Prime Time: Candy Corn (2019)

Sometimes I like to balance out my reviews. And when I say sometimes I actually mean most of the time. It is good to be able to see the positive in a bad movie, and also to acknowledge the negative in a good movie. So I hope you believe me when I say that I struggled to think of elements in Candy Corn that I could praise. And I found myself wanting. Technically, this sits above many cheaper, rougher, less competent, movies. Considering the approach taken, however, and it is clear that you have a cynical bit of fan-pandering that doesn’t deserve your time.

A bullied young man is once again bullied. Things turn tragic. And then everything goes supernatural and deadly when the bullying victim is turned into a force of vengeance. Sheriff Sam Bramford (Courtney Gains) is a step or two behind, as the deaths start to occur, but gets himself up to speed quite quickly.

Writer-director Josh Hasty takes a very flimsy premise, attempts to dress it up with some thick Halloween atmosphere, and protects himself further by utilising Gains, P. J. Soles, and Tony Todd in the cast. That would be perfectly fine if he used them well, but he doesn’t. Todd is particularly wasted, but he’s there, and that means horror fans may check out the movie just because of his presence.

Gains has quite a central role, so at least there is that, but the other leads are Pancho Moler, playing the character who sets everything in motion after the bullying incident, and the victims. There are some other people, but most of them are very forgettable, with the exception of Madison Russ, playing Carol, the girlfriend of one of the bullies. It's also good to see Sky Elobar, but only because you can see him and think "heyyyy, that's the guy from The Greasy Strangler".

Hasty has put no effort into this, what is essentially a very basic slasher without good enough characters, good enough kills, or even a large helping of gratuitous nudity to make it all pass more enjoyably. The script is poor, there's never a feeling of anything really being at stake, despite people being bumped off by a vengeful killer, and the whole thing feels like some cheap attempt to bilk some money from horror fans who will be drawn in by the names. Annoyingly, we know this will work, to a degree. And if Hasty had used the horror icons a bit better then this would have been easier to shrug off. It's not the opportunism that rankles so much, it's the laziness. There's nothing here to distract you from a very dull horror movie experience.

Candy Corn would not have been a recommendation even if it had been released in the 1980s or '90s. The fact that it is a 2019 release is bewildering. I'm sure many will still seek it out. I highly recommend that you delve into some past gems you may have missed instead. This one is best left to fade into deserved obscurity.

3/10

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Netflix And Chill: An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn (2018)

The director of An Evening With Beverly Luff Linn is Jim Hosking. He is the man who was also responsible for The Greasy Strangler, which is important information for anyone going into this. Because this movie is, if anything, even more bonkers than that movie. It's also even funnier, and has already become my favourite film from the many I have seen so far this year. It's insane, it's very stupid at times, and it's bordering on the absolute genius. Hosking, with the help of a very game cast, made me laugh more than I can remember laughing during any film I can think of from the past few years. And I know that my enjoyment of the movie could just as easily get me funny looks from someone sitting beside me and hating every moment.

The very basic core of the plot revolves around Lulu Danger (Aubrey Plaza), who takes a chance to escape her loveless marriage to Shane (Emile Hirsch) when a petty crime he executes ends up getting him threatened by Colin Keith Treadener (Jemaine Clement). Lulu and Colin head off to hole up in a hotel, the same venue that is about to hold the titular evening of magic with Beverly Linn Luff (Craig Robinson). Lulu and Beverly have a past, or so she believes, although this is news to the person who currently cares for, and loves, him.

Where to begin with this? I really have no idea of how best to convey my enjoyment of this film. If I simply quoted lines from the script, co-written by Hosking and David Wilke, then nothing would seem that funny, out of context. The words ARE great, but it's the strange delivery and mood of the whole film that helps to build every moment into comedy gold. And everything is helped along by the simplistic, and brilliant, soundtrack from Andrew Hung.

Plaza shines in the lead role, the perfect mix of weird and cute and dangerous that she does so well. I know she has bills to pay but I really wish she would take ten roles in films like this (and the enjoyable Ingrid Goes West) over the more mainstream movies that waste her talent. The majority of her scenes are alongside Clement, who threatens to steal every scene he is in with his mix of inanity and earnestness. Robinson is good, although doesn't use too many words, and Matt Berry is very amusing as the man looking after him, and you get wonderful turns from Sam Dissanayake, Zach Cherry, Sky Elobar, and Jacob Wysoki. You actually get wonderful turns from everyone involved, but they are the people I am going to name here. Oh, and Emile Hirsch deserves more words of praise than I can come up with here. Delivering every line he has in a very particular style, his performance was the most surprising. I like Hirsch onscreen but never thought of anyone who would be able to make me laugh as much as he did here. His performance feels like he's channeling Jack Nicholson, Nicolas Cage, and John Cleese, with all three personalities battling for dominance of every sentence he speaks.

Some reviews (many, in fact) feel redundant. I cannot put my finger on what Hosking gets so right here because it feels like a whole bundle of negatives that somehow all add up to a positive, and I don't see this working for at least half the general population (the sane half). But for the people it DOES work for . . . it's going to become as much a treasure to you as it is to me.

9/10

You can buy the disc here (even if you hate it and then send it to me).
Americans can treat themselves here.