bad candy movie review

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Movies, tv & music • independent film criticism • soundtrack guides • forming the future • est. 2014, review: scott b. hansen and desiree connell’s ‘bad candy’.

Horror anthologies are deceptively easy to mess up. Although the multi-story structure allows for potentially more experimentation than a typical single-plot film, the implicit danger is that the whole thing will careen off the rails much faster. Sometimes, as with the recent Scare Package,  the story feels more cohesive than many non-anthology movies, despite several filmmakers taking part.  The Mortuary Collection, meanwhile, makes a case for anthologies devised by a single writer-director. Bad Candy straddles both sides , as it’s the brainchild of Scott B. Hansen and Desiree Connell with an additional story credit for Thacker Hoffman. Tied together by a simple framing device, with every story taking place in the same town — New Salem! — this particular anthology somehow manages to be disjointed, unfocused and utterly disposable all at once .  

The framing device, somewhat ripped off from A Christmas Horror Story (itself a far better anthology), sees a couple of radio hosts telling scary stories on Halloween night. As played by Gremlins star Zach Galligan — looking utterly miserable, and understandably so — and Slipknot/Stone Sour vocalist Corey Taylor, engineer Paul and host Chilly Billy supposedly provide an anchor for the ensuing madness. However, despite the fact that Billy introduces each story, they all quickly blend into one, making it difficult to ascertain which tale is being told at any one time. Furthermore, none of the featured stories makes an impact. They’re all derivative, baggy, badly made and not in the least bit scary . The Bad Candy performances, meanwhile, range from wooden to committed but lack the requisite material to back them up. Galligan and Taylor are the strongest actors in the bunch, so it’s a shame that viewers don’t get to spend more time with them .  

The storytelling in Bad Candy has a strange ADD quality to it, almost as though Hansen and Connell are worried they’ll lose momentum if they spend too much time on one story. The focus keeps hopping from location to location, character to character, and with little direction. Meanwhile, the editing is shocking, so abrupt and off-kilter it’s as though the various shots were simply stumbled upon. At 100 minutes, Bad Candy should be the ideal length for an anthology, but it feels equally overlong and rushed. The tone is also disconcertingly serious for such lowbrow material (there’s necrophilia, for one thing). Jokes are lightly scattered throughout, but there aren’t nearly enough of them ( metal twins meeting girly twins is a standout moment, brushed past all too quickly). Hansen and Connell should’ve had much more fun with their premise, considering that Bad Candy is set during Halloween and features a whole bunch of people in accurately low-rent costumes. This isn’t exactly the sleekest presentation, but it could’ve benefited from being grubbier.  

Early on, there’s a cute little critter controlled with impressive puppetry, but the creation is utterly wasted in favor of increasingly dodgy VFX. In fact, it never shows up again, which is galling considering the painstaking detail of the design rivals everything else in the movie. Bad Candy boasts a certain amount of cool practical FX, including some horrifying nails through a character’s foot and blood splattered artfully on a MAGA hat, while the creature design on a giant man-bat and a clown with eerily long fingers is impressive. Mostly, though, Hansen and Connell are overly reliant on fuzzy CGI for no discernible reason. The titular clown — bad candy exists in many different variations, from laced treats to literal drugs — unconvincingly sucks out characters’ souls , the act never feeling as dangerous as it should because the effect is so lackluster. There’s a lot of different stuff thrown at the screen, from evil ride share drivers to murderous masked killers , but none of it sticks despite the creators’ obvious enthusiasm.  

Connell’s influence is at least felt in the lack of female bodies on display, their decidedly unsexy Halloween costumes and the fact that at least two female characters take their heels off to better handle a stressful situation. Likewise, a man ends up in less clothes than his female counterpart during a key chase sequence. Mostly, though, there’s not enough time to care about any of these characters since they’re gone almost as soon as they appear. A deaf kid features prominently in the opening segment, and there are several POC included at various points too, but nobody is developed enough to really make an impact. They all, essentially, boast one-line descriptors — abusive stepfather, rat-faced drug dealer, horny weirdo, etc. The only real character development in Bad Candy, in fact, is with Paul and Billy, and even then, it comes so late in the game that it’s hard to conjure up much reason to care. As weird as it sounds , the film works best as a showcase for the acting talents of the dude from Slipknot, which is really saying something.  

Joey Keogh ( @JoeyLDG ) is a writer from Dublin, Ireland with an unhealthy appetite for horror movies and Judge Judy. In stark contrast with every other Irish person ever, she’s straight edge. Hello to Jason Isaacs.

Categories: 2020s , 2021 Film Reviews , 2021 Horror Reviews , Featured , Horror , Thriller

Tagged as: Bad Candy , Desiree Connell , Horror , Joey Keogh , Scott B. Hansen , Thriller

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Review: Digital Thunderdome’s BAD CANDY Makes a Great Movie

by Michael DeFellipo Sep 9, 2021, 9:13 am 0 Comments

Halloween season has official begun (right?) and hopefully ‘the most wonderful time of the year’ will see horror fans with their asses in movie theaters, watching a bunch of twenty-somethings get murdered by a variety of dastardly devils. One such movie, Digital Thunderdome and Black Triad Entertainment Group’s BAD CANDY, is starting a limited theatrical release tomorrow – and it’s a title that you want to add to your must see list. When it comes to Halloween themed movies, atmosphere and mood are incredibly important and BAD CANDY perfectly encompasses everything we love and hope for in a flick that takes place right after Mischief Night. I want to live there, in the world created in BAD CANDY. Sure, creatures of the night potentially butchering me on an hourly basis is a bummer, but I found myself jealous of the fact that the cast and crew of BAD CANDY got to live in the world co-directed by Scott Hansen and Desiree Connell and that I only get to be there as an observer.

BAD CANDY is a horror anthology grounded by two familiar faces – Slipknot’s Corey Taylor and Gremlin’s Zach Galligan. Together, they play radio DJs Chilly Billy and Paul of the Annual Psychotronic FM Halloween Show. While on air, they share stories and myths that have rocked the town of New Salem. Are the stories nothing but grizzly fairytales or is New Salem a playground for all things evil? BAD CANDY has something for everyone – a killer clown with the potential to be an indie icon, slashers, morgues and monsters, sex appeal, rock and roll and ghosts. Out of all the segments and without giving away any spoilers, the ‘morgue short’ and the ‘pumpkinhead story’ were my favorite pieces of the puzzle. Corey Taylor, Zach Galligan, Derek Russo, Ryan Kiser, Kenneth Trujillo, Mike Milligan, Haley Nicole Leary, Bill Pacer and Alexandra Lucchessi start in a feature film from screenwriter Desiree Connell.

