Now on DVD:

Hard Candy
Grade: C+

Yikes! A friend warned me that David Slade's pedophilia revenge thriller was over-the-top, but I didn't expect to find myself cringing in agony for a good chunk of the running time. Patrick Wilson and Ellen Page are both excellent in the lead roles, but in the end no display of acting fireworks could justify the torture that the viewer must endure along with the characters.

Page stars as Hayley, a precocious 14-year-old who meets an 30ish photographer named Jeff (Wilson) in a chat room. The two meet for coffee, and in what seems to be an incredibly stupid move Hayley goes home with Jeff and slams down a few screwdrivers.

As it turns out, our pixieish Lolita has an uncompromisingly violent hidden agenda up her sleeve. She drugs Jeff, ties him up and confronts him with evidence that he's a pedophile. She then accomplishes her master plan - castration- in an endless, completely repulsive sequence that recalls sick-o Japanese horror films like Takashi Miike's Audition.

Hard Candy boasts impressive photography and editing, and it certainly forces the viewer to confront her own views on pedophilia and the ethics of vigilante justice. But the filmmakers certainly took the easy way out by exploring these themes in a such an exploitational and obvious way.