LITTLE EVIL and THE DEVIL’S CANDY
My wife Sophie really enjoyed Little Evil; I liked maybe the first half. It’s a send-up of The Omen with a recently married man realizing his stepson’s the literal Anti-Christ. It has some nice touches: the seemingly mute kid uses a goat-puppet to threaten those around him; the dialogue is pretty funny; Tyler Labine steals a scene as a touchy wedding videographer.
But then the joke kind of peters out half-way through, with too many scenes revolving around “all kids are the anti-christ/no, my kid actually is the anti-christ”; too many shots aping Edgar Wright and the comedy trope of “we’re going to ignore an hour of tension and animosity with one scene of bonding”. Plus, I’m sorry, but Adam Scott? He’s the milquetoast version of Jason Sudeikis (who in turn is the smarmy version of Paul Rudd). I give it marginal points for bringing in the great Clancy Brown. But not by much.
The second movie went way better. The Devil’s Candy is an honest to god, pull no punches horror film about a family in danger after they move into a secluded farmhouse. I know, that’s like 50% of horror movies. But this one goes the distance solidifying the actual emotional involvement with the family over how many weird supernatural events can occur every ten minutes.
There’s themes of putting career success over family, a switch that the “devil’s music” (heavy metal) is actually effective to keep the devil’s whispers at bay, and an intensely creepy villain in Pruitt Taylor Vince (and those goo-goo-googly eyes of his).
The last twenty minutes were intense. I admit I’m an easy emotional mark watching any film (I clap, cry and scream at the screen when I feel the film works); my wife, not so much. But when you start seeing her react to the family in danger, yelling at the screen and balling her fist, you know you’re dealing with a picture effectively executed.