BAD CANDY was co-produced by Scott Hansen and Steve Gebara, and features cinematography by Scott Hansen and editing by Hansen and Blake Studwell. I wish I could give everyone credit for their part in this project, but copying and pasting an IMDB page is probably plagiarism. Seriously, though, everyone deserves credit for their contribution to this award winning, film festival favorite. From costumes to props to special effects, stop motion effects, lighting and each department in between – BAD CANDY is a banger, an indie film that looks like and is worth a million bucks. BAD CANDY appeals to indie fans and Hollywood tit suckers because its biggest appeal is its Halloween theme and it whips that together effortlessly. You can watch this film every month of the year and it’ll still make you feel like it’s October. And it’s a beautiful masterpiece as far as camera work is concerned. The amount of visuals in BAD CANDY, shit, every scene could be used as a promotional still.

I need to remain impartial as a review, but there isn’t anything I can harp on here. The audio work isn’t always 100%… and that’s about it. I’ve promoted BAD CANDY throughout its various stages of production and I’m overjoyed that it is so successful and is as good as I had hoped it would be. BAD CANDY is exactly what we need after so many horror films were delayed due to the pandemic – something that’s fun and endearing yet scary, bloody and surprising. It’s macabre and suspenseful, but it also doesn’t take itself too seriously to the point that it loses its inherent spookiness. You can pre-order BAD CANDY on iTunes by clicking the link below, and keep your eyes on the film’s Facebook for more theater information, streaming news and the upcoming Blu-ray release currently slated for October 12th 2021. This is one anthology you don’t want to miss! Final Score: 10/10.

Pre-order Bad Candy on iTunes HERE .

Michael DeFellipo

(Senior Editor)

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Bad Candy – Movie Review (2/5)

Posted by Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard | Sep 7, 2021 | 4 minutes

BAD CANDY is a new Halloween horror anthology. This one is being released way ahead of the spooky season, which is probably smart. Unfortunately, it really didn’t have many stories that worked for me. Read our full Bad Candy  horror anthology review here!

BAD CANDY is a new horror anthology set during the night of Halloween. I  love  horror anthologies and tend to be a sucker for Halloween-themed movies. This one just did not do much for me.

DO CHECK OUT Our tag for “short film” which features many anthologies >

However, I know we all need to watch something new every now and then, so go ahead and check it out. Just expect many familiar stories, subpar acting (in a few too many cases), and low production quality. Fortunately, you can also  expect to see some cool animatronics, a few good stories, and some solid acting. Yeah, it’s a mixed bag of Halloween candy with this one.

Continue reading our Bad Candy  horror anthology review below.

The tradition of a Halloween horror anthology

Bad Candy should be right up the alley of our beloved  Trick ‘r Treat  from 2007 . It’s actually a Halloween tradition for us here at Heaven of Horror to watch that one every single year on October 31st. This new Halloween horror anthology is both different and eerily similar to the iconic Halloween anthology.

Unfortunately, I can’t say I’ll be watching this new one as a tradition. In fact, I don’t plan on ever watching it again. Then again, I do have to recognize that the budget is clearly lower and the cast is full of fewer familiar faces.

However, the lower budget does come across as low production quality at times, which is never good.

The passion of the filmmakers is obvious, but the acting is cringe-worthy at times and the stories are scary for  all the wrong reasons . Very early on while watching  Bad Candy , I felt like I was watching a  Trick ‘r Treat knock-off. Not a spoof or a tribute, but just a copy of much lower quality.

A few familiar names do not a movie make

In general, many scenes in the movie feature elements you’ve seen in other big horror hits. As such, it really is just a rehash of things you’ve seen before. I’m sorry to say that I was simply disappointed with this one.

If you want more Halloween horror anthologies, I’d go with the 2015 movie Tales of Halloween instead. One of the stories stars Gracie Gillam who is awesome in the recent Shudder release  Superhost . She is more than enough reason to check out that particular horror movie.

YOU MIGHT LIKE Our review of the Shudder horror movie Superhost  right here >

And sure, Corey Taylor (from Slipknot) is in  Bad Candy  but that really doesn’t make much difference to me. He’s cool as the radio host telling the stories, we see. But it doesn’t matter much when the stories aren’t better – with exceptions, of course.

Also, the star of the Gremlins movies, Zach Galligan, is the producer of the said radio show. However, he’s virtually unrecognizable, and only by listening to his voice, did I realize it was him. And, again, bringing in a few familiar names or faces (which are then not easy to recognize) makes no difference if the stories don’t work.

You can watch Bad Candy in select theaters and On-Demand

Bad Candy was co-directed by Scott B. Hansen and Desiree Connell who also wrote the screenplay. Also, Thacker Hoffman is credited for having written the short story it’s based on. This is the feature film debut as a writer and director for Desiree Connell who previously worked more in production.

Scott B. Hansen previously directed and co-wrote the 2016 horror movie  The Possession Experiment  which holds a 3.6 rating on IMDb. That might be a bit harsh, but there is something about the quality of this latest movie as well that just does not hold up. You can read more about  The Possession Experiment  and watch the trailer here >

I was really looking forward to a new Halloween horror anthology so I was disappointed that this wasn’t my kind of thing. If they’d gone all-in on being camp and embraced the low budget and craziness, then I would have enjoyed it more. As it stands now, I can’t say I enjoyed it much. Even if a few of the short stories did work better than others!

Bad Candy is out in Select Theaters on September 10, 2021. Also, it will be on VOD from September 14 and on Blu-ray from October 12, 2021.

Directors: Scott B Hansen & Desiree Connell Writers: Desiree Connel & Scott B Hansen Stars: Zach Galligan, Derek Russo, Corey Taylor

On Halloween night in New Salem, Radio DJs Chilly Billy (Corey Taylor) and Paul (Zach Galligan) tell a twisted anthology of terrifying local myths. Residents of the small-town experience horrifying paranormal encounters that lead them to a grim end.

