The Candy Snatchers (1973)

The sole theatrical directing credit for veteran writer Guerdon Trueblood ('Adam-12', 'The Streets of San Francisco', "The Last Hard Men", "Jaws 3-D"), "The Candy Snatchers" is compelling storytelling every step of the way, with a rich variety of characters who may be utterly flawed but are nonetheless an interesting bunch. It may be tough for some people to see certain individuals subjected to a fair bit of abuse, but give Trueblood credit: he handles everything in a respectable matter of fact way, and ties everything up at the end in a memorable fashion.The Candy of the title is played by Susan Sennet ("Big Bad Mama"), an attractive teenager who has the bad habit of hitching rides with people. That makes it easy for kidnappers Jessie (luscious Playboy Playmate Tiffany Bolling ("Kingdom of the Spiders")), Alan (Brad David ("The Curious Case of the Campus Corpse")), and Eddy (Vincent Martorano) to get a hold of her. They intend to obtain a ransom of diamonds from her jeweler father Avery (Ben Piazza), only to eventually find out that they haven't done enough homework and that Avery might not want the girl back.Written and produced by Bryan Gindoff, this effectively lurid tale has more than its share of twists and turns, and it really keeps the viewer hooked from scene to scene. There's a real sleazy feel to the proceedings, and Alan turns out to be a pretty big creep. Bolling sinks her teeth into the juicy role of the ringleader, a woman who likes giving orders but does have her vulnerabilities. Eddy is far and away the most conscientious of the trio, even making a connection with the victimized Candy. Sennet is completely appealing and easy to sympathize with. Equally endearing is Christopher Trueblood, son of the director, an adorable blonde moppet with autism and monstrous, ignorant parents. This subplot with Christophers' character Sean is hard to watch, but worth sticking with. Certainly the subject of autism wasn't that well known or looked into at this point in time 40 years ago, so Gindoff and Trueblood Sr. were ahead of the curve there.Fine location shooting, an irresistible score and theme song ("Money is the Root to All Happiness"), and a fun small part for James Whitworth, a few years away from his role as Papa Jupiter in Wes Cravens' "The Hills Have Eyes", all add to the enjoyment. This is a film whose grim premise and well developed characters help to make it one of the best trash films of its decade. One thing's for sure: the viewer isn't likely to forget the ending any time soon.Nine out of 10.

If you are a fan of sleazy 70s American Drive in Exploitive fare like me..and I'm not talking by numbers trash like Friedman's TRADER HORNEE or WHAM BAM SPACEMAN or PLEASE Don't EAT MY MOTHER either. I'm talking high grade like BLOOD AND LACE, THE TODD KILLINGS, WHEN YOU COMING BACK RED RYDER,POOR WHITE TRASH II, FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE, WHITE DOG, LEMORA, SWITCHBLADE SISTERS and THE BABY. If you like 'em mean and bleak this underrated and highly disturbing flick is for you. In my opinion this surpasses the excellent but slightly disappointing LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT by miles in sheer queasiness. Powerful evil men and strong woman characters raise this well above the average b grade clunker. Make no mistake there are real messages to be found in this film about violence that predates even a CLOCKWORK ORANGE. I thoroughly recommend it and this DVD release by Subversive (thank you!!!) is absolutely lovingly brilliant. There is a awesome featurette with in depth, decent questions being answered both by Susan Senet and Tiffany Bolling who are both striking even today. I urge all horror enthusiasts to give this angry violent film a whirl. You may not love it as much as I do but you will have to admit it is way better than average in a genre that is full of clueless try hard crap. I give it 10/10.

THE CANDY SNATCHERS is a film that a lot of exploit fans have been buzzing about since it received a "proper" DVD release recently - and for good reason. This is definitely one of the better crafted films of the genre - with a very well thought out story-line, good acting, and just enough gritty sleaze (mostly towards the end of the film...) to place it firmly in the exploitation genre. Also a kick-ass ending really drives the whole production home...THE CANDY SNATCHERS starts with two men and a woman abducting a girl on her way home from school. Turns out that her father is the manager of a jewelry store, and the kidnappers want diamonds in exchange for his daughter. They hide the girl away (which is witnessed by a young mute boy...) and wait for her father to bring the diamonds to the drop-site...but...he never shows. Unsure of what to do next, the abductors decide to confront the father with "evidence" that they mean business - but not all is as it seems, as we find that Pops may have his own agenda that may just include the kidnapper's plans. As things start to spiral out of control - all of the major players become more desperate in their greed, leading up to the unexpected (and very cool) ending...THE CANDY SNATCHERS is a real gem of 70's exploit cinema. It is far more polished and well-done than some of the more "schlocky" entries - and this film could really have played as a mainstream crime film, if not for some of the "controversial" scenes and situations. Not all that shocking by today's standards as some would lead you to believe...but a very interesting and unique slice of 70's exploitation cinema history, and definitely a "must see" for fans of the genre. 8.5/10

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.