Cast out from her religious cult, virginal Remy (Olivia Luccardi) is befriended by the tight-knit group of sex workers who ply their trade at a nearby truckstop known as Candyland. Madame Nora (Guinevere Turner) takes Remy under her wing and coerces her into becoming one of her girls. The newcomer is taught the art of being a 'lot lizard', but is secretly on a mission to cleanse her newfound family of their sins using the dagger concealed inside her wooden crucifix.
If you're not a fan of good old-fashioned exploitation, in all of its scuzzy glory, then Candyland probably won't do it for you; I, however, am rather partial to a nice-and-sleazy psycho flick and this film, from director John Swab, is just that, a raw slice of sick cinema that explores the seedy underbelly of Middle America. The film opens as it means to go on, with a sex scene followed by a full-on vag shot (something you don't see on-screen all that often outside of a porno). The remainder of the film features all manner of depravity (prostitution, male rape, murder, a toothless OAP priest giving oral sex) and culminates with a blood-drenched stab-fest and a mass suicide.
Swab ensures that his film delivers maximum emotional impact by carefully humanising his sex workers before the carnage begins, the cast giving surprisingly sensitive portrayals of characters that could easily have become caricatures. Luccardi, as unstable Remy, is wonderfully deranged, while William Baldwin impresses as low-life lawman Sheriff Rex, a daring role for the actor regardless of how badly his career path has gone.
If you're not a fan of good old-fashioned exploitation, in all of its scuzzy glory, then Candyland probably won't do it for you; I, however, am rather partial to a nice-and-sleazy psycho flick and this film, from director John Swab, is just that, a raw slice of sick cinema that explores the seedy underbelly of Middle America. The film opens as it means to go on, with a sex scene followed by a full-on vag shot (something you don't see on-screen all that often outside of a porno). The remainder of the film features all manner of depravity (prostitution, male rape, murder, a toothless OAP priest giving oral sex) and culminates with a blood-drenched stab-fest and a mass suicide.
Swab ensures that his film delivers maximum emotional impact by carefully humanising his sex workers before the carnage begins, the cast giving surprisingly sensitive portrayals of characters that could easily have become caricatures. Luccardi, as unstable Remy, is wonderfully deranged, while William Baldwin impresses as low-life lawman Sheriff Rex, a daring role for the actor regardless of how badly his career path has gone.