Sci-Fi & Squeam

11 Aug 2016

MIFF 2016: The Devil’s Candy,playing with Satan & talking to Sean Byrne

cult, Horror Films, Music, Society & Culture, TV & Film

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MIFF 2016: The Devil’s Candy,playing with Satan & talking to Sean Byrne

Sonja The Squeamer speaks to director Sean Byrne who returns after six years to the Melbourne International Film Festival with The Devil’s Candy his new dark and twisted horror film.

It plays for one more session on Friday August the 12th 2016.

“FIND WHAT YOU LOVE, AND LET IT KILL YOU……..”

Above : Artwork by Stephen Kasner, who is a practicing Satanist.

Description of The Devil’s Candy :

‘A struggling painter is possessed by satanic forces after he and his young family move into their dream home in rural Texas, in this creepy haunted-house tale from Australian writer-director Sean Byrne (The Loved Ones).’

Below: Director Sean Byrne.

‘Australian writer-director Sean Byrne burst onto the horror scene with the delightfully demented torture-garden thriller The Loved Ones, which won the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award in 2009. Now, in his first American film, he offers an equally distinctive take on the haunted-house tale, avoiding the clichés of the genre and creating an atmosphere as creepily oppressive as Jesse’s haunting and disturbing canvases. As the supernatural threat draws ever closer to its victims, Byrne demonstrates once again that he knows how to inflict excruciating torment — both physical and psychological — on his unfortunate characters, and supremely nasty thrills on his audiences.’ – Colin Geddes TIFF 2016.

Below: artist Stephen Kasner, whose paintings featuring in The Devil’s Candy.

About Sean Byrne: born in Hobart, Tasmania, and is currently based in Los Angeles. He graduated with an M.A. from the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. His shorts include Sport (99), Work? (00),Sunday (00), Ben (01), and Advantage (07). His feature debut, The Loved Ones (09), played the Festival and won the Midnight Madness People’s Choice Award. The Devil’s Candy (15) is his latest film.

Below: Sean Byrne’s debut feature The Loved Ones

This is a horror film made in the true spirit of metal: just like the music it’s inspired by, it’s loud and sometimes gruesome but also winningly earnest. Memo to projectionists: play it loud.