Trailer—The Candy Snatchers

source: The Candy Snatchers

I read about the notorious The Candy Snatchers in a horror magazine here in the UK. The film apparently has been banned here since it's release back in 1973. Even to this day it is banned here in the UK and has never been available on VHS Video, Lazar Disc or DVD. Curious to see The Candy Snatchers I visited Amazon.com where it appears the film is freely available to US customers. So I ordered it and it arrived a few days later. The DVD came with a poster and 3 picture cards. The DVD has a number of extras contained on it. The extra's include a photo gallery, trailer and an interview with the woman who played Candy in the film. There's appears to be a lot effort gone into making the DVD. The film. The picture quality is great. Clear, colourful and no sign of dirt. Hard to believe it was made all those years ago, back in 1973. The film opens with a catchy country and western sounding song with featuring the lyrics money is the route to all happiness. To sum the film up, it's about a gang of 3 whole abduct a girl in order to obtain some diamonds from her father. I cannot see why the film was ever banned in the UK or became notorious. The subject matter, kidnapping of a school girl is distasteful. The film is comical, is filled with comical incidental tunes. Theirs is a small fight scene with the gang of 3 and a telephone engineer, the fight is very comical. There is no tension in the film and it drifts from one boring scene to another. Not a film I would recommend. The film is no where near as distasteful similar films, I spit on your Grave or Last House on the Left, to name two. The film is not grim, like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Comparing Candy Snatchers to other bad/poor banned horror films, I'd say the film is little better than Driller killer.

16-year-old Candy Phillips is brutally abducted by a trio of amateur criminals hoping for a hasty ransom exchange.Burying their innocent captive alive in the hills of Southern California with only a small tube for air,the threesome-sultry blond Jessi,her sadistic brother Alan and maladjusted Army vet Eddy-suspect things aren't as they appear when Candy's father doesn't show at their agreed rendezvous.Growing anxious as paranoia sets in' the kidnappers fear their meticulous plan is crumbling and begin a downward spiral into depravity,mutilation and cold-blooded murder-with Candy helplessly trapped in the middle."The Candy Snatchers" is a classic exploitation flick.The script by Bryan Gindoff is surprisingly intelligent,the cast is great and there are some violent set-pieces.The film is obviously influenced by the Charles Manson murders,so if you are into 70's grindhouse exploitation cinema give it a look.8 out of 10.

This is what you would get if you asked Jim Thompson to write a Three Stooges episode and then told him at the last minute he had to include a small child channeling the spirit of Harpo Marx. See it if you get the chance by all means.

THE CANDY SNATCHERS (3 outta 5 stars) Very nasty, ugly movie about a trio of luckless kidnappers who abduct a teenage girl and bury her alive. They call up her stepfather, a diamond merchant, and ask for a fortune in diamonds as ransom. Well, wouldn't you know it... the stepfather has been looking for a way to get rid of the bratty young teen anyway as he stands to make a lot of cash after her untimely demise. A young mute boy happens to see where the kidnappers bury the girl but, being mute, he can't make her whereabouts known to the police and his shrieking shrew of a mother won't listen to him anyway. The kidnappers get more and more desperate and the violence and depravity become more and more extreme... ending the movie in one of the most nihilistic and gutwrenching finales ever seen on film. Anyone who thought movies like "Natural Born Killers" or "The Devil's Rejects" were rough-going... well, you ain't seen nothing' yet.

