Fresh and Exciting

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

If you're a fan of gritty 70s exploitation, but are looking for something a little different to your usual straight-forward sleaze, then try The Candy Snatchers. It's a weird and wonderful little film which starts off feeling like a TV movie of the week, but continually surprises with its unpredictable plot which gets quite nasty as it progresses, throwing in graphic murder and rape at the most unexpected of moments.Tiffany Bolling, Brad David and Vince Martorano play a trio of lowlifes who abduct Candy (Susan Sennett), a pretty schoolgirl, and hold her for ransom. But when Candy's slimy stepfather (Ben Piazza) refuses to cough up for the girl's safe return, the kidnappers are forced to reconsider their plans. Meanwhile, a mute (and possibly autistic) boy, who has witnessed the criminals at work, tries his best to help save the terrified girl.Smartly directed by Guerdon Trueblood, The Candy Snatchers is a real gem of a movie which delivers well defined characters, some lovely plot turns, and one hell of a powerful ending that will leave you absolutely gob-smacked.The cast are also brilliant and there is not a bad performance in the whole film. Particularly worthy of mention are Bolling, who is great as Jessie, the beautiful blonde who definitely wears the trousers in the gang (tight as you like jeans, to be specific!), Brad David who is extremely chilling as Alan, the psycho of the group, and Christophe, who, despite being very young, puts in a marvellous turn as Sean, the lad who may be able to help poor Candy—if only he could speak!And to make the whole experience all the more enjoyable, the film is blessed with a wonderfully fitting soundtrack (complete with funky 'wakka-wakka' guitars and a memorable folky theme song) and a hilarious speeded-up car chase.

Two weeks after "The Candy Snatchers" was released in Italy, John Paul Getty III was kidnapped, after which his ear was cut off and sent to a newspaper in Rome by his Italian kidnappers, as an apparent incentive for the payment of his ransom - an act that mirrored a part of the film's plot.Regards the comment "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." Christophe was played by the director's son Christopher Trueblood, who was learning disabled. One of the most difficult scenes in the picture to complete was the one in which Christophe ends up having to shoot Eddy, because (much to his credit) Christopher was unwilling to just 'pretend' to kill Vince Martanaro, who was in fact his close friend - in part because of Vince's lengthy relationship with Guerdon Trueblood and his family.

As she walks home from school, Candy (Susan Sennett) is kidnapped by three small-time criminals looking to make the big-time. Their plan is to hold Candy for a fortune in diamonds from the store her father manages. But when Candy's father doesn't make it to the drop-off point, things go from bad to worse for Candy.Going into The Candy Snatchers, I wasn't expecting such a competently made, entertaining film. It's a masterpiece of 70s sleaze and exploitation. Candy's ordeal is brutal and, at times, difficult to watch. The scenes of Candy being buried alive with only a one-inch pipe for air are so real that you can't help but feel for the bound and gagged Susan Sennett. The script is surprisingly intelligent and presents some nice twists involving Candy's father (played to perfection by Ben Piazza) and his reluctance to meet the ransom demands. The script also goes out of the way to flesh-out the three would be kidnappers and gives us an insight into what makes them tick. Finally, I love the ambiguous ending as to Candy's fate. It gives you something to think about long after the movie has ended. The Candy Snatchers is very nicely done.There's also a subplot involving a very young mute boy and his abusive parents. As bad as I felt for Candy and her predicament, I felt equally bad for little Sean. The events in the film's finale involving the little boy are amazing in their simple, but violent nature. Sean was played by the director's son, Christophe. I don't know when I've seen a better, more believable performance from someone so young. If you're a fan of 70s drive-in fare, you must seek out The Candy Snatchers.

I absolutely love "The Candy Snatchers." It's a wickedly clever and dead-on nasty grind-house variant on the classic O. Henry short story "The Ransom of Red Chief." It's got everything you can want in a 70's exploitation flick: solid production values, an unflinchingly grim and nihilistic tone, colorfully warped bad guys (Brad David as the sickest of the three kidnappers is an especially depraved piece of hardcore human sickness), neat'n'gnarly plot twists aplenty, brutal violence, the beautiful Tiffany Bolling as a terrifically sexy and shifty femme fatale who would have fit in snugly in a vintage 40's film noir, gratuitous nudity, savage rape, a cute little mute boy as the unlikely hero, uniformly aces acting, strong direction, a truly startling knock-out bummer ending, a nifty cameo by James Whitworth (Papa Jupitor in "The Hills Have Eyes") as a telephone repairman who gets the living stuffing beaten out of him, bubbly blonde cutie Susan Sennett absorbing more punishment than a punching bag, the ever-smarmy Ben Piazza oozing total black-heartedness with lip-smacking aplomb as Sennet's spectacularly odious stepdad, a wickedly funny sense of pitch-black humor, and, best of all, an amazingly crappy sappy folkie theme song. And the film quite powerfully shows how youthful innocence is either corrupted or destroyed when exposed to adult evil at its most ferociously base and unforgiving. And remember everyone: money is the root of all happiness.