Grimy truck stops serve as prime real estate in horror. The setting invokes a sense of desolate lawlessness as strangers pass through a revolving door of anonymity. Don’t even bother entering the filthy, unkept bathrooms; bad things always happen there. It’s precisely this setting where Candy Land unfurls its sleazy slasher filled with broken dreams, religious repression, and a sensitive depiction of sex workers right before a grim turn.
Candy Land introduces Sadie (Sam Quartin) and Liv (Virginia Rand), Riley (Eden Brolin), and Levi (Owen Campbell), a group of tight-knit sex workers dubbed “lot lizards.” They live out of the motel and spend their days chatting near the gas station, snowballs and soda in hand, in between sexual encounters in bathroom stalls or truck cabs. The lot lizards are presided over by Madame Nora (Guinevere Turner) and morally ambiguous Sheriff Rex (William Baldwin). Then the lot lizards find virginal Remy (Olivia Luccardi) crying on a bench after getting cast out by her religious cult and take her under their wing. Remy finds herself caught between her devout beliefs and their dangerous line of trade.
Writer/Director John Swab submerses viewers into this seedy little pocket of Middle America. Swab takes his time establishing this world and its inhabitants, bringing a more tender approach to its sex workers. The lot lizards exude warmth and camaraderie, a warped yet loving family amidst the squalor. They pay Remy’s nervous naivete no mind as they teach her the ins and outs of the unspoken truck stop system and quickly band together when dangers are afoot.
It’s this humanizing depiction and world building that bolsters a familiar setup. Once all characters and setting are thoroughly established, the dead bodies begin to accrue. It marks the tipping point from sensitive portrayal into a grim, bloody path of broken dreams and hearts. It’s also where Swab struggles to reign in the various threads through anchor Remy. The dangers of their profession, including harrowing encounters, combined with Remy’s erratic behavior in her attempts to assimilate, serve as compelling distractions from the fact that too much gets withheld from her backstory- one that’s crucial to her arc.
Swab succeeds in giving his lot lizards impactful individual arcs that resonate with their conclusions. Campbell, who starred in 2022’s X, stands out as the lot lizard’s sole male member Levi. Levi and his various encounters, particularly with the Sheriff, provide the most in terms of stakes and vulnerability. Luccardi, fresh off an intense and disturbing turn in Soft & Quiet, makes for a successful narrative catalyst as the emotionally volatile and increasingly unstable Remy. Yet Remy never manages to instill enough empathy for the third act to resonate fully. Nor does Candy Land fully explore the competing concepts it introduces.
Still, Candy Land gives a refreshing perspective through its condemnation of religion and its positioning of sex workers as protagonists. It’s a more nuanced and lived-in approach to the sleazy slasher format, and its affecting characters elevate the familiar. Much like the lot lizards themselves, Swab uses pink credits, classic needle drops, and Christmas cheer to belie something far more brutal and grim. It results in a flawed but compelling entry in backroads Americana horror.
Candy Land is available in select theaters and VOD now.
The post ‘Candy Land’ Review – Truck Stop Slasher Explores Sex and Violence appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.