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About The Author

Karina "ScreamQueen" Adelgaard

I write reviews and recaps on Heaven of Horror. And yes, it does happen that I find myself screaming, when watching a good horror movie. I love psychological horror, survival horror and kick-ass women. Also, I have a huge soft spot for a good horror-comedy. Oh yeah, and I absolutely HATE when animals are harmed in movies, so I will immediately think less of any movie, where animals are harmed for entertainment (even if the animals are just really good actors). Fortunately, horror doesn't use this nearly as much as comedy. And people assume horror lovers are the messed up ones. Go figure!

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LENINGRAD: THE 900 DAYS – Sergio Leone’s Unmade Epic

Sunset boulevard: the making of the billy wilder classic, dawn of the dead (2004) – a 20th anniversary retrospective, reacher: the hits and misses of amazon prime’s popular series, making the munsters (1963-66), the avengers: the emma peel years (1965-1968), hollywood feuds: angelina jolie and jon voight, who killed hot toddy the mysterious death of thelma todd, the hollywood vampires – a drunken oral history, scholars’ spotlight: irwin allen: “the master of disaster”, scholars’ spotlight: the sad story of “fatty” arbuckle, louise brooks – a scholars’ spotlight, ishana shyamalan follows in her father’s footsteps with her debut feature the watchers, young woman and the sea review: just keep swimming, just keep swimming, the garfield movie (2024) review, james bond in space the making of moonraker (1979), scholars’ spotlight: audrey hepburn, scholars’ spotlight: robert shaw, revisiting austin film festival darling re: uniting ahead of its upcoming release, director danny lee and the legendary stan smith talk who is stan smith, dancing village: the curse begins – an interview with director kimo stamboel, bad candy: a review of scott b. hansen’s new horror anthology.

Cinema Scholars presents a review of the new horror anthology Bad Candy , directed by Scott B. Hansen and starring Zack Galligan, Corey Taylor, and Derek Russo. Dread, Epic Pictures’ horror brand, will release the film in select theaters on September 10, 2021, with the VOD and Blu-ray release to follow later.

Introduction

It’s almost Fall, the time of year when some people start complaining about Halloween decorations in stores appearing too early, while others rejoice at the first hints of their favorite time of year. In the movie universe, early September is also when theaters and streaming platforms begin to pack their slates with an onslaught of new spooky selections.

It’s curious that of all film genres, horror seems to be the only category (save for some documentaries) that has fully embraced the anthology format. Perhaps it’s due to the popularity of spine-tingling short stories. Maybe it’s a great way for filmmakers to make good use of the smaller films they made before graduating. Or could it be that the collective format is a great way for producers to combine the incredible talents of several filmmakers at once?

From Stephen King and George Romero’s Creepshow to more modern versions like Trick or Treat and Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark , the horror anthology has become somewhat of a sub-genre on its own. In the latest iteration of this well-worn category, the new chiller Bad Candy , from director Scott B. Hansen, spooks audiences with multiple spine-tingling tales.

The Premise

The film begins with a classic “wrap-around” story that features two DJs in the middle of broadcasting their popular Chilly Billy segment on Psychotronic Radio 66.6 FM in the storybook town of New Salem. Chilly Billy (Corey Taylor of the band Slipknot) takes calls while his sidekick Paul (Zach Galligan from Gremlins ) chimes in from time to time in typical talk radio fashion. As the hosts share their commentary between sinister stories, it slowly becomes clear that their narrative isn’t as benign as it seems.

Does such an esoteric station exist? Do they churn out shocking content regularly or just on Halloween? How many terrible legends does New Salem have? Does anyone get the reference to Michael Weldon’s cult classic catalog The Psychotronic Video Guide ? Those who are already having trouble with such questions should go ahead and check their disbelief at the door, because Bad Candy is full of ridiculous fun surprises within a simple premise that sets the perfect stage for a bunch of delightfully horrifying tales.

Chapter One

The initial story follows a young girl, Kyra, who joins her pals at their clubhouse for some pre-trick or treating costume prep. Just as they are about to set out on their yearly sugar odyssey, Kyra gets the call from her stepfather that she is to return home immediately, abruptly ending her fun for the night. It becomes immediately obvious that Kyra’s stepfather is not the nice kind as he locks her away in her bedroom for the night.

In a fit of utter disgust, Kyra takes to her only solace, her trusty sketch pad and pencil. As the emboldened young girl begins to unleash her imagination in a flurry of scribbles on the page, her creepy creations begin to come to life, literally. Soon, she and her new accomplices exact their revenge on her evil stepfather.

The whimsical tale is wonderfully embellished with some pretty great low-budget CGI and practical effects that strike just the right balance between silly and scary. The story also serves as a sort of touchstone for the rest of the film, as Kyra may-or-may-not have unleashed one of the film’s main villains.

From here, the stories start to unfold in rapid succession. First, the neighborhood creep who hides razors in his treats gets a taste of his own medicine. Then there’s the metal show drug dealer who gets more than he bargained for. Next, a morgue worker’s penchant for necrophilia catches up with her.

Perhaps the most impressive scares (and chuckles) come in an entry about a crew of veterans who gather once a year to quell their brother in arms’ government-engineered bloodlust. Once a year the fellow vets round up a selection of unwitting victims who are then hunted down by their buddy who has transformed into…to spoil this one is to ruin the fun, but let it be known that the creature work in this Bad Candy segment rivals that of any CGI spectacle in recent memory, with a seamless marriage of practical and digital imagery.

While Bad Candy isn’t a slick, big-budget studio production, like many recent horror anthologies, director Scott B. Hansen seems to have turned those limitations into opportunities for creativity with his unique and believably freaky storytelling style. Some of Bad Candy ’s rough edges make the film even more endearing while enhancing the rawness of the best scares. This accessibility, paired with gorgeous Halloween-heavy production design and a sophisticated eye in each vignette, helps the movie leap over any major low-budget pitfalls.

Though some of the stories seem to be connected, incidentally and not, other threads between stories end up as loose ends that never quite tie together. Thankfully, this doesn’t diminish the overall satisfying collection of tales. Perhaps additional viewings will reveal a more common thread, but aside from the wrap-around narrative, someone looking for a solid through-line might find themselves somewhat lost.

