BARE BONES: CANDY LAND (2022)

CANDY LAND (2022)

Slasher flick centers on a group of sex workers at a remote truck stop. Their days and nights are filled with slobs, drug addicts, religious fanatics and a pervert of a local sheriff (William Baldwin). None of those are their biggest problem, though, as they are now being stalked by a vicious killer brutally offing them one by one.

Horror is written and directed by John Swab who creates a very unsettling slasher. This grindhouse style flick is filled with a bunch of eccentric and oddball characters, some likable and some not. There are some vicious kills, and some disturbing sexual situations, as the line of work these folks are in is rarely pleasant. Swab surprisingly lets us know who our killer is very early on, and it works, as now we know to be afraid for characters when they are in the killer’s presence. We know who they are, but the inhabitants of this den of iniquity do not…and we have come to like or feel sorry for most of them. The bloody violence has impact, is well rendered and Swab gets pretty good work out of most of the cast. Not a classic but a solid slasher and worth a watch, especially if you like grindhouse era stuff. Also stars Olivia (It Follows) Luccardi and Owen (X) Campbell.

-MonsterZero NJ

BARE BONES: SUPER DARK TIMES (2017)

SUPER DARK TIMES (2017)

Off-beat thriller has four teens smoking pot and goofing around and when the roughhousing gets a little out of hand, one of the teens (Max Talisman) is accidentally killed. The story then focuses on best friends Josh (Charlie Tahan) and Zach (Owen Campbell) as the emotional strain of covering up the boy’s death starts to tear their friendship apart and change the youths drastically. Add in the presence of a pretty mutual love interest (Elizabeth Cappuccino) and the situation may once again become deadly.

Film is directed with a refreshing low-key style by Kevin Phillips from a script by Ben Collins and Luke Piotrowski, who wrote Siren. It’s a tense little movie that portrays not only the awkwardness of teen emotions very well, but the unraveling of not being able to handle something tragic. Josh and Zach react in different ways which pushes them toward a volatile situation. It’s a slow burn, but one worth watching. The last act violence seems s little over-the-top compared to the quieter nature of the rest of the film, but works in the context of teenagers dealing with emotions that would challenge most adults. The young cast of mostly unknowns (Tahan was in The Harvest) are very good and the leads in particular show potential. An atmospheric and occasionally disturbing thriller. Also stars Sawyer Barth as the fourth teen in the scenario, Charlie.

-MonsterZero NJ