Never Cross Dr. Death at the Fall Carnival

“Candy Corn” (2019) isn’t a film that I really disliked all that much. I never felt it had a lot of energy and the pacing—perhaps the spare, subtle score sort of assists in that—sort of left me rather restless, but not enough to just totally go against it. I liked the early little nods to “Halloween” (1978), such as the familiar font in orange recognizing the holiday and the sheriff’s car Courtney Gains is driving. There is an emphasis on 30s film and landline phones. You feel this rural, dead-of-nowhere location that seems to reek of unyielding boredom, where the youth can only get kicks out of pummeling an on-the-spectrum local at a fall carnival, where “freaks” arrive to offer the looky-loos who live in Grove Hill some amusement park carnie curiosities. In this film, though, few come out to the Halloween event, despite the efforts of face-painted Pancho Boler, as Dr. Death, the mastermind behind the inner workings of the traveling carnival. Sheriff Bramford (Gains) must investigate a series of murders tied to the beatdown of Jacob (Nate Chaney), a bullied victim of asshole, Mike (Jimothy Beckholt). Mike is actually the sheriff’s unruly son, a jerk who keeps his friends in line, easily persuaded through his intimidating stare and volatile conduct to follow his whims. Mike convinces his pack of Grove Hill buddies—Chet (Matt O’Neill), Steve (Cy Creamer), Steve’s girlfriend, Carol (Madison Russ), Bobby (Caleb Thomas), and coffee shop “barista”, Gus (Sky Elobar), who begs Mike to tag along—to assist in throttling Jacob, who pushes down the bully when he confronts him at the carnival. Dr. Death, afterward, when he finds Jacob, draws out a mask and recites some enchantment that resurrects the beaten victim, turning him into a killing machine. So the slasher setup is offered and the remainder of the film has Jacob, whose face seems “fused” with the mask, murdering the pack of wolves responsible for death. Sheriff Bramford begins to wonder who is responsible, considering Grove Hill isn’t known for any death at all; it is so lacking in homicide and overall criminality, the sheriff doesn’t even wear a gun and his deputies are little prepared for such grisly scenes of brutal violence. Director Josh Hasty assembles a few familiar faces in his cast besides Gains (“Children of the Corn” / “The ‘Burbs”), such as PJ Soles (“Halloween” / “Carrie”) and Tony Todd (“Candyman”)…Soles as an assistant in the sheriff’s office and Todd as a member of Dr. Death’s carnival. Soles is a bit of a ditz (of course) while Todd is the vocal member of Death’s employ questioning the morality of Jacob’s rampage. Hasty carefully shoots the attacks and violence to avoid exposing the limits of his budget. Close-ups and camera placement is key to how Hasty avoids too much scrutiny, also employing sound effects to emphasize how Jacob’s strength seems heightened by whatever black magic Dr. Death used…but he needs blood to keep Jacob moving as evidenced by one decline, leaving Death to hide him when Mike comes looking for a fight. You still get enough from Hasty to cringe at such as Chet pressed against a wall while Jacob buries his hand in the back of the head to rip out the medulla oblongata or how Jacob pulls out a tongue and teeth while victims scream. Steve gets off rather easy, more or less suffering a head wound that leaves a pool of blood on a theater floor…Carol, who actually tried to tell the sheriff but remained associated with Mike despite disliking him, gets it much worse. Gus, with a brother assisting him in the coffee café, is hoisted against a restroom wall (his beatoff session to a waitress in the café interrupted while in a stall) while Jacob immolates him, leaving behind a bloody, nasty crime scene cleanup. Sheriff Bramford truly fails to cull the onslaught as Dr. Death has cultivated quite a plot, with loyalty, despite disagreement, from Todd’s one-eyed Bishop Gate. The autumnal flavor is there, the Halloween seasonal décor remains in sight throughout town, and the fall carnival with its horror Grand Guignol aesthetic aids the film, with the candy corn a particular favorite of Jacob’s, always inside a jack-o-lantern bucket often at each kill location. To me, though, this was a run of the mill slasher that functions exactly as its forbearers in the 80s…to some fans that will be enough. It’s Ohio environs provide a perfect feeling of dead end dreams and mundane every day, a simple way of life disrupted when the carnival comes through. Molar, as the colorful Dr. Death, who would have been treated by the film differently if this were in Browning’s “Freaks”, easily walks away with the film…he brings much needed vitality to a film that just feels the rigors of the very place its set. **/*****