{"id":4936,"date":"2012-10-07T03:27:53","date_gmt":"2012-10-07T07:27:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=4936"},"modified":"2012-10-07T03:27:53","modified_gmt":"2012-10-07T07:27:53","slug":"red-hood-traps-the-wolf-in-his-own-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2012\/10\/07\/red-hood-traps-the-wolf-in-his-own-game\/","title":{"rendered":"Red Hood Traps the Wolf in His Own Game."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"hc\"<\/a>“Why don’t you just kill me?”<\/em>
\n“Is that what you think I want?”<\/em><\/p>\n

Though described as a \u201cthriller,\u201d this is a horror movie in the purest sense, and an emotionally draining one at that. A man engages in a horrible crime, thinks he\u2019s gotten away with it and discovers he\u2019s being outwitted, outsmarted, and tortured by a vindictive little bitch about half his size.<\/p>\n

The irony being that the character Jeff is a good looking man with the ability to pick up any woman he wants and he chooses young children, and yet he\u2019s not above spouting the same crap excuses we hear from all pedophiles, too.
\nSlade\u2019s film is indeed a horror movie. And then I had to see \u201cHostel Part II\u201d to review, and it was pretty much the same experience as the first time.<\/p>\n

Obscenely overrated, recycled, and pretty much every bit of plagiarism, uh\u2013sorry, homage you can expect from a Tarantino flick. One of my primary gripes with \u201cHostel Part II\u201d beyond Roth\u2019s whiny message to fans on his MySpace was the fact that \u201cHard Candy\u201d is sometimes lumped with the rest of the titles in the torture fad of the last three years, and that\u2019s a shame. Thankfully, Slade\u2019s film has managed to come out on its own and not fall into that pit, but often I hear that comparison and I can just cringe.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a revenge film, it\u2019s a thriller, and yes it\u2019s a wonderful antithesis to \u201cThe Woodsman\u201d which is still heavily controversial for its supposed sympathizing with the ex-pedophile it centers in on. Watch these two back to back, and they\u2019re really the same movie. A pedo is being tortured for his crimes. And comes across a young girl in a red hood who teaches him a lesson.<\/p>\n

\u201cHard Candy\u201d has a little bit of a \u201cDexter\u201d vibe to it, which is not surprising that it premiered on Showtime when it landed on the cable doorstep. It features a vindictive psycho who traps and tortures another psycho because they feel they\u2019re providing a service to humanity. Like \u201cHostel Part II,\u201d it\u2019s still considered a part of that \u201ctorture porn\u201d (yes, I hate the term, too) sub-genre, but that\u2019s such a wrong classification.<\/p>\n

Unlike \u201cHostel Part II,\u201d David Slade\u2019s \u201cHard Candy\u201d is intelligent, has a point to make, garners excellent performances, breaks down the perspective of who the psychos are in this dichotomy, and also garners heavy debate among audiences. Did the molester deserve this punishment? Was Hayley much more dangerous than Jeff? Wasn\u2019t Jeff also a victim of a crime?<\/p>\n

And while, yes, it does feature some rather grueling torture, Slade composes the scenes in such a great way where it\u2019s just as painful for us as it is for our character Jeff. Slade really knows how to draw every bit of pain on us and really manages to succeed in helping us feel for Jeff just a little.<\/p>\n

It also helps that Patrick Wilson is an excellent actor and really pours himself into this role. His frantic begging and pleading while Hayley has him strapped down to the table is just a marvel to watch. This guy is a Broadway performer and he\u2019s convinced me that he\u2019s a slimy pedo who really shouldn\u2019t get his balls lopped off.<\/p>\n

Upon receiving \u201cHard Candy\u201d in the mail, I watched it immediately, and then again about a week later, and it doesn\u2019t lose its punch. The quintessential virginal character played by Ellen Page provides a beautiful dynamic off of Wilson\u2019s sly and charming wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing, and clearly this is a character based horror film that could easily have been performed on stage.<\/p>\n

One of my favorite scenes involves the always likable Sandra Oh. While many thought her scene was tacked on, I thought it was a perfect background on Jeff. The man lives in a quiet neighborhood filled with families, has an attractive neighbor who seems rather intent on seeing Jeff when met by Hayley, and\u2026 has a daughter who sells Jeff Girl Scout cookies quite often.<\/p>\n

\"hc2\"<\/a>Slade\u2019s film reverses the age old setting for a potential sex crime and asks us to choose sides. While you root for Hayley who isn\u2019t the thin airhead she starts off as, the acts she commits are a bit on the cruel side, and you eventually feel guilty for cheering her on, while Jeff is an instant villain who you will definitely feel some sense of sadness for as the film progresses. Slade sees to that.<\/p>\n

And of course Hayley acts as a catalyst for Jeff\u2019s self-realization. Isn\u2019t he just another pedophile? Will Jeff ever actually admit that? A pedophile never actually admits they\u2019re pedophiles, and Slade adds a humanistic approach to both characters and keeps all themes and the narrative in strict shades of gray the entire time. We can never be sure if Slade is rooting for Jeff or Hayley. Even after my tenth viewing, I\u2019m still not sure.<\/p>\n

I won\u2019t say that this movie is about a taboo since pedophilia isn\u2019t a taboo, only a filthy crime, but Slade definitely breaks down characters, morals, and means to an end, while asking us to reflect; and the audience may be afraid to when all is said and done.<\/p>\n

The message here is clear, even when playing the predator, there\u2019s always someone over your shoulder. Secrets don\u2019t always stay hidden and many times they can just come to bite you in the ass\u2026 and balls.<\/p>\n

\n

Buy “Hard Candy” Now!<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Why don’t you just kill me?” “Is that what you think I want?” Though described as a \u201cthriller,\u201d this is a horror movie in the purest sense, and an emotionally draining one at that. A man engages in a horrible crime, thinks he\u2019s gotten away with it and discovers he\u2019s being outwitted, outsmarted, and tortured […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,13],"tags":[302,319,840,1013,1087],"class_list":["post-4936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-halloween-horror-month","category-pcthugs","tag-drama","tag-ellen-page","tag-revenge","tag-suspense","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4936"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4936\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}