The Big Picture

The Devil’s Cand
y explores a father-daughter relationship under supernatural threat, with realistic intensity and likable protagonists.
The film’s pacing and use of religious imagery emphasize the threat to Jesse and Zooey’s relationship, making it a grounded yet nightmarish experience.
The movie’s emotional journey highlights the power of faith in family and loved ones, with a powerful father-daughter duo facing supernatural and grounded forces.

When it comes to family, horror has a pretty solid understanding of the complex dynamics that can arise. Movies like Hereditary explore the darker sides of generational family trauma, while films like last year’s The Boogeyman show strength found in a family fighting together against an evil force. However, one horror film from 2015 perfectly captures a wholesome, father-daughter relationship, and is actually all the more scary for it. Sean Byrne, director of 2009’s The Loved Ones, made his sophomore outing in 2015 with his nightmarish feature, The Devil’s Candy.

The film follows metalhead and painter Jesse Hellman (Ethan Embry) as he moves to a rural farmhouse with his wife Astrid (Shiri Appleby) and daughter Zooey (Kiara Glasco). He begins to be overtaken by some type of dark force as they move in, and he loses track of both time and reality. Hours slip away, and his relationship with his daughter begins to falter as a result. Meanwhile, the house’s previous owner, serial killer Ray Smilie (Pruitt Taylor Vince), stalks Zooey, as he attempts to appease dark forces of his own. While the supernatural elements are terrifying, and Pruitt is magnificent in his performance as one of cinema’s scariest killers ever, this is nothing compared to the deeper meanings of the film. The real horror of The Devil’s Candy stems from the metaphorical threat to Jesse and Zooey’s relationship, which is explored through its unbearably tense pacing and likable protagonists.

The Devil’s Candy (2015) Artist Jesse Hellman moves his family to a rural Texas farmhouse, hoping for a fresh start. However, the home harbors a dark presence that influences Jesse’s artwork, turning it increasingly disturbing. As Jesse becomes consumed by his ominous creations, his family faces growing threats from both supernatural forces and a disturbed former resident of the house.Release Date March 17, 2015 Director Sean Byrne Runtime 79 minutes Writers Sean Byrne

‘The Devil’s Candy’s’ Grounded Intensity
The pacing of The Devil’s Candy is possibly the film’s greatest strength. Unlike similar indie horrors, it is not a complete slow-burn. At the same time, though, it is not an absolute gore-fest with tons of scares at every corner. The Devil’s Candy is somewhere in between, finding genuine scares through realistically uncomfortable and stressful scenarios. Byrne’s movie uses realistic intensity to its advantage, mainly to emphasize the threat to Jesse and Zooey’s relationship. Ray Smilie is a terrifying serial killer, portrayed as a realistically disturbed individual with an intimidatingly heavy build. He is a child killer, looking for “devil’s candy” (children) to sacrifice to Satan. He was also the original owner of the family’s new house house, which leads him back there. Unfortunately for the trio of protagonists, Satan has his eyes set on Zooey, and Ray is compelled to deliver.

This leads to one of the most intense sequences of the film. Jesse struggles to make it through a meeting as the time for him to pick his daughter up from school grows nigh. After the meeting ends, Jesse rushes to his car and speeds away, only to pop a tire and nearly go flying off the road. No dark imagery or jump scares are shown; still, a palpable sense of dread is present. Jesse already missed picking her up once, and now he has a psychopath to worry about possibly grabbing her instead. This is a father trying to keep his child’s trust in him intact, fighting to show up in the most basic way possible for his family. The sequence is so intense because of how believable it is. The pacing in the entire movie is like this, with all the more fictitious elements serving the deeper roots of the story as all great horror should. What helps this even more is the charming uniqueness of the protagonists.

‘The Devil’s Candy’ Features a Badass Father-Daughter Duo
Image Via IFC Films

All the best scary movies are more frightening when the audience has realistic, intelligent, and most of all, likable characters to root for. It makes the stakes that much higher, and the terror even more palpable. The intensity, violence, and terror of The Devil’s Candy are all possible because of the strong protagonists. Jesse Hellman and his daughter Zooey are especially unique, and it is the dark forces threatening their relationship that make the movie all the scarier. In fact, they may just be the coolest father-daughter duo in movie history.

The audience is introduced to Jesse and Zooey in their car on a rural road, metal blasting from their speaker. The two headbang along to the heavy music. Jesse has long hair and a well-trimmed beard, and Zooey has dyed hair. They are an adorable pair, their bond strong and meaningful from this very first scene. This continues throughout the movie, both of them well-paired and connecting through their aesthetic and musical tastes. They are both intelligent as well, which can be a rarity for main characters in horror movies. Jesse is a thoughtful, poetic artist, and Zooey is resourceful and quick-witted. When she is tied up by Ray and about to be sacrificed, it does not take her long to figure out how to escape the duct tape and make her way out of the motel bathroom.

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What makes this relationship truly matter so much is how pure it is. The film serves as an exploration of good and evil, a classic trial of holy vs. unholy. To truly reach the farthest possible length of human depravity, the movie needs to create the purest possible relationship to be threatened. It is no mistake that Jesse looks just a little bit like Jesus, leaning into their relationship as a metaphor for all things good. He and Zooey are symbols of holiness. It is not an overtly Christian movie at all in its themes, and it is not even trying to make any points about Christianity. It is, however, using religious imagery and concepts to weigh human good against human evil.

‘The Devil’s Candy’s Ending Solidifies Its Themes of Faith and Family

Throughout the movie, Jesse and Zooey are put through the wringer and forced to face supernatural and grounded forces that put them to the test. The climax of the film cements how truly meaningful their relationship is. Jesse and Ray finally confront each other in the fiery, nerve-rattling ending, and the stakes reach an all-time high. The ending bears some resemblance to the ending of 1976’s Carrie. It has a bright orange and red color palate and a lot of fire. It also has the same amount of brutality. The movie does not hold back in its kills, showing that this antagonist has no trouble taking out anyone in sight to achieve his main goal. The claustrophobia is also reminiscent of The Silence of the Lambs. Zooey and her Mom become trapped in the house at the mercy of the rampaging Ray, and their struggle to escape his pistol firing range is incredibly uncomfortable.

What this ending, along with the rest of the film, is really trying to talk about is the power of faith, not necessarily in religion or God, but in family and loved ones. Blind faith towards higher powers is even criticized as well. It is an emotional journey, terrifying mainly because of how this trust is threatened and almost collapses in on itself. This emotional thread is what makes the protagonists so endearing, and what makes the movie an emotional, grounded, yet still nightmarish experience.

The Devil’s Candy is available to stream on AMC+ in the U.S.

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