Struggling painter Jesse Hellman (Embry - The Walking Dead) moves into a new house along with his wife Astrid (Shiri Appleby) and teenage daughter Zooey (Kiara Glasco). The property had been heavily discounted due to the previous owners dying there. Not long after moving in a strange man who appears mentally unwell; Ray (Taylor Vince - Stranger Things, Identity) calls on them saying his parents used to live there. It soon turns out this man hears voices in his head that tells him he has to kill children for the devil, and that he has his sights set on Zooey...
I wasn't completely sure to begin with if I would like The Devil's Candy, but it had an undeniably great soundtrack due to the father and daughter being metalheads. It was strange seeing Embry outside of his role in light hearted comedy Grace and Frankie but I soon came to like his portrayal as a 'cool' dad, the family dynamic worked well here and he gives a good performance as someone who is trying his best by his family but is a bit of a flawed person. It was interesting to see the supernatural used in such a low key way, while Ray is a serial killer it seems the voice he hears telling him to kill are actually real, as it isn't long before Jesse also starts hearing voices, though the ones he hears inspires him to go into a fugue state and unconsciously paint chilling pictures of past victims of the killer. There is a nice atmosphere of unease but this never really comes to the forefront of the movie though the Satanic connections are threaded deeply, not only with the paintings and motives given for characters, but also for clips from TV shows that talk about the origins of the devil throughout history, and religious programs talking about Satan.
