Hard Candy | 
| Director: David Slade
Actors: Patrick Wilson, Ellen Page, Sandra Oh, Odessa Rae, G.j. Echternkamp
Studio: Lions Gate
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.98
Buy Used: $1.92
You Save: $13.06 (87%)
New (61) Used (88) from $1.92
Rating:  217 reviews
Sales Rank: 5761
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 20116
UPC: 031398201168
EAN: 0031398201168
ASIN: B000GI3KGC
Theatrical Release Date: April 14, 2006
Release Date: September 19, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
The supercharged possibilities of a single set and two amped-up actors are explored in Hard Candy, a twisted cocktail with a poison kicker. After a flirtatious encounter in an online chat room, two people agree to meet for coffee: a 32-year-old man (Patrick Wilson) and a 14-year-old girl (Ellen Page). They quickly advance to his house, and just as quickly, the apparent pedophilic seduction morphs into something else entirely. After the tables turn, Hard Candy becomes a tale of revenge and torture that might have tempted a filmmaker like Park Chanwook. Here, first-time feature director David Slade opts for a slick look that stays close to the actors, and you can't really blame him--this movie is like a conceptual, more-than-slightly unbelievable off-Broadway play, a showcase for actors and "controversial" ideas. Those actors are strong: Patrick Wilson (Angels in America, Phantom of the Opera) is every bit as creepy as he needs to be, and Ellen Page has nothing short of a triumph. The Canadian actress was around 18 when she shot the film, but looks like an adolescent, which makes her authoritative wrath all the more shocking to witness. The provocations of Hard Candy sometimes seem arbitrary or forced, but Page's electrifying performance can't be denied, or dismissed. --Robert Horton
Product Description
A MATURE 14 YEAR OLD GIRL MEETS A CHARMING 32 YEAR OLD PHOTOGRAPHER ON THE INTERNET. SUSPECTING THAT HE'S A PEDOPHILE, SHE GOES TO HIS HOME IN AN ATTEMPT TO EXPOSE HIM.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 212 more reviews...
 Ellen Page movies June 25, 2009
Cathy A. Jones (Columbus, Ohio)
I am a big Ellen Page fan and was really happy to be able to add this to my collection at an amazing price by purchasing from amazon.com
WORST POSSIBLE NIGHTMARE June 15, 2009
Jean Gagne (Montreal, Canada)
After seeing HARD CANDY, I had a nightmare that goes along like this: I was a sexual predator (like Jeff with lots of cameras) and brought home a cute teenage girl. She overwhelmed me at the speed of light and I woke up nicely tied to a chair in front of a giant widescreen TV (50 inch minimum). "I want you to see a movie", she told me. She cranked the volume to the max and pressed PLAY on the player so she forced me to watch HARD CANDY. After that, she brought before me one of my cameras and said to me: "You know what, my Johnny Boy, I have this fantastic idea, WHY DON'T WE DO A REMAKE ????" I said "NO PLEAAAASE !!!" I woke up with my body full of sweat. OK, maybe I have exaggerated things a bit, but it goes to show that you can be haunted for quite awhile when you have to deal with a first class thriller loaded with stellar performances.
The Americanized Audition June 5, 2009
Jason (Backwater, Alabama)
Have you ever seen that internet video of bird getting eaten by the (ninja) turtle? Or the one where the octopus eats the shark? In nature, we all have preconceived notions about roles of weakness and strength during confrontation. The same holds true for humanity, which is why we love an underdog. Hard Candy flips that concept on its head, sociopathically displaying that the concepts of predator and prey are interchangeable.
When Jeff (Patrick Wilson), a 32-year old photographer, begins chatting online with precocious 14-year old Haley (Ellen Page), the interaction has every indication of something creepy; the situation is just wrong. When they meet up for coffee, an uneasiness exudes from every table, chair, and fiber of their surroundings. After some conversation in which Haley displays a maturity and intellect rivaling Jeff, the two make their way back to Jeff's apartment; it's difficult to ascertain who persuades whom.
Foreboding and disturbing, the setting quickly illustrates how easily an adult could take advantage of a child; and when alcohol becomes involved, it becomes very clear that despite Jeff's seemingly clean-cut image, he definitely fits the mold of a pedophile. Little does anyone know that young Haley is not quite as vulnerable as first impressions indicate.
The rest of the movie is a battle of minds and will-power, as Haley transforms into a scalpel-slinging psycho, while Jeff attempts at psychobabble only dig his hole deeper and deeper. The emotional range each displays is mesmerizing. Haley's actions grow more and more sadistic; at more than one point she admits to being insane. Meanwhile, Jeff ping-pongs between bleak denial, hopeless sorrow, and fiery rage while under the tormenting teenager's control.
Amidst exploitation, asphyxiation, and castration, Haley's glee dances on Jeff's growing despair, and the audience must attempt to weigh the merits of vigilante justice against its inevitable depravity. Whereas Miike's Audition treated it as an afterthought, the justification for Haley's actions is a common theme in the dialogue - but only a small part of the overall captivating script. The suspenseful, mental sparring, where Jeff's witty pleading is consistently met with clever repartees from the erudite Haley, is something to behold. The pacing, camera-work, and directing are minimal, accentuating the feeling of isolation, heightening the psychological maze slowly woven between the two characters - who are responsible for carrying 99% of the movie - and allowing for the exposure of countless emotional layers.
This is the epitome if what psycho-thriller should be. It's clearly the Americanized version - not nearly as much build-up, and quite a bit more "interaction" - of Audition, and aside from a questionable resolution (better choices are available for Jeff), it's highly recommended...on an empty stomach.
 Small town film festival quality May 27, 2009
June Fernan (Oxford, MS)
The gist of this movie is a 90 minute dialogue, full of rhetoric and cliche, inching forth at a terribly boring pace, and the majority of it is about a girl cutting off an innocent (or at least forgivable) man's balls off.
Issues of morality and there being a "message" cannot matter if the movie never addresses the weight of such decisions, nor does it ever even let the viewer in on what really happened to bring us to this episode of (again) 90 minutes of torture. There is no depth to this movie at all, as the 5-star reviewers would lead you to believe. Along with a man's balls being cut off, the plot is sprinkled with a these cloudy elements of some chick named Jinelle and some chick who got murdered, which never really come to life in the movie other than on the surface of the horrible dialogue, causing these elements to fail to matter. Oh and there's a terrible, terrible anecdote inserted into the castration drama which, like 95% of the rest of the dialogue in this movie, establishes nothing and has no emotional effect whatsoever.
There is one good thing about this movie: When the credits roll, they are accompanied by a song by Blonde Redhead. I guess that's your reward for enduring this terrible movie. I can't see it belonging anywhere other than in a laughably bad film festival.
Intense is the Word May 15, 2009
L. McLean (Bristol, PA USA)
This is a little film that seems to have made a name for itself in the "Underground." It has a great story, well directed, and even better with the acting. Ellen Page is amazing in this film. Patrick Wilson conquers a role that most people would have fallen short in.
The film is just great all around. I can say that it won't be a film that everyone will like. But, if you want to see the tables turned on a pedophile, this film will do what we all wish we could!
Hard Candy
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