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Now on Netflix: THE DEVIL’S CANDY (2017)

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As a fan of both extreme music and horror movies, I’ve been waiting for a film that really captures the essence of both elements. And yes, you could say that it’s already been done with Deathgasm, but that was an extremely silly slice of ass-kicking gore. Which is not to take anything away from Ol’ ‘Gasm; it’s one of my favorite modern horror-comedies. The key hyphenated word here being “horror-comedy.” And you could also throw a list of great early 2000’s slasher flicks that were chock full of nu metal at me, but the heavy metal in those films wasn’t integral to them. In The Devil’s Candy, I’ve finally got what I’ve been lusting over for so many years: a truly scary horror movie with heavy metal in it that’s not just there for comedic effect.

Sean Byrne’s film focuses around Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry) and his family, consisting of a loving wife and daughter, as they purchase a new home in the countryside. Jesse is a complex yet highly likable character. He’s a metal head, obsessed with the music and the lifestyle, but he’s also a kind and loving family man. He’s a painter who is forced to paint pretty pictures to support his family when he’d quite obviously be better suited to do album covers, but hey, you’ve got to pay the bills somehow.

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Yet once the Hellmans move into their new house, conveniently low-priced because of a double murder, his paintings because more and more disturbing. It’s as if something horrible and malevolent is inside of him, clawing its way out of Jesse and onto the canvas. And then there’s also the problem of Ray Smilie (Pruitt Taylor Vince), a former inhabitant of the house, who suffered from hearing voices in his head which led him to kill…and he wants back in.

The Devil’s Candy is a stylistic treat in every sense. The sound design is nothing short of phenomenal, and the heavy metal soundtrack doesn’t feel out of place or over the top in any way. One of the greatest movie watching experiences of my entire life may have been hearing the main riff in Pantera’s By Demons Be Driven unexpectedly repeated over and over in a scene that did not include murder. In fact, the heavy music never seems to be accompanying death or destruction in the physical sense. Instead, it is present more often while Jesse brings his demons to life through his paintings. Add one point for avoiding a common horror cliche, and add a whole list of other points for making the characters appear human; Embry’s character work in this film is so on point that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to watch him in another film and not picture his long hair, beard, and Sunn O))) t-shirt (which was yet another incredible surprise; did I mention they contributed to the soundtrack here?).

IMDb

Character study is one thing, but this is a horror movie, so you’re probably asking whether or not The Devil’s Candy delivered on the scare front. To that, I can confidently say that it does. Ray Smilie is a horrific and deranged human being, and the tension whenever he is shown onscreen is overwhelming. The Devil’s Candy did an excellent job at making me feel uncomfortable – it’s a film that works by making you really appreciate the characters and subsequently fear for their lives. Working with a small, amiable cast made it very hard to see any of them in any sort of danger.

And although I’ve said that this film uses heavy metal unironically, it’d be impossible to do that without a little bit of one’s tongue in their cheek. Thankfully, Sean Byrne is very self-aware, and he never takes the music too seriously to the point that it becomes silly. The Devil’s Candy is a well-made slice of scary drama that should be seen by every horror fan.

The Devil’s Candy, written and directed by Sean Byrne, is now streaming on Netflix in the US. Watch it tonight!

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‘Invisible Man 2’ Is “Closer Than Its Ever Been” to Happening

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Elisabeth Moss in a very well-thought-out statement said in an interview for Happy Sad Confused that even though there have been some logistical issues for doing Invisible Man 2 there is hope on the horizon.

Podcast host Josh Horowitz asked about the follow-up and if Moss and director Leigh Whannell were any closer to cracking a solution to getting it made. “We are closer than we have ever been to cracking it,” said Moss with a huge grin. You can see her reaction at the 35:52 mark in the below video.

Happy Sad Confused

Whannell is currently in New Zealand filming another monster movie for Universal, Wolf Man, which might be the spark that ignites Universal’s troubled Dark Universe concept which hasn’t gained any momentum since Tom Cruise’s failed attempt at resurrecting The Mummy.

Also, in the podcast video, Moss says she is not in the Wolf Man film so any speculation that it’s a crossover project is left in the air.

Meanwhile, Universal Studios is in the middle of constructing a year-round haunt house in Las Vegas which will showcase some of their classic cinematic monsters. Depending on attendance, this could be the boost the studio needs to get audiences interested in their creature IPs once more and to get more films made based on them.

The Las Vegas project is set to open in 2025, coinciding with their new proper theme park in Orlando called Epic Universe.

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Jake Gyllenhaal’s Thriller ‘Presumed Innocent’ Series Gets Early Release Date

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Jake gyllenhaal presumed innocent

Jake Gyllenhaal’s limited series Presumed Innocent is dropping on AppleTV+ on June 12 instead of June 14 as originally planned. The star, whose Road House reboot has brought mixed reviews on Amazon Prime, is embracing the small screen for the first time since his appearance on Homicide: Life on the Street in 1994.

Jake Gyllenhaal’s in ‘Presumed Innocent’

Presumed Innocent is being produced by David E. Kelley, J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot, and Warner Bros. It is an adaptation of Scott Turow’s 1990 film in which Harrison Ford plays a lawyer doing double duty as an investigator looking for the murderer of his colleague.

These types of sexy thrillers were popular in the ’90s and usually contained twist endings. Here’s the trailer for the original:

According to Deadline, Presumed Innocent doesn’t stray far from the source material: “…the Presumed Innocent series will explore obsession, sex, politics and the power and limits of love as the accused fights to hold his family and marriage together.”

Up next for Gyllenhaal is the Guy Ritchie action movie titled In the Grey scheduled for release in January 2025.

Presumed Innocent is an eight-episode limited series set to stream on AppleTV+ starting June 12.

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Trailer for ‘The Exorcism’ Has Russell Crowe Possessed

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The latest exorcism movie is about to drop this summer. It’s aptly titled The Exorcism and it stars Academy Award winner turned B-movie savant Russell Crowe. The trailer dropped today and by the looks of it, we are getting a possession movie that takes place on a movie set.

Just like this year’s recent demon-in-media-space film Late Night With the Devil, The Exorcism happens during a production. Although the former takes place on a live network talk show, the latter is on an active sound stage. Hopefully, it won’t be entirely serious and we’ll get some meta chuckles out of it.

The film will open in theaters on June 7, but since Shudder also acquired it, it probably won’t be long after that until it finds a home on the streaming service.

Crowe plays, “Anthony Miller, a troubled actor who begins to unravel while shooting a supernatural horror film. His estranged daughter, Lee (Ryan Simpkins), wonders if he’s slipping back into his past addictions or if there’s something more sinister at play. The film also stars Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg and David Hyde Pierce.”

Crowe did see some success in last year’s The Pope’s Exorcist mostly because his character was so over-the-top and infused with such comical hubris it bordered on parody. We will see if that is the route actor-turned-director Joshua John Miller takes with The Exorcism.

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