As in many of Bad Candy ’s predecessors, most of the players that meet a terrifying end seem to have it coming. Though there are a few instances of senseless collateral damage. Presenting the doomed characters as less-than-innocent keeps the film from feeling too mean-spirited. Few things hit better than sweet redemption. Bad Candy does itself a favor by capitalizing on the “bad guys get it in the end” narrative trope that helps justify a fair amount of gore.

Performances

Bad Candy ’s segments feature a wide range of terrific performances from an army of unknowns. However, special kudos go to Haley Leary as the necrophiliac morgue worker who makes crossing such an unimaginable line seem even a tiny bit palatable. Leary’s command of her character’s cringe is most commendable, and the main reason why this chapter succeeds.

Providing star power in the film by way of the wrap-around Psychotronic Radio segment, Zach Galligan and Corey Taylor hold their own as local horror honchos. Galligan keeps it fairly low-key as sidekick Paul. Just when it seems like he might play it cool for the entire duration, a shift in his character’s arc finally reveals Galligan’s full spectrum with a terrifying turn. Good timing for Bad Candy too, as Galligan has been enjoying the throwback spotlight in a recent commercial reteaming the actor with a certain Mogwai.

Anyone doubting that Slipknot lead singer Corey Taylor can hold his own in a horror film will be pleasantly surprised by his natural performance as Chilly Billy. Then again, it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise considering the musician-turned-actor has spent much of his career clad in grotesque costumes and masks in a particularly performative brand of shock metal. Though his performance early in the film is pretty standard DJ fare, Taylor gets to shine later on when his character’s narrative starts to unravel, proving that his talents aren’t just limited to macabre theatrics.

For Halloween hounds looking for a fun flick to fill their October (or September!) nights, Bad Candy is full of satisfying fun-size treats. From killer clowns and pimp fights, to ghost hunters and tricksters-turned-to-trinkets, Bad Candy has something for every horror lover.

Dread, Epic Pictures’ horror brand, will release Bad Candy in select theaters on September 10, 2021. The film then drops on VOD this September 14 with the Blu-ray debut to follow later on October 12, 2021.

Check out more Cinema Scholars reviews below!

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[Movie Review] BAD CANDY

• September 9, 2021
• J.M. Brannyk

BAD CANDY is directed and written by the duo Scott B. Hansen and Desiree Connell and is a Halloween anthology film. So, if you’re in need of more Halloween-themed anthologies, here you go!

Horror-themed radio jockey Chilly Billy (Corey Taylor) and his side-kick Paul ( Zach Galligan ) tell tales of terror on their radio show on Halloween night. Little do they know, the residents of the small town are about to meet their grisly ends in his tales of terror.

So, this movie is fine . It’s never sinking into the depths of awful, but never really rises into anything fully spectacular or memorable. The short stories themselves have little tension, and the pay-offs never feel complete.

There is so much going on. It feels like a haunted house but not in a good way. Like, there’s always something popping out, but we lose a lot of the substance of the story and characters. The substance we do have is often lost in the motion and noise (or the numerous close-ups of Halloween decorations). There needed to be more attention to detail (come on, fake Dollar Tree candle for the demon’s altar?), more structured stories, and more fluid pacing.

The acting could be stiff at times, but could shine through, especially during the bathroom monster segment and the Abbie ( Haley Leary ) segment. One thing that really was gorgeous was the cinematography. The shots were fun while trying some new things and keeping some traditions, too. The Abbie drug sequence was beautifully shot and, if that had been the tone of BAD CANDY , we would have had a very different movie (and a very different review).

However, there was just too much going on and, if they had stuck to the typical three-part segment of most anthologies, and really nailed those, it probably would have been a much smoother film. The creature designs and effects were great, and I would have loved to have seen them utilized more and more tension added; however, with the time we were given, it was very, “thank u, next”.

BAD CANDY is a fine movie, like I said. Middle of the road for me. But if you’re a fan of anthologies with a lot of stories, it might be the treat you’ve been looking for.

BAD CANDY  will be available in select theaters on September 10th, will be available on Video On Demand on September 14th, and will be available on Blu-ray by October 12th.

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Where to Watch

Zach Galligan (Paul) Derek Russo (Vince) Brittney Rae (Kat) Corey Taylor (Chilly Billy) Michael Aaron Milligan (Chuck) Kenneth Trujillo (Daryl) J. Gaven Wilde (Jacob) Samantha Noel Van Sickle (Vanessa) Kevin Wayne (Greg) John Wilkins III (John Smith)

Scott B. Hansen

On Halloween night in New Salem, Radio DJs Chilly Billy (Corey Taylor) and Paul (Zach Galligan) tell a twisted anthology of terrifying local myths that lead to a grim end for small-town residents.

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Movie Review – Bad Candy (2020)

October 3, 2021 by admin

Bad Candy , 2020.

Directed by Scott B. Hansen & Desiree Connell. Starring Zach Galligan, Corey Taylor, Derek Russo, Audrey Williams, Bill Pacer, Wayne, Kenneth Trujillo.

A late-night radio DJ and his producer tell some spooky stories on their Halloween show.

The Halloween anthology movie has become something of a ‘thing’ over the past few years, with the likes of Trick ‘r Treat and Tales of Halloween becoming firm favourites by successfully capturing the spirit of the season and, more importantly, by having more hits than misses in their storytelling arsenal. Bad Candy is the latest anthology to base itself on the spookiest time of the year but does it manage to capture the essence of Samhain night in quite the same way the previously mentioned titles?

Yes it does, in a fun Halloween-decorations-aisle-in-Poundland kind of way. From the outset Bad Candy drenches your retinas with neon lighting and lulls you into a certain mood by way of a late-night DJ named Chilly Billy (Slipknot singer Corey Taylor) and his producer Paul ( Gremlins’ Zach Galligan), who encouraged their listeners to call in with creepy stories to fill the airwaves. Yeah, it’s a bit of a cliché and a slightly naff way of doing it but it works as a setup, and Taylor and Galligan have the right energy to pull it off.

As is traditional with these things the first story is a little bit lame, where a young girl has to give up her evening trick or treating with her friends due to her abusive step-dad demanding she stay at home. For some reason this big brute of a man has a real thing against Halloween – as fathers in anthology movies tend to do – but his mischievous step-daughter has a magic drawing pad where whatever she draws comes alive, and so she draws a weird little Muppet-like creature with sharp teeth, a fairy and a weird demon. You can guess the rest, although it is worth pointing out that this is where we get our first glimpse of the terrible CGI that makes far too many appearances throughout the movie.

