Review of Candy Land (2022 Film):

I was hoping for a somewhat gritty true to life film like “The Florida Project” – boy I couldn’t have been more mistaken. The limited number of reviews (eight when I watched this) giving this film high marks should be the first clue that those reviews are planted to generate an overall rating that is deceptively higher than is warranted. That’s if you even consider a 5ish rating to be good?

The poster/advert and synopsis is written to take the viewer in, but if you bother to watch even the first few minutes, you’ll see this is nothing more than a “B” grade production (or less) with nothing to offer except a predictable script with at best mediocre acting by unappealing actors that ultimately veers towards a violent sexploitation film. And to be honest if that’s what you’re after there are certainly better choices than this one.

Candy Land: A group of sex-workers live in a motel at a truck stop in Montana. The corrupt local Sheriff deals with any problems and only hits on the sole male hustler, Levi, for freebies. The lives of the women and man are not sugarcoated, the grim reality of the acts they perform and dangers they face is graphically portrayed, the alternative being minimum wage jobs. In one disturbing scene Levi is brutally assaulted by a client. The women are mildly amused by members of a religious cult who want them to repent but when a teen girl runs away from the sect they take her in. Thus is very much a slasher film as mutilated bodies start to pile up. Some being the girl’s customers, others seemingly killed at random. Some interesting plot twists and a lot of gore with shocking scenes of murder, mayhem and mutilation. This is all just blood off a victim’s back to horror fans but be warned! The slasher has an intriguing weapon of choice which fits in well with this tale of old time religion meeting up with sex-workers. Directed and Written by John Swab. 7.5/10.