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"This is different. I've never had a muse before. I don't remember painting this. It's like it's, it's like somethin'.. It flowed through me."

I won't beat around the bush. I thought "The Devil's Candy" was unparalleled. And not because of the demonic story itself. But because of the appearance of Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry). A true metal-head who throws himself, stripped to the waist, on a canvas cloth with spray cans during the night. A prehistoric looking guy with lank greasy hair, gleaming because of his with oil smeared muscles. He tries to put the energy he receives from listening to squealing and howling guitars into his artworks. In a way he reminded me of Rob Zombie. The day the family Hellman (appropriate name!) decides to move into a sweet-looking little house somewhere in Texas, Jesse doesn't realize that the dark forces that are present there, will inspire him in a very different way.

It's never really frightening so to speak. No paranormal events or sudden jump-scares that'll spook you. The eerie part is developed in a more subtle way here. The demonic character of a former resident who's either possessed by satanic forces or simply mentally disturbed, is the thing that makes for some scary and eerie moments. I'm talking about Ray (Pruitt Taylor Vince). A somewhat fuzzy and labile-like person. Not long after the Hellemans moved, this retarded person shows up at the door and claims that he needs to return to his former home, so he can produce a deafening sound on his red Gibson Flying V again. Noise he needs to produce in order not to hear those adjuring voices. Voices that incite him to perform disgusting acts.

Although it's a horror, it's not really bloody. You can imagine what dreadful murders are happening. And at some point when Jesse is painting again, you'll see fragments of red paint mixed with seemingly bloody fragments. But it's never explicitly shown. There are moments when you can feel the helplessness of a future victim. The powerlessness and the realization what's waiting for them, provide an uncomfortable feeling. Ultimately, you can ask yourself the question whether it's really Satan who's ordering Ray. Or is he just a mentally disturbed person who hears voices and is guided by them. More or less it's explained a bit by the preacher in a religious television program. Satan isn't only that metaphysical character with horns and a pointed tail. It's not only that mask that's being worn at Halloween or the character you'll see in a movie. It's an aggressive anti-Christ who lives among us and uses us to carry out his unspeakable deeds. In a less religious context it simply means the evil that proliferates in humans.

The story isn't very original, but the undertone of the film is fascinating. The fact that the film is filled up with brutal metal sound, creates of course an extra satanic dimension. Personally I still think it's absolutely ridiculous, but the association of Satan with metal is never far away. Well, probably there still are some blockheads who think that Ray's actions are a result of listening to heavy metal. Ultimately, the film balances between a psychic, demonic story, and the story of a serial killer who's guided by an evil influence. I thought it was fascinating enough anyway!

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A struggling painter (Ethan Embry) is possessed by supernatural forces after he and his young family move into their dream home in rural Texas (just north of Austin), in this creepy haunted-house tale.

First and foremost, this film deserves credit for working in the metal-horror connection. You don't have to enjoy metal to enjoy this movie, but I think it helps. One reason the 1980s were a great decade for horror is because it was also a great decade for punk and metal. "Devil's Candy" doesn't try to be an 80s throwback, but does offer something of a modern equivalent.

Leading us through the film is Ethan Embry. Like many others, my love for Embry is strong. Not to pigeon-hole him, but he has been in a number of horror films in the last decade (such as the brilliant "Late Phases") and as part of the horror community I'd like to claim him as one of ours. Fans of "Grace and Frankie" may fight me, but we would all agree he is a great actor and truly underrate. Casey Affleck an Oscar contender? Really? Embry emotes with his eyes in way that few others can -- we have seen him sensitive, petrified, terrifying, and everything else. Some of that we see in this film (though luckily for us he is more on the good side this time around).

And countering Embry is Pruitt Taylor Vince, who unfortunately is probably best known as a "character actor" who has one of those faces you have seen 100 times but don't know the name. If this is you, make this the movie you start remembering Vince for. Holy smokes. He has had a handful of "idiot" or "incompetent" roles, but he really turns it on here, making us wonder just how much he is tormented inside and having pity on him, even though we know within the first five minutes that he is a tool of the devil.

The plot is thin, but not necessarily in a bad way. Rather than get bogged down or become too cerebral, "Devil's Candy" prefers to keep the pace moving so we can get punched in the face over and over again in its relatively short running time. You like cerebral horror? Great, we can watch "Frailty". This is not that film. But it is one filled with rich atmospheric cinematography and a dark, yet vibrant color palette (if such a combination is possible). With all due respect to writer-director Sean Byrne, it is cinematographer Simon Chapman who sold me on this film.

