Okay, spoiler tags, now. Don't say I didn't warn you. If you've seen the movie, I'd love to discuss it's pertinence to Shadowrun within spoiler tags so that those who want to enjoy it to its fullest can do so.

Hard Candy is best described as Surburban Shadowrun. It isn't big crime for big money. There are no gunfights and there is no breaking and entering, no robbery either.It is, instead, the story of a perfect wetwork operation against a normal person. It starts out like a chick movie. A 14 year old female talks to a guy online and they meet at a coffe shop. He's a 34-year-old photographer but the creepiness of the age differents quickly fades away. While there is some flirtatious talk, he acts as the perfect gentleman and is very clear about what will not be happening until she is over the age of consent. She continues to come onto him and insists that they go back to his place so that she can get a copy of a Goldfrapp concert that he recorded. When he offers her a glass of water she says that she was told never to drink something she didn't pour herself and proceeds to make herself a screwdriver, and one for him, as well. She then insists that he take some photographs of her, which he does while still remaining a perfect gentleman until he passes out due to the drug that she put in his drink.

What happens next is the single most psychologically violent movie that I've ever seen, and I'm seen some doozies. It contains a level of mental torture that no slasher flick could ever dream of approaching. As an audience member, one cannot help but feel for the victim. As the torture progresses, we learn about his lost love, his abusive aunt, and his career as a photographer. We also learn about his other photograph collection, one far less savory that the works he hangs on his walls, and we learn about his connection to a disappearance. Still, it is highly ambiguous.
He is a nice guy by all appearances, a victim, one with illegal pictures in a hidden wallsafe, but a victim nonetheless. She, on the other hand, presents herself as an avenger throughout her the torture, laying the blame for everything that happens squarely onto him and pointing out his every little flaw. Her strength, her intelligence, her cuteness, and her apparent righteousness make it difficult not to root for her, as well, up to a point. here is one moment where every man in the audience will be against her, certainly. It is impossible to watch that scene without felling the anxiety or doing to self-check just to be sure.
But, we know nothing about her. All we know is that every word she has said is a lie, she has planned everything from the beginning and intentionally used false details to distance herself from the operation. She is, the consummate professional. She controls the situation from the very begining, manipulates everything to serve her propose. She even manipulates her victim, first to make him suffer as much as is possible, and then to convince him that the only way to end his suffering is suicide. And in the end, she leave behind no evidence that is was anything but a suicide, the perfect murder, but we still don't know if she was a hired professional, a friend or loved one of the missing girl, or simply a serial killer who is far more evil than her victim could ever be. All we do know for sure is that she hates Goldfrapp.

And if there were an Oscar for best castration scene, this film would have won it.