Review of Hard Candy (2005) by Anita D — 07 Jul 2015

Thrilling and captivating yet completely sick at the same time.

It's not normal for thirtysomething year old men to go chatting up girls who are half their age online, but it happens anyway. And when it does, no one expects the so-called weak little girl to fight back.

Normalcy certainly isn't the general theme this film is centered around. It's actually quite the opposite, giving the you the closer look you always wanted, posing the blatant question: what if it was the other way around? A very interesting concept that drew me in almost right away although the subject matter is very disturbing, considering the audience eventually finds out the horrible things Jeff did to numerous others just like Hayley herself. Shamelessly.

If you walked in knowing nothing about the plot itself, you'd probably expect the suave guy to violate his new young friend whom he met online in a chatroom and decided to conveniently hook up with. Something typical.

The tables turn within a blink of an eye, and before Jeff knows it, the roles are undeniably switched. It's absolutely twisted, yet the simple realization that Hayley is technically doing the right thing and serving Jeff his karma with the sharp blade of a knife complete with a sinister cat-and-mouse game is sickly satisfying.

Then again, is she really doing the right thing? Is it right to fight fire with fire?

In this case, my verdict is... of course. Sickos will be sickos, and quite frankly, there are too many of them in this world. Hayley is just doing us a solid by getting rid of a scumbag which happens to be wasting space and wreaking nothing but havoc here on Earth.

I give Hard Candy 4/5 stars, but only because it left me with a lot of questions. Like what exactly happened to Hayley after she walked away. What happened when Jeff was found hanging off his roof, noose tightly snug around his neck. Wonder what the cops would have made of the crime scene.