatever the noise is in his head.

Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry, probably best known these days for the Netflix show GRACE & FRANKIE) is a painter. He listens to heavy metal as he daubs. He is moving with his wife Astrid (Shiri Appleby) and their teen daughter Zooey (Kiera Glasco), who is also a headbanger, to a large house in rural Texas, which has a massive space for his studio.

The house is where Raymond used to live and the realtor tells them it’s a bargain because of what occurred there. Cue moving in montage – to more pounding music! Meanwhile, the mentally challenged Raymond is staying in a motel, and annoying the other residents by turning his guitar up to eleven. Back at the house, Jesse starts to hear the same low level chanting that is driving our guitar thrasher mad.

Then Raymond turns up on their doorstep, explaining he used to live there. What danger does he pose? Also Jesse starts to paint as if possessed, losing track of time as he obsessively creates.

Writer/Director Sean Byrne can’t be exactly accused of being prolific – this was his second feature after THE LOVED ONES (2009) and he didn’t return to the chair again until the recent, very good DANGEROUS ANIMALS. Which is a shame as he is clearly a director with some style. Here he creates what can only be described as a head banging horror as the soundtrack is driven by thumping metal as he builds a sense of dread and tension through the use of sound to put you on edge. The film looks great too with cinematography by Simon Chapman, which is well rendered on this 4K release. Credit where credit is due – the paintings are by Stephen Kasner.

EXTRAS

Audio commentary with Director Sean Byrne

Interviews with Director Sean Byrne; with Actor Ethan Embry; with Director of Photography Simon Chapman; with Editor Andy Canny; with Production Designer Tom Hammock

Behind the Scenes: VFX

Sean Byrne’s Short films: Advantage Satan and Work?

Plus with the limited edition you get rigid slipcase with new artwork by Huan Do; 120-page book with new essays by Anton Bitel, Reyna Cervantes, Becca Johnson, Joe Lipsett, Mary Beth McAndrews and Zoe Rose Smith; 6 collectors’ art cards