But before we get there we get a very short segment where a grumpy old man presses razor blades in the candy he hands out, prompting the question again about why these people aggressively hate Halloween. Anyway, his number is up when a devil-horned masked clown – who pops up several times throughout and is credited as being called Bad Candy – knocks on his door and shows him the error of his ways. Again, it’s all a bit predictable but the lairy colours and weird performance from Bill Pacer are charming enough, although whether this is considered as a full story or just a short interlude highlights one of Bad Candy’s biggest flaws, namely how messy the stories are and how the whole thing fits together.

It feels like co-directors/writers Scott B. Hansen and Desiree Connell are attempting to create their own little universe in which to set their stories, in a similar style to Trick ‘r Treat if you will, but although certain characters pop up here and there, some stories get dropped and then pick up again later on and we have the recurring Bad Candy clown character waltzing in and out at various times to try and link it all together, it all feels a bit slapdash and unstructured, especially when trying to figure out where one story ends and another begins. It’s a flaw that only gets more frustrating the further into the movie you go and by the time the final story starts wrapping up the momentum has been lost and it becomes clear that Bad Candy should have ended about 15 minutes earlier.

But it isn’t all bad. In fact, when Bad Candy is on point it is actually pretty good and very effective at evoking the required seasonal atmosphere. The central story, involving a drunk morgue attendant and a corpse she takes a fancy to, is the obvious highlight and is the only story that goes straight for the macabre without any huge setup, and it actually feels like a complete story from start to finish. As previously stated, the neon lighting, bright colours and autumnal aesthetics work very well throughout, Corey Taylor and Zach Galligan lend enough weight to their particular roles to pull off what is required from them and there is plenty of gore on offer (although a lot of it is CGI blood, and we all know that no good can ever come of that, kids) so for a horror anthology that evokes the spirit of Halloween it just about does enough to warrant being played on a TV screen in the background at a Halloween party where you can dip in when it looks interesting. The problems only come when you try to sit down and follow what is happening because as a non-linear narrative it just doesn’t gel or go anywhere satisfactory. Still, that morgue scene, though…

Flickering Myth Rating  – Film: ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★

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Bad Candy Movie Review

Written by Sean M. Sanford

Released by Epic Pictures | DREAD

Directed by Scott B. Hansen and Desiree Connell Written by Desiree Connell, Scott B. Hansen, and Thacker Hoffman 2020, 103 minutes, Not Rated Released on September 14th, 2021

Starring: Zach Galligan as Paul Derek Russo as Vince Corey Taylor as Chilly Billy

The autumn fog unfurls against the forest floor, sweeping an embrace around the woodsy carcasses laid bare for the year. Every bird has gone silent, every branch de-robed and nothing remains but silence beyond the occasional landing of a leaf or acorn from the tendrils above, the straggling remains of a livelier time. A soundtrack one is likely to find only in a cemetery before the forested expanse has gone to bed for the year. That is, other than the wolves who cry at the full moon, the bats who amble across the nightscape, and any of the other creatures who only come out when all signs of life have left. I walked through the sprawl and out to the grey cityscape, dead to the world, so I could go grab a beer at a haunted tavern on Haight street…

Whoa, sorry, I got a little side-tracked, what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, the movie Bad Candy . It seems to have put me in quite the creepy mood, and for good reason. Bad Candy takes place on Halloween, pockmarked by a DJ named Chilly Billy, who’s recording his radio show in which he shares tales of macabre wonder.

The movie is like a collage of horrors, going from one story to the next, some characters spilling into the yarns of others. It’s not a Tales from the Crypt sort of scenario with a title screen for each story, but a mesh in which one story will flow into the next, most times forwarded by an intro by the cheesy and moderately dislikable Chilly Billy.

I enjoyed this movie because it has all the horrors one hopes to fear encountering on Halloween, from Dracula to Frankenstein’s Monster, to partying teens, to a guy who puts razor blades in his candy, right down to quite possibly the last thing a young woman wants to see alone in the dark, a bro-dude wearing a MAGA hat. Holy shit, talk about terrifying! It does a great job embodying the classic merriment of the most horrific and wonderful time of year; orange leaves scattered through the streets, jack-o-lanterns blazing on darkened stoops, little hellions running around like they just got their yearly Fuck Shit Up Hall Pass.

The special effects are pretty bootsy but thankfully sparing, as the movie focuses more on make-up and costumes, both of which hold a nauseating girth. Some of the monsters featured here are wont to haunt me even more than some of the more disturbing storylines; like an undertaker who tries to bone her latest customer, apparently misunderstanding when told he was a stiff.

This movie holds all the midnight wonders of old-fashioned ghost stories, inspiring my pilgrimage to Trax Bar, a haunted watering hole on Haight street. The folks who were bartending there all had similar reports of a man who kept popping up, be it by turning on the light in a room that nobody was in, tussling the bead curtains, and even coming through the locked front door when a barkeep was counting the money at night.

One year a fire broke out in the bar’s backroom, revealing things hidden in the walls from back in the early and mid-1900s. Like a Winchester Model 54 (which haven’t been manufactured since 1936), an antique timepiece, and a photo of the inside of the bar taken one New Year’s Day. Everyone in the photo is wearing Jazz-era garb and looking like they’re Gonna Party Like it’s 1939. They’re casually posing for the photo, and one man is pointing at the camera, donned with a devilish smirk. This man was recognized by all present as the bar’s resident ghost. They hung it up in the bar’s entrance, maybe as a way to make peace with the spirit. Nonetheless, he’s said to still come back, inspiring stories like the ones seen in Bad Candy . Although with likely less necrophilia.

