A filmmaker and his father hang out in the Lower East Side of New York and deal with the vices in their lives. Dean Dempsey’s Candy Apple comes to Blu-ray on October 14th, 2025, through Anchor Bay’s UnDISCovered sub-label, highlighting underseen independent cinema.
I’ll admit, I hadn’t heard of writer-director Dean Demspey or his 2016 film Candy Apple before putting in the disc. Dempsey is a multi-hyphenate actor, musician, artist, and filmmaker, and has some great cred. He hasn’t passed my eyes before, at least as I’m aware of. But that’s the point of unDISCovered: to highlight those blind spots. I’m glad I did see now, as I greatly enjoyed both Candy Apple and Deadman’s Barstool (also coming from the label on the twenty-eighth, expect a review around then.)
Candy Apple is a semi-autobiographical slice of life story of likable ne’er-do-wells on the Lower East Side of New York City. Bobby, played by Dempsey himself, is an aspiring filmmaker. His dad, Texas Trash, rolls into town. A double amputee (love the leopard print arm hook), he’s come to New York to try to get a contract for his punk band, Give Me A Hand (heh, love it). Their lives are centered around hanging out at a dive bar, and the colorful characters also hanging out. It’s funny and honest, with a sheer watchability of the characters that carries through.
All these folks have a likable charm. Some are a little unhinged. All are wonderfully eccentric. This makes them fascinating to watch and see the aspects of their lives in the film. I’m not part of the punk scene. That’s more my brother’s end of things. I’m in the geeky weirdos camp. But very much involved in the horror community, and there’s a lot of crossover. They’re good people. Maybe they’ve made more mistakes than most, for whatever reason: addictive tendencies, childhood issues, all too often knee-jerk reactionary, but it’s not my place to judge. Various situations can get to sliding along, surviving as best one can, in a life many may look down on. But, hey, if you’re happy and not hurting anyone, live as it goes. That’s who these folks are, moving through life as best they can (maybe we can do with fewer drug pushers in real life, but I digress).
I appreciate the verisimilitude of the production. There’s no pretension or overreaching, try to drag something more out of Candy Apple than what it is. Melodrama is eschewed for reality. Ups and downs for sure across these characters in the runtime, but nothing forced, no huge moments or humps to overcome. Just the natural flow of life. It meanders through and around folks’ lives. This may turn more narrative needing folks off, but it worked for me.
As the lead, the most watchable of these barflies is Texas Trash. Easily the main character, the man exudes charm. The outgoing sort who will tell stories of a wild life all day and night if you let him. And he will. While there is a run-through plotting of Bobby’s wanting to make a movie and Texas Trash’s attempt to stay on the wagon, and how both start to fall into a darkness, much of the film is kind of a hangout. I’m reminded of early Kevin Smith. Taking conversations, jokes, stories, and encounters drawn from real life and writing them into something more formed. It still has the feel of the truth, just edited for flow and clarity. Unlike Smith’s honing to the pair of Dante and Randall, Dempsey pulls on the collection of real-life non-actors to tell their stories and live their lives. Or at least people like them. The important thing is the confluence of real folks. I love a good non-actor. As expected, some are better than others. Some tell and re-enact as easily as just as they’re over a beer in a seedy bar, others flatten out when putting on the act. But even the flatter end of the readings can land, ala the pushy direct readings of early John Waters.
Waters could be a comparison, but there’s a lot of the grungy Warhol/Morrissey New York skeevy indie throughout. Dempsey isn’t trying to replicate that style specifically, but it slides in. That, and the DIY punk aesthetic of anything goes. Dempsey shoots the film well; it never feels cheap. He has control, but it’s also loose in the right ways, holding to his characters. It’s not flashy, outside of some funny satirical commercial cut-aways (love them!), but neither is it bland. It fits the world.
Candy Apply is a compelling collection of stories of eccentrics living seedy lives. Not for all, but for those it connects with will find something to enjoy with Dean Dempsey’s story.
The video is presented in 1:78 anamorphic. Shot on digital, it has some nice grain to set the atmosphere.
The audio is English only, in Dolby 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo. Subtitles are English and Spanish
The disc contains two special features. The first is a small featurette about the ethos of punk cinema. An appreciation of DIY attitude, different methods of storytelling, and the character within. Essentially meant to sell this film with a connection to (and clips from) Sid & Nancy, Repo Man, and others. Sadly, at only 4 minutes, it’s just a touch. I want more! The other is the trailer.