Nerdly » ‘Candy Land’ Review

10th Jan2023

‘Candy Land’ Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Olivia Luccardi, William Baldwin, Sam Quartin, Owen Campbell, Virginia Rand, Guinevere Turner, Eden Brolin | Written and Directed by John Swab

Whilst it’s set in 1996, Candy Land reminds me very much of the 70s exploitation era of filmmaking, where the lines between genres blurred and a wide variety of subject matter was explored by filmmakers willing to take chances on stories that the mainstream wouldn’t tell… The latter of which is certainly the case here as writer/director John Swab tells the story of Remy (Olivia Luccardi; It Follows), a seemingly naive and devout young woman, who finds herself cast out from her religious cult. With no place to turn, she immerses herself into the underground world of truck stop sex workers a.k.a. “lot lizards,” courtesy of her hosts, Sadie (Sam Quartin; Body Brokers), Riley (Eden Brolin; Yellowstone), Liv (Virginia Rand) and Levi (Owen Campbell; X).

Under the watchful eye of their matriarch, Nora (Guinevere Turner; American Psycho), and enigmatic local lawman, Sheriff Rex (William Baldwin), Remy navigates between her strained belief system and the lot lizard code to find her true calling in life. All the while under a cloud of a murderous rampage taking place at the truck stop Sadie and co. ply their wares.

As I said in the opening, Candy Land feels very much like exploitation-era filmmaking, with Swab’s film reminding me of the insanity of Crown International’s genre-bending fare such as Malibu High. In fact, this film could’ve been made at the same time as Irvin Berwick’s sleazy teen exploitation classic and it wouldn’t have felt out of place in the slightest. Especially given that the naivety of Remy, opposing the free-wheeling lifestyles of Sadie, Riley and Levi, feels very much out of place in modern cinema… can someone be so sheltered from the “real” world? Maybe that’s why Swab chose the 90s setting – it was the last decade where the internet wasn’t as entrenched in society; where people could be kept “innocent” by sheltering them from the outside world, especially in the vast openness of America’s dusty Bible Belt.

For the most part Candy Land plays out like a character study – a look at a slice of life little seen on screen, exploring the characters and their motivations, their actions and their interactions with the clientele that pay a visit to the truck stop. Including Remy’s first “customer”, a priest, which is ironic given how she has left the clutches of a religious group only to end up servicing a sleaze ball of a so-called holy man – which kind of reinforces Remy’s decision to leave her religious background. Of course, the group’s interactions aren’t always pleasant (as one would imagine) which makes for awkward and uncomfortable viewing at times; an uncomfortableness that’s reminiscent of the works of Larry Clark, Harmony Korine and Gregg Araki.

However, Swab abandons the melodrama of sex work and the behaviour(s) of the group of misfits that inhabit the truck stop as Candy Land takes a turn into the more typical sex=death world of slasher movies, with people turning up dead at an increasingly more frequent rate thanks to the film’s killer protagonist. Let’s be clear, after the second murder Candy Land doesn’t hide who, or what, its killer is. Instead, it plays more like a Ten Little Indians style movie, with the audience just waiting to see who’s bumped off next and if any of the characters will figure out what’s going on quickly enough to stay alive.

Such is Candy Land‘s gruesome and unflinching mix of sex, death and religion that the film would have, in the James Ferman years of the BBFC, quite easily been cut to shreds – not only for the visuals but for the sheer “grimy” tone the film has, which only amps up as insane slasher aspect of the film unfolds. And then Candy Land belts you right between the eyes with a denouement that hits new highs (or should that be lows?) of religious zealotry and ends the movie on an even more sombre note than you’d ever expect… to the throws of Crowded House’s “Don’t Dream It’s Over” on the soundtrack no less!

Striking, stunning, superb and a whole heap more superlatives, Candy Land is a tremendous slice of independent thought-provoking genre filmmaking and thus should be celebrated as more than just another hour film. This is breakout stuff from a cast and crew that should now be on everyone’s radar.