The only thing that left me wondering, is why did the film take so long for a proper release? Beginning in 2015, it was floating around film festivals, receiving praise. The journey continued throughout 2016, and we finally see a release from IFC in March 2017. I suspect maybe it was securing the music budget, as getting the rights to put Metallica's "For Whom the Bell Tolls" on DVD is probably not cheap. But what do I know? Regardless, IFC must be thanked for getting this out to the masses. Perhaps not the best horror film coming out on home video this year, but I assure you it is far from the worst. Any horror fan who has 90 minutes to spare would be investing their time wisely with "The Devil's Candy".

The Devil's Candy is a movie about a family that consists of a couple and a teenage daughter who move into a new house. Father and daughter are really into metal, father is also a painter and it's like he gets possessed when he's painting and he paints all this nightmarish imagery. There's also this creepy man who kills children that starts stalking the daughter and basically, it gets a bit messy.

The main problem with this movie is that the plot just doesn't come together well. The possession part completely takes a backseat (even though it was shown a lot) and is never really explained, so we have a story about a family being stalked by this very creepy satanist serial killer who kills kids and thinks he sends them for the devil. It's like two plots and one unfolds while the other one is just kinda left hanging in the air. There could have been more, but there wasn't and it doesn't really hold up well.

That's a pretty big flaw, but I liked everything else about the movie. It was well directed and very, very intense. I'm talking biting your nails kind of intense. It also has some sudden very disturbing moments that might be a bit too disturbing to some, but that's a win for the movie. I was surprised by how little gore this movie contained, but still it manages to shock so much in certain moments, so props to the director. The acting was also one of the best I've seen in indie horror movies for a while and it really helped bring us closer to the characters (father and daughter in particular). I wasn't prepared for how good the acting actually was. And also, the movie is pretty stylish and I felt that the director really brought that sense of a nightmare. And if you like metal, that's a good enough reason alone to watch this. The soundtrack and some of the themes are a metal-head's wet dream. And while I'm not a complete metal-head, I'm quite fond of metal and I must say that I really enjoyed those aspects of the movie.

So, this movie might have had a weak script, but it was saved by good directing and strong performances.

A film about Satan and the devil, how classic. There's an undercurrent of pure dread to this flick. It works its way through the film's veins using music cues, whispering demonic voices and haunting images. Ethan Embry's performance is superbly crafted. A well-meaning dad, that rocks out to metal and paints pictures all day. He feels very real and not like a caricature. (He also gets ripped for this flick, I guess because he paints shirtless for a few scenes. It seems unnecessary, distracting and unfitting for his character but sure).

He begins to hear voices and see things and paint horrible stuff he doesn't understand. It's all very unnerving and convincing and seems to be leading to some inevitable catastrophe.

But the film lets up in the home stretch. It becomes a bit of a supernatural home invasion flick. The film seems undecided about whether there are real demons at play, which unfocuses the movie and makes it seem unsure of itself. The film isn't exactly about investigating the place demons have in the modern world either. It just knows they are inextricably linked with metal. A lot of the build-up seems for naught in the end and it's a real shame.

Byrne has great ideas, a wonderful grasp of character, atmosphere, tension, but maybe not enough to say?

When i first saw the description of this movie, I thought "oh yeah, just another possession movie ... yawn, probably going to be a waste of my evening" ... but then I took a look at how many positive reviews It was getting and decided to give it a go ... and to no disappointment! This movie was well done, lots of original material, well crafted cinematic horror, good acting, good plot, actually reasonably scary and suspenseful... it's a solid horror movie. I recommend it strongly to other horror fans and trust me I don't give that recommendation out easily, there is plenty of 'horror crap' out there, but this is horror gold. Good job.

The most Metal movie of 2017 so far.

Although it's not hard for a horror movie to be metal, I feel a lot of them do without trying. However, The Devils Candy purposely does its best to be metal.

Starting with a scene in which a man hears the call form Satan himself and then picks up a seven string axe and plucks it so deep it sounds like a bass riff, all in the name of the big D.

The film is about a metal head who moves in to this man's house after he kills his wife than himself. This Metalhead begins painting disturbing images after hearing the Devil's call of the victims that that man's son, who is the monster of this slasher styled flick, starts to accumulate, and if this metalhead does not get his head right his daughter, who this monster has his eye on, will be next.

Definitely appreciate the effort to be more metal. You have movies like Hellraiser (That just comes to mind) which is very metal with out attaching a Motörhead soundtrack for one of its sequels, and it's not even trying to appeal to the genre per say, like this movie does with the father and daughter bonding over their hate of everything cute and cuddly and poking fun of how light on the ears Metallica is.

But definitely loved this more than most horror films these days that use cast that more appeal to the pop music crowd. Plus the movie goes for that no holds bared slasher horror feeling (Without getting too gory). This movie's monster's love of children (specifically the metalhead's easy on he eyes daughter) gives the emotion of that golden age Freddy Kruger, Micheal Myers era of slash without needing to actually see overdone kill moves.