It's a shame this film is only available on bootleg VHS and DVD, because it's truly one of the great lost crime films of the '70s. Produced by blaxploitation auteur Arthur Marks, it makes no bones about being a full-bore exploitation movie: rape, dismemberment, murder, drug use and blackmail are all depicted in graphic detail. But these elements are underscored by a smart and bitter screenplay that etches believable characters moving through a plot that twists and turns like a serpent all the way to the deadly, surprising conclusion. Particularly impressive are Vince Martanaro as Eddy, the Vietnam Vet burned by the pointlessness of wage-slave living, and Ben Piazza as Candy's cold-as-diamonds wicked stepfather. Special Weird Appeal notice goes to Christophe as the mute hero of the tale; his performance must be seen to be believed and puts most child actors to shame; imagine a six-year-old Macauley Culkin on mushrooms and you'll get the picture. The characters move angrily through a world of greed and debauchery, commenting on lost innocence, lost love, loneliness, poverty, wealth and the sticky lure of greed. The bitterly ironic theme song, "Money is the root of all happiness," lays bare the film's intent. The world that Guerdon Trueblood depicts is as bare, cruel and senseless as anything found in a Jim Thompson novel, but is softened by its understanding of human weakness and social injustice. Each character thrashes in his or her own prison: Eddy, struggling with his desire to do the right thing and his craving for solvency; young Sean, trapped by abusive, selfish parents; Candy, bound and gagged in a shallow grave; her stepfather biding his time in a loveless marriage. Each of them seeks their own kind of freedom in a callous world where the fates are always against us. It's an epic human struggle, one that is well-suited for the screen, and The Candy Snatchers does it justice in its own small way.

Thanks to an excellent, unpredictable script, this has all the hallmarks of a winner -- great acting, tight direction, solid cinematography, sharp editing and a sleazy, disturbing tone; it is a textbook example of how to make a great exploitation film. The screenplay is always the primary ingredient of any successful film, and Bryan Gindoff's screenplay for "The Candy Snatchers" does so many things right. For starters, the set-up (a schoolgirl named Candy is snatched) comes quickly and the motivation behind the set-up (a ransom) is conveyed clearly. The main characters (a reprehensible trio) are well defined from the outset and Gindoff works hard throughout the story to give us interesting tidbits about them. But where the screenplay really shines is in its unpredictability. We think it's taking us in one direction, but it drops some great dramatic bombs at key points that nobody sees coming. Director Guerdon Trueblood keeps everything hopping and keeps his focus on the characters...and boy!, are these characters slimy. Ben Piazza is truly, sickeningly convincing as a businessman forced into what looks like an unwinnable situation. How he extricates himself out of this dilemma is a pleasure to behold. Ditto the members of the trio (Tiffany Bolling, Brad David and Vince Martorano), a disloyal, bickering bunch who eventually manifest extremely convincing strengths and weaknesses that may or may not save their skins. A special mention should also go to a young lad credited as "Christophe". Playing the abused son of a pill-popping nutbag mother, he is the only person who knows of Candy's whereabouts and launches a solo campaign to save her -- his way! "His way", of course, makes for great drama because the lad can't speak and is being compromised at every turn by his mother. The film is violent, nasty and even throws a rape into its sociopathic brew. Robert Maxwell's cinematography is sharp, colorful and moody and Richard Greer's edit is tight and lean. Everything you need to know about making a great exploitation film is up on the screen, as is a riveting, fascinating thriller. You'll get a real kick out of the ending, too.

S10 Rating: * * * * / * * * * * The Candy Snatchers is an interesting sort of film. On the surface is looks a bit like a standard movie-of-the-week thriller. It has 70's photography, 70's woka-woka music and so on. But the Candy Snatchers turns out to be a rather clever exploitation drama with a clever script. Three thugs hatch a foolproof scheme to get a briefcase full of diamonds by kidnapping a young schoolgirl and holding her for ransom. But the plan goes south when some unforeseen wrinkles appear. Even though the Candy Snatchers has a conventional feel to it the film is far from it. The director manages to make some good tension with the twists and turns of the thieves and Candy's plight. The acting is above average for this type of film. The thieves all have interesting personalities and most characters generate sympathy for them. The Candy Snatchers is a rare 70's treat that will satisfy exploitation fans and thriller fans alike.

This is one film that unfortunately seems to be doomed to obscurity. However, it is a goodie, albeit a nasty one. Poor Candy is kidnapped by three losers, who are involved with incest, drugs, murder, rape, and now kidnapping! This film is very lurid and sleazy (as many 'gone' '70's films were), yet has a great plot involving a number of fun twists, and is well acted. Parts of the film are clear precursors to Tarantino (ie Reservoir Dogs), and David Lynch (the idea of the family being the source of anxiety and horror). Little Sean's mother could have easily fitted into 'Twin Peaks'. Worth hunting this one out.