Director: Will Gates, Bo Simmons
Year: 2025
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
Living in a rural neighborhood, a group of kids become concerned that a series of disappearances around the area are connected to a legend about the mysterious owner of a candy shop, said to be in operation for years with no hardships, forcing them to discover its dark secret.
Review:
This was a generally awful effort that has very little to like about it. Among its only likable qualities are the focus on the abductions and how the kids are able to handle the burgeoning situation around them. The legend surrounding the store and the mysterious owner who tries to keep her murderous hulk of a son out of the news for his abductions of the local kids, who are then used in the malicious treats being made and sold at the woman’s house, makes for a nice grounding to seep into the rest of the neighborhood. That the kids are aware of it and try to get away from everything with a series of stories and recollections that are made to highlight the purpose behind the abductions, which provide a fun and frantic finale, all of which offer enough to like somewhat.
The problem with this is that it’s only in such select areas of the film that pretty much everything else here is just bland or unappealing. The potential this story has is wiped out by the glacial pacing that seems to spend more time on the interactions with the friends who are seemingly given free rein to improvise and hang out as long as something tangentially related to the story is introduced at some point. It feels like their interactions and general moments of just hanging out are natural, to be fair. However, the way this is brought about is overall awkward and illogical, so that everything is interjected in the clumsiest way possible.
It also doesn’t help that there’s almost nothing happening that keeps this one moving along. These interactions with the kids make up the majority of the running time, despite their being numerous disappearances and abductions that are said to have gone on, and with the investigations missing so many obvious connections about where the missing kids are from and where they go missing, it never leaves any time for any kind of genuine genre activity to take place. With that weak investigation clearly being done to prolong the story with how easily everything comes together once the clue is made about the similarities to the past abductions, it makes everything far more infuriating to get through, which just makes this one so tough to get through.
Overview: 0.5/5
Generally disappointing and barely worthwhile in most regards, this is somewhat bland and problematic, leaving it among the bottom of the barrel, saved only by several small factors. Really, only go for this one if you’re a fan of the style utilized here or are unbothered by the approach, while just about everyone else should heed extreme caution if not outright avoid it.
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