Candy Corn

Josh Hasty wears his influences on his sleeves loud and proud, like patches on his favourite jean jacket, but I'd say he pulls off the look well enough. In the beginning we're treated with a nice establishing scene - with the one and only Sky Elobar - which is followed by that fantastic title sequence, with those wonderful autumn vibes and soothing synths (it's the absolute highlight for me). Then the plot kicks in and things start to fall flat and slooow down rather quickly.

With an uninspired revenge plot and the lack of a real protagonist - stuck with a boring killer (liked the pumpkin candy holder schtick, though), boring bullies, and a boring sheriff - the mind begins to wander over into the background, which is where Candy Corn's strength lies. The lovely set dressing and location, the Carpenteresque score, and all those endearing side/background characters - the deputies, Elobar, P.J. freaking Soles! (essentially playing Lucy Moran), Pancho Moler's especially fun. I also like how it all seems sort of out of time, like I've no idea when it's supposed to take place (can't remember if it's mentioned).

While it could have been a little tighter - there are clear pacing issues and those forced slo-mo scenes are a bother - it is about 80 minutes of perfectly enjoyable mood setting for Halloween season. So I think I would recommend it as just that.

Also, if this were to turn into a series, I'd be into checking a sequel out come next year, or something.

It's the staple idea of revenge and retribution used in many an EC Comics tale and subsequent portmanteau movies of the 70s and 80s, such as Vault of Horror and Tales from the Crypt.

A Halloween tradition is revisited by a bunch of friends, looking for twisted kicks. What they didn't expect is what was to follow in its wake.

By twisted kicks, that appears to mean to beat someone up once a year at Halloween for no apparent reason. It's a fairly lame excuse for the golem-esque story which follows, even in this Pumpkinhead sub genre of horror, but hey ho.

Some of the gory scenes are quite entertaining but way too drawn out to have any shock factor; the lack of budget is not concealed well with sleight of hand in the editing - which is probably the movie's weakest point. Most scenes could be trimmed a bit; it's a slightly tedious viewing experience and doesn't lend well to the movie's quality, especially where the acting is concerned. The performances are pretty good, it's just that the scenes need a bit more trimming to feel right and the characters really needed a bit more fleshing out.

I love this kind of horror tale, it just hasn't been presented very well. Hopefully the makers can take on board the criticism and get it right next time. Candy Corn has a lot of unrealised potential and I really wanted to like it more.

I feel a little harsh giving this movie one star but it's so bad.

It feels like a film student project. I say that about a lot of movies but this honestly feels like a group of college students got to gather and made a movie. The acting is awful. The script is terrible. The camera feels like it was strapped on the back of a one legged turtle.

The actors has two gears in this movie. One: reading the lines so flat it was like they were reading their grandads will. It was just dead. Or two: they were absolutely chopping at the scenery. It was so insanely big it felt like they were in a pantomime.

There is also no protagonist nor an actual coherent story, for some reason they love to use slow motion. It is used so often in this movie!

Take the house of 1000 corpses and mix it up with 31, then replace actors with waiters and waitresses from mcdonalds. water down any serious script writing, get the special effects from plasticine and water based paints, and bingo youve got this movie!! it really isnt as bad as most make out , however every kill and 90% of the dialogue has been copied perfectly from other horrors, mainly rob zombie movies. it couldve been a half decent film, it wasnt

The good: Makeup

The bad: Just about everything else. Poor casting (non-actors who are too old for the behavior depicted); poor script (even if the actors could deliver a line, these are too cheesy), poor pacing (there were times when I had to fight sleep; the single note piano lines of the score didn't help), poor screenplay (illogical, pointless behavior and lots of it.)