Tuesday, May 15, 2012

The Candy Snatchers

Guerdon Trueblood - 1973 - USA  

Shot exactly like any cheesy 70s TV drama, The Candy Snatchers feels like a rated R episode of CHiPs or some such show; i.e. completely bland and routine set-ups yet with lots of skin and violence.  A trio of idiotic anti-socials kidnap the sheltered teenage daughter of a jewel dealer, hoping for a sizable ransom.  Little do they know that the father stands to profit from Candy’s death, so he is less than eager to cooperate.  The film has built a substantial cult-following over the years for two main reasons, neither of them having to do with it being especially good: 1) its still-startling political incorrectness, and 2) its over-the-top campiness.  It’s the kind of film you can laugh at either for the sheer ridiculousness of it or to lighten the discomfort it installs.  An autistic toddler is fed sleeping pills.  A female minor is raped.  Another woman is raped and appears to like it.  Lots of stuff that could only happen in a 70s movie.  It does end on a nice note, though, with the little boy getting some well-earned revenge on his abusive mother.

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