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Movie Review: Bad Candy

credit: Bad Candy

With Halloween on the way, it’s only right to start focusing on the things that go bump in the night and everything that tries to bump but ends up tripping and falling into a rotting pile of pumpkins or something equally nasty. Despite having been out for the past couple of years, it’s easy to understand why Bad Candy hasn’t really been on the lips of so many horror buffs since the stories held within this movie are juvenile as hell but kind of fun at the same time. In a big way, it does feel as though a couple of these stories are something that might have been thought up by those who know what they want to see but can’t quite translate that to the screen. The one redeeming quality that this movie possesses is that it does star Corey Taylor, the lead singer of Slipknot, as Chilly Billy, a DJ that’s telling each story as it happens, as though it’s not real. Of course, things turn out to be very real when all is said and done, but it’s an entertaining ride, all the same, one realizes that shutting off their brain and parking themselves for a couple of hours is the best way to enjoy this movie. 

As horror movies go, it could be placed in the comedy section without fail. 

There is enough hilarity placed into each story, even if it’s not meant to be taken that way. A couple of the stories might lean a little heavily into the actual horror aspect that the movie is going for, but containing your laughter might be a little more difficult when it comes to the manner in which some of the people in this movie meet their end. It’s not tough at all to think that some folks hide their fear by laughing since it can be passed off as a nervous tic or something that hides just how close a person is to peeing their pants out of sheer terror. But this movie inspires laughs simply because so much of the material is ridiculous, and to be fair, laughter is better than a sneer or an eye roll brought on by boredom. If you’re not in the mood to give this movie the benefit of the doubt and just enjoy it, then it’s probably best to avoid it at all costs. 

If you like disjointed anthologies, then this is the movie for you. 

The attempt to keep everything under the anthological umbrella that is Bad Candy is admirable in a way, but at the same time, it feels as though each one of these stories could easily be located in another town or another state and have absolutely nothing to do with each other. In fact, it kind of does feel that way even if it’s made clear that everything is happening in this town and that the DJ is trying to entertain the people who might be listening. The effect is lost in a big way since each story feels as though it’s self-contained and doesn’t have any bearing on the others, even if the Halloween theme helps to connect them. Movies like Trick ‘R Treat did a far better job of keeping the overall connection between stories alive since the characters would occasionally be within sight of each other, and it’s far more obvious that they’re in the same location since one set will be seen more than once. It does happen that we get to see the same scenery in this movie, but one has to be watching closely, or they might feel as though they’re watching a different movie from one story to the next. 

Some of these stories have been done and overdone for years. 

The razors and other materials in the candy, kids misbehaving, ghost stories, and many other stories have been done in numerous ways and so many times that trying to come up with something new is a little tough. But the fact that people still keep making them without regard for what’s already come before and how it’s been done is a little confusing since one might think that some folks would finally decide to sit down and think up something that hasn’t been seen in a while, or hasn’t been seen before by this generation. Hey, it’s possible. 

This does feel like a bad copy of Trick ‘R Treat. 

In all honesty, this movie does have its own ideas and does use others that have been passed around for years, but the manner in which the stories play out does feel like a knockoff of Trick ‘R Treat. But at the same time, the movie has distanced itself enough from the 2007 cult classic by creating its own characters and its own storylines. The only problem is that none of them are particularly good, even if they can make a person laugh. 

A lover of great stories and epic tales, Tom is a fan of old and new-school ideas. As a novelist and a screenwriter, he enjoys promoting one story or another. With 18k+ articles and 40 novels written, Tom knows a little something about storytelling.

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Bad Candy | Movie Review

In 2020, directors Scott Hansen (The Possession Experiment) and Desiree Connell were responsible for the screenplay and direction of Bad Candy , a Halloween-themed horror anthology, involving U.S. actor Zach Galligan (Gremlins, The Chair) and Slipknot frontman Corey Taylor, both of whom star in the episode frame. Locked inside a radio station, the two play Paul and Chilly Billy, respectively, DJs engaged in entertaining their radio listeners with bitter stories about the residents of New Salem and in particular, those who fail to get into the mood of the aforementioned holiday by not respecting its occasion.

The main episode features Kira (Riley Sutton), a young girl living with an abusive father who has the power to bring everything she draws to life, wreaking havoc. Dressed as a witch, Kira reaches a cemetery and creates, through her pencil, the diabolical clown Bad Candy, a kind of personification of the Halloween spirit, with ominous consequences. The monstrous being, a constant presence in the film, manifests itself in the other stories that unfold from the mother segment, punishing with death those who do not get carried away by the magic of Oct. 31 and forcing the unfortunate to live in his world full of pumpkins, decorations, sweets and lights, after turning them into small puppets, also used as decorations of the monstrous colorful kingdom that comes to life thanks to the imagination of the young protagonist.

Children and adults end up in clown limbo, without mercy. Victims also include those who bake cakes full of razor blades for trick-or-treating, or a morgue attendant who, dressed as a sexy nurse, indulges her necrophilic instincts, ending up awakening not only corpses but also their hunger. Death also seizes drug dealers and murderers, the latter haunted by a magnificent and ferocious bloodthirsty winged creature.

Together with the deadly clown, in Bad Candy , ghosts, monsters, zombies, and vampires populate Halloween night by lowering it into a bloody and violent context where torn, decapitated, slit, and stabbed bodies (Wayne Anderson's special effects are very effective) further embellish the very marked October 31 horror-themed setting. Loaded with great charm and enveloped in magnificent atmosphere, the film draws the viewer into a magical dimension, into a lavish horror fest of violence and blood. The result is a very satisfying film, thanks to expert direction, based on a rich and comprehensive script that is complemented by very polished cinematography (Scott B. Hansen and Blake Studwell). Finally, in addition to being one of the best films of 2020, Bad Candy rises above many horror anthology films, but not only that: this colorful, villainous journey into the dark soul of Halloween is, surely, also one of the best films about Oct. 31.

Plot: radio DJs Chilly Billy (Corey Taylor) and Paul (Zach Galligan) spend Halloween night telling their radio listeners the terrifying stories that have occurred over the years on October 31 in the New Salem community. Stories in which children and adults have been slaughtered at the hands of murderers, demons, entities and zombies, all under the leadership of a diabolical Halloween-loving clown.

Desiree Connell also appears on the film crew as producer and screenwriter while the cast includes Derek Russo, Ryan Kiser, Kenneth Trujillo, Mike Milligan, Haley Nicole Leary, Bill Pacer, Riley Sutton, Bill Pacer, Jason Thompson and Alexandra Lucchesi. The engaging soundtrack is by Chris Dudley. Bad Candy was awarded "Best Feature Film" at the DarkVeins Horror Fest 2020 .

