09/30/06 Hard Candy

Hard Candy (2005), directed by David Slade

watched w/ Leslie; DVD rental (Netflix) @ home

Here's what happens when you take a timeless fairy tale of murder, morality and loss of innocence ("Red Riding Hood"), give it a modern day twist on abuse of technologies (sexual predators surfing the internet)...and flip the usual ending on its ear by giving a hard dose of payback to the unsuspecting audience (ummm, you'll just have to see it to believe it). In what is a thoroughly creepy plot, we follow the online chatting of young 14-year old Hayley as she uncomfortably flirts with the inappropriate 32-year old fashion photographer Jeff. What starts off as a creepy virtual relationship, soon becomes a real-life encounter as the two plan to meet in person a local coffee shop. As unsettling as that sounds, the meeting takes place, and is seen that Jeff is an unassuming average guy that has an unhealthy fascination with young teenage girls. What is more unsettling is that Hayley feeds his flirtations with her own, posing the question to every good parent in America...do you know where your children are right now? This scenario is an awful one, and one that I'm sure every parent has their deepest fear. The one thing that this story has to it though is its share of disturbing twists. Very much in the vein of a "Red Riding Hood" re-telling like the violent "Freeway" film, this one has some feminist kick-ass punch. Once the odd couple move their rendezvous to a more private location, namely Jeff's bachelor pad, Hayley takes the sick game to a whole other level. Jeff thinks himself to be the older, wiser and more devious of predators in this situation, but what he didn't bet on was Hayley's own sick brand of revenge and her willingness to create her own victim. Full of evil thoughts and retribution for past teenage sexual abuse victims, Hayley poisons, kidnaps, and basically tortures Jeff for the remainder of the movie. Pinning him against his will in his own home, she forces her mental imprisonment upon him...giving him a taste of his own manipulative medicine. The poster art for the film tells volumes, as it shows an innocent looking hooded figure of Hayley standing nearby an open steel-claw bear trap...as if to bait an unsuspecting predator into her clutches. Using her nubile body as the bait, she gets what she wants...and makes him pay for it dearly. Although it is graphic and unsettling, hell even offensive in some parts, it is the angry response that most normal people would have in reaction to horrible atrocities that these kind of perverted crimes can stir up. Finally, we get to see the bad guy played off their own tactics of manipulation and dominance, and put into the vulnerable spot of victim. The darkness of subject and the exploration of characters in almost a stage production here is evident by first-time feature director Slade...and it will be a film that will have people talking for some time.

4 out of 5 stars