The setup of Hard Candy seems ripped from the headlines circa 1998: a naive teenage girl and a thirty-something guy meet on the Internet and then decide to meet in person. It seems pretty cut and dry until the twist becomes apparent — the girl, Hayley, is not naive at all — she is in fact a clever, vindictive psychopath.
Ellen Page convincingly plays a teenager stuck in the “not a girl, not yet a woman” stage and Patrick Wilson is handsome enough as Jeff, the pedophile, but his character lacks depth. The torture scenes where Hayley kidnaps Jeff and cuts off his family jewels are the only times his character truly seems to come alive.
The DVD includes deleted and extended scenes from the film, many of which explore the idea that Jeff might not be the monster Hayley thinks he is. Additional material includes commentary and interviews with director David Slade, writer Brian Nelson and the actors, during which they all attempt to explain why they took on a film with such a serious and disturbing theme.