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Bad Candy review – Halloween horror anthology could well make you sick

Loosely connected characters from a drug dealer to a morgue attendant converge, in ever ickier circles

T his unapologetically juvenile, but not unentertaining, anthology film parcels together a bunch of vaguely intersecting horror stories, presented as if they were being told by a small town DJ (66.6 on the dial) named Chilly Billy (Corey Taylor). As Billy and his producer/sidekick take calls from listeners on Halloween, the regale their audience with seasonal stories of sick and twisted monsters that come dressed like nightmarish clowns. It’s Tales of the Mayhem You Damn Well Expect, Nay Insist Upon, Given It Has an 18 Certificate.

In the first, Kyra (Riley Sutton), a nice little girl dressed like a witch, is deprived of her rightful share of several pounds of sweets when her abusive redneck stepdad (Kevin Wayne) insists she has to stay at home. Fortunately, Kyra has occult graphic skills and can draw monsters and then conjure them to life to protect her. In later segments, the standard horror-movie morality that governs who gets sliced to ribbons or beheaded grows much murkier, with characters who don’t seem to have done much wrong at all being summarily tortured, violated or just made to have a lousy evening out.

Chuck (Michael Aaron Milligan), for instance, is a drug dealer, but one who gives a lot of his product away for free. It’s hard to work out how he deserves to be mauled by Bad Candy, the evil clown killer of the title. Likewise, poor Abbie (Haley Leary, one of the better actors here, though the competition isn’t fierce), a lovelorn morgue attendant, drops one of Chuck’s acid tabs and does a little necrophiliac partying with a corpse. Does that mean she deserves to end up locked in a freezer with a horde of leering zombies towards the end of her segment? And if you’re up in arms about the plot of the mini episodes being spoiled, then you really should be getting a life. Here’s a really big spoiler: pretty much everyone dies. Happy Halloween.

Bad Candy is released on 4 October on digital platforms.

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Movie Review: BAD CANDY

A gory halloween horror anthology.

BAD CANDY movie poster | ©2021 Dread

Rating: Not Rated Stars: Zach Galligan, Corey Taylor, Riley Sutton Writers: Scott B. Hansen & Desiree Connell Directors: Scott B. Hansen & Desiree Connell Distributor: Dread Release Date: September 10, 2021

BAD CANDY is a very mixed bag. There’s no question that the movie provides more stories than we might expect for a modestly-budgeted horror anthology. It also has good creature and gore effects. There’s a CREEPSHOW -comic book vibe here that is often fun, but sometimes unfortunately extends to the CGI, which doesn’t always match the stronger practical aspects.

The framing device for BAD CANDY is the Chilly Billy show on the small-town radio station 66.6 (what else?) FM in a small rural town. The two deejays having a good time with their Psychotronic Halloween programming are storyteller Bill (Corey Taylor) and his sidekick Paul (Zach Galligan). We’re in the present – everybody has cell phones – but there’s a timelessness to the enterprise.

The first, and perhaps best, tale features a tween (Riley Sutton) who’s an unusually talented artist. She wants to spend Halloween trick-or-treating with her friends, but her alcoholic stepfather puts a stop to it – unwisely, as it turns out.

Other segments range from one in a morgue that is impressively crazy to one that seems to be rooting for vigilante (and extreme) violence against drug addicts. Really? There’s what also might be a blame-the-victim-as-well-as-the-perp assault scenario, though this one is confusingly staged at its finale.

BAD CANDY should be praised for its awesomely scary clowns. Even people who aren’t normally perturbed by painted visages and grimaces will be unnerved; viewers who are already afraid of clowns may have to watch from between their fingers.

Writers/directors Scott B. Hansen & Desiree Connell don’t tie their various storylines into a cohesive whole, a la TRICK ‘R TREAT , where everything turns out to be connected to everything else. This doesn’t exactly work, because while two are clearly tied together, the rest never have a linking payoff.

BAD CANDY either goes from setting up little morality tales to freeform havoc with no explanation, or else the filmmakers think the last few segments are still morality tales. One is narratively messy, the other has an ick factor that has nothing to do with gore.

We might suppose that we’re meant to ponder the way BAD CANDY goes from having us easily cheer on the demises of unpleasant characters to finding ourselves in a moral quandary. However, there’s a concluding voiceover that implies how we’re meant to take what we’ve just seen. The filmmakers might have done better to keep this ambiguous.

There is no doubting the skill that goes into BAD CANDY ’s good qualities, and the al-libs/outtakes shown during the closing credits are genuinely funny.

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‘Bad Candy’: Halloween Anthology Starring Zach Galligan and Slipknot’s Corey Taylor Releasing in September [Trailer]

We’ve learned this week that the Halloween-set horror anthology Bad Candy is coming to Select Theaters September 10 , On Demand September 14 , and Blu-ray October 12 !

From Digital Thunderdome,  Bad Candy  was written and directed by Scott B. Hansen  &  Desiree Connell , and  Zach Galligan  ( Gremlins ) stars alongside Slipknot’s  Corey Taylor .

“On Halloween night in New Salem, Radio DJs Chilly Billy (Corey Taylor) and Paul (Zach Galligan) tell a twisted anthology of terrifying local myths. Residents of the small-town experience horrifying paranormal encounters that lead them to a grim end.”

You can check out the trailer and release art below. This one looks a bit like  Trick ‘r Treat , promising different flavors of Halloween horror and various practical creatures. Could be fun!

Bad Candy is being released by Dread.

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

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“But what starts as an innocent documentary soon turns into a Lovecraftian nightmare as Dallas uncovers the horrific secrets hidden beneath Loveland’s idyllic surface.”

Nathan Tymoshuk, Chelsey Grant, Benny Barrett and Justen Jones star.

Meagan Navarro wrote in her mini-review out of Popcorn Frights 2023 , “ Director Anthony Cousins takes on the cryptic Frogman via found footage in his feature directorial debut, co-written with John Karsko . In it, a trio of friends embarks on one final filmmaking hoorah before life takes them in separate directions. But in their bid to make one last attempt to capture the elusive cryptid Frogman on camera, they find far more than they ever bargained for.”