Completely disturbing, thrilling and suspenseful, and horrific without any of that.

Devil horns up!

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It's not disturbing, not gory, not even scary... I can't understand why there are so many reviews claiming that this movie is good horror. It had so much potential and failed to deliver on all fronts. As a satan obsessed metal head, I thought this movie would be right up my ally, but no. It was cliché in all the worst ways, boring, and not creative. There were some opportunities for it to be really gruesome or disturbing that simply weren't taken. Felt like a PG-13 wannabe horror movie trying way too hard to be original. I think the only moment I enjoyed was when the four-horned goat appeared in the yard.

Wow a great Horror Movie. I was slightly put off by the cover art of this movie and almost missed this one thinking it was a slasher film, it is not. I am not a fan of simple gore slasher movies and I visually categorized this as something akin to "Devil's Rejects" which is the type of movie I despise. Fortunately, I stumbled upon a good review of this movie which made me pick it up. Anyway, this may be one of the better horror movies of 2015. Pruitt Taylor Vince performance is very memorable and disturbing. Everything from his demeanor to that dirty red tracksuit. Ethan Embry (Late Phases, Incident on a Mountain Road) is no stranger to horror films but I barely recognized due to his long hair and grunge rock appearance, he gives an outstanding performance of a disturbed painter and father who receives an overwhelming urge to paint a sinister painting that is invading his mind. Interesting to note, the voices that the antagonist and the protagonist are hearing are NOT THE SAME. They are different which I think becomes apparent by the end of the film. This movie is full of tension with strong supernatural undertones. There is surprisingly little gore in this movie though we see multiple scenes of bloody aftermaths.

......but oh my goodness did it ever deteriorate rapidly. First, are we really expected to believe that silly wig is hair? To say it was distracting is an immense understatement. But it wasn't a deal breaker. That came later, at about the midway point. People saying it's the last fifteen to twenty minutes are bad are certainly right, but it had turned to crapola at the forty minute mark for me. It truly was an abysmal ending though. Acting competent but not outstanding. I liked the music. But the whole Satanic element just falls flat, and the dialogue turns trite and absurd. People act in ways that defy logic. The typical generic horror movie devices occur. Car won't start. Getting free from being bound very well. Bad CGI. Didn't anyone actually research the basics of how fire behaves? Or the effects of gun wounds on a person? No. The last half hour you could see every thing coming before it happened. All that on top of that ridiculous wig just turned it all into cheap comedy. Could have been something unique but ended up being nothing worthy note. Another flop in a sub genre that's quite frankly been milked dry. But really you should see the ending of this. It's one of the worst things you'll ever see on film.

I watched this without much expectation because there was nothing on. I did not know it would suck me in like being in a black hole during a hurricane. The entire cost was awesome - Embry gives Oscar-worthy performance, and I think he has one of the most expressive faces on the Silver Screen. Vince never disappoints, and proved to be a most emotionally tortured villain. He gets glimpses that what he is doing is BAD, but he cannot overcome his demon. The daughter is incredibly likable - not an obnoxious smart-a** like the character's of so many kids in movies these days. At first, I found the wife dull, but she rocks, and gave a great performance. I disagree with some of the others that this was not gory. It was quite gory and violent, both in imagery and played out scenes. This movie flew by in no time - you won't even have time to get a snack. It brings forth the notion that people -both good and bad - can summon up strength we never knew existed within us. To what purpose do we want to use it?

A good heavy metal theme; scenes and references tie in together nicely, occult themed, loved some symbolism, atmosphere not too eerie but more creepy cringe, some stylish shots, modern horror. It was a great 1:20, Ethan Embry seems to constantly transform himself as an actor. I don't know about the background production but I enjoyed it, very entertaining. Some loud scenes due to the awesome metal music so make sure you can watch it with the volume up.

Artist / heavy metal enthusiast Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry), his wife Astrid (Shiri Appleby), and their daughter Zooey (Kiara Glasco) move in to their new, rural dream home, only to discover that it comes with a... complication. The Hellmans already know about the house's tragic past, but have no idea what caused it to happen. They are about to find out.

THE DEVIL'S CANDY is a supernatural horror movie that works. It's what movies like THE AMITYVILLE HORROR should have been. Gruesome, macabre, and terrifying, TDC's effectiveness stems from its having authentic characters who are caught up in occult / demonic possession madness. Said possession is presented like a form of extreme schizophrenia, making it difficult -at first- to discern whether dark forces are truly afoot. While the finale takes a curious turn into action film territory, it's not enough to offset what came before it.

