Hard Candy

Aroview: Unflinchingly dark and slickly impressive thriller proceeds from the chatroom flirtations between a precocious teenager (Page) and a thirty-something photographer (Wilson) with an unhealthy penchant for girls, into probably the most potent schock-revenge outing since I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE.

When the two rendezvous at the photographer's house, the tables are turned and he finds himself bound and at the mercy of the twistedly-moralistic teen, who has come prepared with a DIY surgery kit to undertake 'preventative maintainence' on the paedophile. Both suspenseful and wincingly grueling, dir. Slade (an accomplished music-video creator), demonstrates a sure grasp of gleaming cinematic surfaces, creating a confection that looks sweet enough, but might well leave you with a mental toothache.

NZ International Film Festival 2006

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