Candlewood

Candlewood brings a local legend to life on a small budget, delivering an entertaining experience that kept me on the edge of my seat! From the opening scene to the end, the cast of creepy oddball characters and the eerie forest and overcast sky set the perfect mood for haunting unease. Along with well-timed, subtle comedy, a string of cleverly placed clues left me wanting to watch it once more to catch every well-thought-out detail. Candlewood stands as a testament to the remarkable power of storytelling, demonstrating its ability to transcend the limitations of budgetary constraints and deliver a great night at the cinema!

I watched this so you don't have too. I usually love a campy scary movie. This was not it.

It started out intriguing. A blended city family moves to secluded home in woods. Each family member pushing boundaries with the other members of their family. Add legends about the area where they're now living to explain history of haunted land. So much potential to work with.

Then the movie loses the plot. Bad acting and weird special effects made for a long boring movie. It's like the director had a vision, but after 10 minutes got frustrated and quit trying. None of the characters had any redeeming qualities. The "story" had huge plot holes which I don't really care about, I was just glad it was over.

Well the cinematography is good. We can at least say that. Landscapes locations very well done actors not so much. Too much over acting. And it's so slow. I mean pick up the pace a little bit it's so slow. Anticipation to the next spooky point is just way over the top. I realize it's an independent feature. Low budget. All the locals doing background. Everybody wants to be in the movies. Very few people can pull it off and this crew have failed. So anyone who wants to make a film like this will you still have a shot of being better recognized for your work. Sad thing is person who wrote the script could not have possibly been satisfied with how it turned out on film.

I wasn't familiar with the 2025 movie "Candlewood" from director Myke Furhman prior to sitting down and watching it. And the movie's synopsis definitely sounded interesting enough.

While the storyline in the movie wasn't boring, I have to say that I found it a bit confusing, because I didn't really understand what was going on. It felt like writers Joseph Patrick Conroy, Victoria Flores-Argue and Myke Furhman had written parts of the movie independently of one another and without knowing what the others were writing, and the end result was a bit of a disjointed and erratic script. It wasn't really a scary movie at all, so that was sort of disappointing.

"Candlewood" didn't bring anything new or innovative to the horror genre, and it was somewhat lacking in coherency and the scare department, which made for a bit of a dull viewing experience.

The entire cast ensemble in the movie were all new faces for me, which is actually something that I do enjoy whenever I sit down to watch a movie. And I will say that the acting performances in the movie were good.

The movie wasn't rich on special effects. In fact, there was hardly any effects in the movie. Oh, and I absolutely love how the father could hold a shotgun in one hand and fire it without a shred of recoil. I guess the writers wasn't familiar with the physics of firearms.

There are far better and scary horror movies out there, for sure. But I will say that "Candlewood" certainly was a semi-watchable enough movie for what it turned out to be. But it is hardly a movie that warrants more than a single viewing.

My rating of "Candlewood" lands on a generous four out of ten stars.

I actually got to see this film at some private screening. I am a former NYers now living in this CT town where apparently the movie was filmed. Its about some local folklore and a family that moves to this town. So it def struck a nerve. It was a fun ride and I actually laughed some some hilarious one-liners. It was more of a thriller and a psychological horror film that anything really gory. I found the acting really great and the cinematography really cool. This film does not scream indie and everyone around me laughed and jumped at the same time. I hear they are making a 2nd one which I will certainly watch. The writing was really smart and pretty great. It's nothing earth shattering but doesn't take itself too seriously. Again, I laughed really hard in parts. Def worth a watch!!