Co-stars the always wonderful, Pruitt Taylor Vince as the VERY creepy Ray...

P.S.- This movie has a great soundtrack, too! Extra points for the GHOST poster on Zooey's bedroom wall!...

A really enjoyable horror, apart from all the dark scenes where even with all the lights out, curtains drawn and squinting like mad I struggled to see a lot of scenes, especially in the first 30 minutes. This is as annoying as straining to hear the dialogue when the music is blaring away. The story is credible albeit it lost some credence in the last 15 minutes and I would have been happy with and extra 20 minutes to flesh out the ending which seemed a bit rushed. However, this is a great watch, particularly and mainly down to the excellent cast. Normally in low budget horror the acting is atrocious, but the acting in this was way above average and carried the film.

The biggest problem modern horror films seem to have is making the audience care about their characters. Generally, they are so cliché, bland, dumb and unrealistic that within the first 10 minutes of the film no one cares any longer about their fate. So when I saw early on in 'The Devil's Candy' that the main characters were a family of hippy bogans, I'll admit I was worried for the sake of the film. I make no mistake about the fact that these are not people I can relate to in any way, and have had almost universally negative experiences with them in my life. On the contrary though, that turned out to be the strongest element to the film. I loved this family. They were charming, caring, relatable and down to Earth. I genuinely cared about their fate, and that is a large part of what made 'The Devil's Candy' a very fine horror film.

The second thing I loved about this film is that is never cheats. No scare is a false one. Nothing is suddenly revealed to be a dream sequence. No super-natural elements were required simply to make the story work. That is incredibly rare in the history of horror movies, let alone modern ones. Writer/director Sean Byrne needs to be absolutely commended on this. It is a brilliant effort on his part.

There really isn't a lot of negatives I can come up with for this film. The only thing holding it back from being a '10' was an unforgettable ending. Other than that it is basically flawless. Fantastic acting, a simple yet brilliant and effective story, genuine scares that never cheat and characters that are both likable and relatable. In an industry that is seemingly completely lost as to how to make a good horror film, 'The Devil's Candy' needs to be studied by everyone in Hollywood. It is a very good film.

Greetings from Lithuania.

"The Devil's Candy" (2015) is a well made indie horror movie. This is more psychological thriller then horror movie, but it has this underlying theme and atmosphere of evil that makes this movie kinda better then it is. Consider art gallery owner and his assistant - reminded me of devil himself and devil a very big and important topic in this movie.

Overall, "The Devil's Candy" is for those who love horror genre. This is more of a thriller then you average horror story, but it has a creepy mood and has some good ideas behind it simple yet kinda effective plot. At short running time 1 h 16 min. this movie barely dragged. Nice little indie horror thriller.

On paper this should've worked, but it feels like a jigsaw puzzle with about one quarter of its pieces missing; bad pacing & characters with almost no foundation diminish the few moments that actually do work

Watching this movie, you get this sense that something isn't right. It doesn't have anything to do with the quality of the film, but the underlying themes presented within. The story of a demonic force that uses a persons talents as a means to channel evil is pretty original, but the way that the story just burrows under your skin like a lesion is just the tip of the iceberg. The acting is great, and each character carriers a nuance that is hard to find in the horror genre. The script is subdued, but what it lacks in any depth it more than makes up for in creep-factor. Like watching a satanic ritual as you hide in a corner, unseen, this movie forces you to witness madness, and how art can be used to channel some twisted and diseased emotions.

This movie is reminiscent of The VVItch, in that both feature no real blood or gore, but still manage to disturb to the highest degree. The is no overt violence, but the few scenes that show it are haunting. I watched this film three nights ago and I am still thinking about it. That guitar riff has been sneaking its way into my dreams, and that in itself is an accomplishment. This is not a movie for everyone, and gore hounds will be sorely disappointed. What it is, however, is a private look into the mind of those affected with psychosis, and how the world seems to bend and warp around you as you battle mental illness.

I'm on the side on the nay-sayers here.

Generic heavy metal music, a lot happening in darkness, and a whole lot of cliche. It's not a TERRIBLE movie, but it's also certainly nothing above the ordinary. I can enjoy heavy music just fine, the music itself is not my beef here, but the whole "heavy metal = satan" is crap. It's just lazy. There's no real suspense, we can't see anything, and cool tattooed dad paints butterflies with kids' faces and many-eyed goats and all that = scary satan stuff, is just tedious. Andy Williams songs would have been more jarringly disconcerting. (OK, maybe not a great choice.) Nah, sorry. From 2015, give me Bone Tomahawk, The Witch, We are Still Here, Green Room, The Lure, and even The Visit, before ever even thinking about this one. I know, I know, to each his own etc. Of course.