Candyman review

CANDYMAN:

1992 HORROR CLASSIC GETS A VERY FRIGHTENING UPDATE! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: *** out of 4

UNIVERSAL PICTURES AND MGM

Candyman…Candyman…Candyman…Candyman…Candyman

 

            The horrifying Candyman legend has been reborn in this update of the 1992 horror film of the same name. This new take on Candyman is directed by Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, The Marvels) and produced by Jordan Peele (Key & Peele, Get Out, Us) under his Monkeypaw Productions studio. 

            There was a lot of hype for this movie, it was originally supposed to be released in 2020 and even had a trailer shown before The Invisible Man but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was finally given a release in August 2021. I actually watched the original 1992 film for the first-time last night in preparation for this review and I have to say, it holds up extremely well almost 30 years later, the character has sort of a Boogeyman or Freddy Krueger vibe and very much like another movie I just reviewed, The Night House it’s hard to tell if what’s happening is real or if it’s all in the characters’ imaginations. 

            It really is a horrifying movie, I can’t think of anything scarier than a creepy guy covered in bees with a hook hand who gives candy with razor blades in them to kids, and then kills you. You know the term “Don’t take candy from strangers”? This is why!

            Now we have this new Candyman film that expands upon the character’s mythology and takes a more visually thrilling and sharp-witted approach, the result is one creepy as Hell but very entertaining Candyman! It’s too early for me to choose which one I liked the most since I just watched the first one last night, but I will say this is how you update a classic horror/slasher character properly. 

            The film follows visual artist, Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II-Watchmen (TV series), Us, The Trial of the Chicago 7) living in Chicago with his girlfriend, Brianna (Teyonah Parris-Mad Men, If Beale Street Could Talk, WandaVision). However, when Anthony learns about the legend about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand that lures kids into his traps with candy (Some even with razor blades inside the candy), he becomes obsessed with the Candyman (Tony Todd-Star Trek franchise, Final Destination franchise, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, reprising his role from the original films) and makes the “brilliant” decision of summoning him by saying his name five times in a mirror…bad idea! 

            Anthony unintentionally unleashes a terrifying wave of violence onto the city that puts him on a collision course with destiny as he discovers that he may have more of a connection with Candyman than he thought. 

            The film also stars Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Misfits, Utopia, The Kid Who Would Be King) as Troy, Colman Domingo (Lincoln, Selma, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) as William Burke, Vanessa Williams (Melrose Place, Murder One, Chicago Hope) reprising her role from the first film as Anne-Marie McCoy, Rebecca Spence (Public Enemies, Contagion, Man of Steel) as Finley Stephens, and Carl Clemons-Hopkins (Canal Street, Chicago Med, Hacks) as Jameson. 

            Overall, this new take on Candyman is a worthy follow-up to the original film that explores more about the myth behind the Candyman himself, and given that it’s a Jordan Peele project (Granted, a producing one!), has some timely and thought-provoking themes worked into it. This one takes the Halloween (2018) approach and serves as a direct sequel to the first film and supposedly ignoring any continuity from the other sequels (As far as I know, I’ve never seen the Candyman sequels). 

            What I really like about this film are the scenes where a character is giving the backstory of Candyman and it’s told with these little paper puppets and lights, I thought that was a very clever and interesting way to tell the legend, it also reminded me a lot of the scene in Krampus where the grandma tells the story of Krampus and it’s done in a stop-motion animation style, I love it when horror movies do things like this, both visually pleasing but also unsettling at the same time. 

            The acting is also phenomenal with Tony Todd, once again killing it (literally) as the Candyman and Abdul-Mateen II practically going full Jack Torrance while trying to uncover the secrets behind the Candyman. Yahya is fantastic in this movie and in my opinion could give Candyman a run for his…candy, he does an excellent job being both funny and creepy as he slowly descends into madness. 

            If I had to point out some flaws with this movie, it’d be the supporting cast and some of the pacing. The actors all do an excellent job portraying their characters, but there are a few side characters that aren’t that well-developed, a couple of examples include a girl in high school who convinced other girls in the bathroom to summon the Candyman, I thought she would have played a pivotal part in the film since that exact same scene is featured in the trailer, but by the end she pretty much disappears from the entire film. 

            Another small nitpick I have is regarding some of the pacing, most notably some of the flashbacks involving the main characters as kids. It feels like a scene that the filmmakers had no idea where to put it, so they just threw it in at some random time, it isn’t essential to the plot and probably could have been cut. 

            Candyman is a terrifying if not a bit uneven update on a classic horror icon that fans of the first film, Jordan Peele, or Nia DaCosta will flock to the theater to see. It’s got blood, bees, and…more blood what more can I say but…Candyman…Candyman…Candyman…Candyman…Candyman!