The Love And Death Trailer Is Just The Tip Of A Wild And Unnerving True Crime Story
True crime stories can be tantalizing, giving us a glimpse into the horrors of humanity from the comfort of our couches. There are tons of true crime documentaries on almost every streaming service, but sometimes we get dramatic retellings that make the monstrosities much more cinematic (and entertaining). When it comes to the case of Candy Montgomery, the suburban Texas housewife who murdered her neighbor with an ax, there are now two star-studded prestige miniseries to tell the tale.
Hulu's "Candy," starring Jessica Biel as the murderous mama, debuted on Hulu in 2022 and received mixed reviews from critics who praised the performances in particular. (You can read ours here!) Now, HBO Max will debut "Love & Death" starring Elizabeth Olsen as the killer Candy, and the latest trailer provides a peek into this absolutely wild case.
Both "Candy" and "Love & Death" are based on the book "Evidence of Love: A True Story of Passion and Death in the Suburbs" by authors Jim Atkinson and John Bloom (a.k.a. horror host Joe Bob Briggs), and the title of "Love & Death" references the duo's original article on the murder for Texas Monthly, "Love and Death in Silicon Prairie." Homicidal homemakers aren't the most common thing in the world, and Candy's story had extra twists and turns that made it even more scandalous, so it's no surprise that multiple streamers wanted to get in on the action. It will be interesting to see if "Love & Death" can fix what didn't work in "Candy," or if they're both just doomed to be a little less satisfying than the devastating true story.
Check out the trailer for Love & Death
While the Hulu series "Candy" was loosely based on "Evidence of Love," the HBO Max series has a pretty serious advantage in that they secured the filming rights to that reporting, and so they are likely to have more of the wild and weird details of the case. Those details could be the thing that makes "Love & Death" sing over "Candy," because the performances and filmmaking in both look to be equally stellar. Olsen looks great as a sweeter, more innocent take on Candy, though the trailer might be wisely hiding her malicious side so that by the time she turns, it's genuinely unsettling. We do get to see her negotiating the terms of an affair with her volleyball teammate and neighbor, Allan Gore (Jesse Plemons), which hints at her ability to be cold and calculating. After all, who plans to have an affair with that level of cunning and detachment?
"Love & Death" was written by "Big Little Lies" scribe David E. Kelley and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, best known for her work on "Mad Men" and "Homeland." In addition to Olsen and Plemons, the cast includes Patrick Fugit as Candy's husband Pat, Lily Rabe as Allan's wife Betty, Krysten Ritter, Beth Broderick, Keir Gilchrist, Elizabeth Marvel, Brian d'Arcy James, Mackenzie Astin, and Bruce McGill.
Candy that's not so sweet
There are a lot of twists and turns in Candy Montgomery's story, and it would be wrong to spoil them here, but it's certainly one of the strangest true crime stories in some time. The bright and sunny setting of suburban Texas in the 1980s doesn't feel like the location of a horrific murder, and the sweet-looking Candy Montgomery just doesn't seem like someone who could strike her neighbor 41 times with an ax. Whether or not the seven-episode miniseries works might hinge squarely on Olsen's shoulders because Candy is one tricky performance to pull off. We have to either empathize with her or enjoy hating her (or both!), and that can be very difficult to do when the character is both an adulterer and a murderer.
"Love & Death" premiered at the SXSW Film and TV Festival and received a fun hometown welcome (Atkinson and Bloom are Austin locals), but audiences everywhere can check out the first three episodes of the series on HBO Max on April 27, 2023. New episodes will premiere every Thursday until the finale on May 25.