Brick School Board Candidate Under Fire Over Sexual Horror Films

BRICK, NJ — An actor from Brick Township who is running for the Board of Education and the minister who is his running mate are coming under fire from parents for the actor's ties to horror films that include sexual content. That includes an upcoming release that highlights two infamous 1970s serial killers who raped and murdered boys.

Edward X. Young, who writes, directs and stars in a number of independent horror films, is running with Rob Canfield, a local minister, for two of the three seats that are up for grabs in the Nov. 6 election.

Young has more than 60 acting credits, according to his profile in the internet movie database, IMDB.com. Many of those credits are for independent horror films with titles like "Hate's Haunted Slay Ride," "Paranormal Captivity" and "Super Hell 3: Dreams of Horror." But it's some more recent titles — including some in post-production — that have parents speaking out because of content that includes violent and sexual content and descriptions of child rape.

Patch attempted to reach Young through social media and through the director of one of the films he has starred in. Those efforts have not yet received a reply.

"I knew Ed was an actor and Republican when we decided to pool resources," Canfield said by email, "but I had never seen any of Ed's films. As a minister I find these horror films to be very distasteful."

Some residents who contacted Patch called the videos "scary," "disturbing" and "horrifying."

"In my opinion, this man should not be in a position to be making decisions impacting the children, staff and taxpayers of Brick," said Pat Masiello in an email sent to Patch on a hidden distribution list. "Maybe Mr. Young calls these videos 'artistic.' but as far as I am concerned, Mr. Young should not be allowed within 1000 feet of any school, let alone on the Brick School Board."

Canfield, however, said he felt the films were far less concerning than what he alleges is "pay-to-play activities" on the part of school board president Stephanie Wohlrab, who is seeking re-election to a second term and whom Canfield is trying to unseat.

"As a taxpayer I find Ms. Wohlrab's pay-to-play activities deeply disturbing!" Canfield said. "Taking donations and paying yourself consulting fees from them, while simultaneously awarding contracts to those donors is highly unethical and possibly illegal!"

His remarks referenced a Brick Shorebeat report about donations from the district's insurance carrier to a so-called Super PAC that Wohlrab is paid to manage.

"The PAC is completely unconnected to my position on the school board," Wohlrab said in an emailed statement to Patch. "I am only the treasurer of the fund and do not make decisions on how money is spent. The questioned donations are part of a public record report disclosed by the PAC. These donations were not solicited by me. To suggest otherwise is simply false."

On Sunday, social media exploded over a report by the New Jersey Globe about Young's films, with parents circulating links and photos from movie promotional materials. The Globe, operated by David Wildstein, labeled at least one film as a "softcore pornographic movie" and called Young a porn star.

One link shared by the Globe was to a short film on YouTube titled "Macabre Faire Presents Edward X. Young." Young wrote and directed the film in addition to starring in it. The plot is about a prostitute who is kidnapped and beaten and exacts revenge on her captors with the help of a wizard and what the Globe labeled a satanic ritual. It includes scenes showing Young snorting what is supposed to be cocaine, and beating and torturing the kidnapped woman.

A second title that has drawn outrage is titled "Bigfoot: Blood Trap." It is not listed in Young's IMDB credits but the Globe report said it is set to be released "soon." Promotional materials for that movie show Young walking in the woods with two naked women in chains. Photos sent to Patch show full frontal nudity of one woman chained to a table, and other similar images. The movie's self description is that it's "a love story."

A third film titled, "The Killer Clown Meets The Candy Man" is a "semi-historically accurate dark comedic tale of horror" based on the premise of what might have happened if notorious 1970s child serial killers John Wayne Gacy and Dean Corll had met. That film, written and directed by independent filmmaker Pete Jacelone, was highlighted at the Chiller Theater event in Parsippany over the weekend.

Gacy was given the nickname the Killer Clown because he entertained at children's parties dressed as a clown; he raped and killed 33 boys and young men in the Chicago area from 1972 to 1978, and was executed for his crimes in May 1994, according to CrimeMagazine.com. Corll raped and killed at least 28 teenage boys and young men from 1970 to 1973 in the Houston area, when he was shot and killed by one of his young accomplices. He was nicknamed "the Candy Man" because he had run his mother's candy factory and met several of his victims there, according to the site allthatsinteresting.com.

The story line for the Killer Clown-Candy Man movie has the two killers — Young stars as Corll — meeting by chance in Chicago and joining forces on a teenage victim, with the two telling stories of how they got "innocent male teenage victims whom they both enjoyed molesting, torturing and killing," according to Jacelone's description.

Canfield ran for mayor in Brick last year in an attempt to unseat John G. Ducey. He has lived in Brick since 2002 and attended Veterans Memorial Middle School for three years and high school at Calvary Academy, according to his campaign's Facebook page. He has been involved with youth ministry for several years, currently at Glad Tidings Assembly in Tinton Falls and is working on his doctorate in divinity from Liberty University. He is a pastor through the Assemblies of God USA.

After running as an independent last year, Canfield joined the Republican Party earlier this year, according to a post on his campaign's Facebook page. He is campaigning on a promise to lower school taxes and of fiscal responsibility.

Canfield has repeatedly attacked Wohlrab since the Shorebeat report was published, and reiterated his call for her to step down in a campaign flyer that was paid for by the Brick Republican Club and sent to Brick voters last week.

"I asked the Republican club to sponsor a letter from me about Ms. Wohlrab's unethical activities, and there is nothing improper about them paying for it," Canfield said.

School board elections are supposed to be nonpartisan, which is why election ballots do not include the political party of school board candidates on them. It is not clear from reading state information whether a flier paid for by a political party violates any New Jersey election laws.

Wohlrab is a professional campaign fundraiser for Democrats and manages a Super PAC called "America’s Urban Future." The district's insurance broker, Fairview Associates, hired in January 2016, has made donations to that Super PAC. Shorebeat reported Wohlrab was a campaign fundraiser Robert Menendez; she said she worked for Menendez when he first ran for the Senate in 2006 and has not worked for him since shortly after he took office.

Here is Young being interviewed on television:

Click here to get Patch email notifications on this or other local news articles or get Patch breaking news alerts sent right to your phone with our app. Download here. Have a news tip? Email karen.wall@patch.com

Follow us on Facebook. Click here to like our page.

Photo via YouTube of Edward X. Young