“ Frogman  adheres to the standard found footage blueprint and tropes, drawing heavily from  The Blair Witch Project  and  Willow Creek as the trio starts by interviewing Loveland, Ohio, locals about their town’s cryptid mascot,” Meagan’s review continues. “Friction between the friends gets brought to the surface as they get closer to the truth. While Cousins’ debut doesn’t offer any narrative surprises and makes strange style choices for the camera, it makes up for it with impressive creature effects. The more the humans invade the Frogman’s turf, the more delightfully weird and gnarly things get. It’s an SFX showcase with delightfully deranged mythology that makes this one worth the price of admission.”

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Bad Candy (2020)

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'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' Review: This Movie Might Do Michael Bay Better Than Michael Bay Does

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The Big Picture

• Bad Boys: Ride or Die proves this is a franchise that’s still coming in guns blazing.
• Director Adil & Bilall might be doing “Michael Bay” better than Michael Bay himself is right now.
• The sequel isn’t stuck in old ways, but still delivers on the expectations we have for what Bad Boys is.

Did Bad Boys: Ride or Die just enter its later-stage Fast and Furious period , when Fast storytellers shot for the moon without grounded restraints? Directors Adil & Bilall don’t literally shoot Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett into space like F9 , but there are enough extreme shenanigans to make you think Dom’s crew is only a cargo plane skydive away. That’s a compliment most of the time because who doesn’t love when Fast Five turned the corner for the better? Bad Boys: Ride or Die is the flavor of fun-loving blockbuster entertainment that distracts you while eating an entire bucket of popcorn without knowing, with a sizzle reel hotter than the Florida heat.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die

What is 'bad boys: ride or die' about.

Will Smith and Martin Lawrence are back in the saddle as Miami Detective Lieutenants who love each other like smack-talking brothers . Lowrey is reintroduced disobeying traffic laws in another flashy sportscar at illegal speeds while Burnett’s anxiety manifests as nausea, but familiar introductions fade into rejuvenating shakeups. Smith’s playboy gunman and Lawrence’s Skittles-munching partner find themselves fugitives after Captain Howard ( Joe Pantoliano ) is posthumously framed for criminal corruption. Only Lowrey and Burnett can clear Howard’s legacy, but they’ll have to do so on the run from Miami PD, the FBI, and US Marshalls.

Writers Chris Bremner and Will Beall evolve Bad Boys: Ride or Die beyond another rehash of rebellious cop tropes and Burnett’s retirement dreams. Instead of maintaining Lowrey’s bulletproof attitude and Burnett’s patented freakouts, they basically bodyswap Smith’s and Lawrence’s roles . Neither Lowrey nor Burnett are cemented in their buddy-comedy character molds, which is a refreshing sentiment four films into a decades-spanning franchise. Bremner and Beall write away procedural stuffiness that comes along with any police thriller, taking dynamic swings that let Lowrey battle his mental demons for once, or permit Burnett the freedom to go all “Action Mike” on heavily armed mercenaries.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die becomes a family affair , further paralleling Fast and Furious frameworks. Paola Núñez , Alexander Ludwig , and Vanessa Hudgens all return as their AMMO operative allies, plus Jacob Scipio as Lowrey’s converted cartel assassin son Armando Aretas, not to mention all of the actual family connections from prior installments. There’s hardly enough screentime to flesh out meaningful arcs beyond what’s already been introduced—Ludwig as the gentle therapy advocate, for example—especially with newcomers played by Ioan Gruffudd and Rhea Seehorn . The film has trouble differentiating between important characters and throwaways, which steals value away from those who could do with meatier arcs. Instead, the Rolodex of character inclusions keeps spinning, hence why Tiffany Haddish is tossed into a strip club or DJ Khaled reappears.

'Bad Boys: Ride or Die' Struggles Under the Franchise's Weight

Bremner and Beall try to reckon with too much blowback in a single film, fighting the weight of the franchise to this point. Lowrey still hasn’t forgiven himself for Captain Howard’s death, Burnett suffers a spiritual awakening complete with recurring reincarnation themes, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so freakin’ much packed into Bad Boys: Ride or Die that it’s nearly impossible to handle every subplot eloquently . Someone like Captain Howard’s daughter is left grasping at emotional connections that never stick. The father-son talks, the unexpected romances, the text messages from the grave—it’s all overwhelming for an action franchise known for stylish shootouts and unrivaled sass.

On that level, Adil & Bilall deliver the goods. They’ve perfected their Michael Bay impressions , injecting adrenalized energies à la Pain & Gain into Bad Boys gunplay. Cinematographer Robrecht Heyvaert captures the coolness overdrive of action sequences in neon-rave Meow Wolf-like art galleries or abandoned alligator theme parks. Explosions radiate heat off the screen, the camera whips from badass hero poses to first-person weapon modes with surprising crispness, and clean tracking uplifts sharp choreography as, let’s say, Armando defends himself with makeshift gym equipment weapons from tooled-up prisoners trying to off him during outdoor hours. Adil & Bilall have a blast playing around in a world where Dennis Greene ’s all-grown-up Reggie McDonald proves himself to Burnett by going brutally commando on home invaders, or Chekhov’s 16-foot albino alligator gets the last laugh.

That’s what’s important, after all. Bad Boys: Ride or Die might explore too many plotlines or bolt between too many characters, but brains-free enjoyment reigns supreme . Adil & Bilall hardly lose tempo, speeding through storytelling filler toward the next bulletstorm. Smith and Lawrence never stop cracking zingers, keeping us rooting for their eventual victory dance. What works reminds us why we love going to the movies, and what doesn’t shuffles out of frame before too much damage is done. Bad Boys: Ride or Die swerves expectations and socks us with another worthy sequel, one that shouldn’t work as well as it does, but hey, tell that to the big stupid grin on your face after the movie’s over.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die is a film that does so much right, it may even do Michael Bay better than Michael Bay.

• This is yet another Bad Boys sequel that's best when it keeps things in the family.
• Smith and Lawrence haven't lost a step, but are also offered a chance to play outside their normal roles.
• The action scenes are high-intensity and beautifully shot.
• Putting DJ Khaled in a scene immediately after Tiffany Haddish's character talks about that thing he refuses to do is pure gold.
• The film has too many characters to honor all arcs.
• Everything is frequently a little too offbeat for its own good.
• We could have used more of that country song to be honest.

Bad Boys: Ride or Die comes to theaters in the U.S. starting June 6. Click below for showtimes near you.

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