Movie Reaction: Candyman

Formula: (Candyman + 29 Years) * Velvet Buzzsaw

 

Horror sequels are a funny thing. I can't think of another genre that regularly decides which sequels it will and won't pay attention to. It's not like Star Wars wrote off the prequels before The Force Awakens or Die Hard is like “With a Vengeance never happened”. Superhero franchises are a little confusing in that they regularly reboot and sample larger cinematic universes. At any moment, the next Batman could be a new thing entirely or tied into some other D.C. movie. But horror is the main genre that just says “only pay attention to parts 1 and 2. Ignore the rest”. Halloween has done this a lot. When the 2018 movie came out, there was even a helpful chart made to keep it straight. This Candyman sequel does this as well. This new Candyman movie is a direct sequel to the 1992 original and ignores (rightly, from what I hear) the two forgettable sequels made in the 90s.

 

This new Candyman does stand on its own. You can go in with no knowledge of the first movie. They summarize what you need to know about the original well with really creepy shadow puppet sequences in the movie. The movie effectively tells the story of Anthony McCoy, who is an artist living in the now gentrified Cabrini-Green neighborhood in Chicago. After he hears the story of the original movie at a dinner party as an urban legend, he decided to investigate it as the inspiration for his new art series. This leads him to the mostly forgotten legend of the Candyman. He was a man killed by police for a crime he didn’t commit. Now, if you say his name 5 times in a mirror, he comes back to kill you. Anthony’s art exhibit on it then causes a resurgence in Candyman murders and at the same time, he’s being personally terrorized by the Candyman.

 

If you know the original film well, you’ll recognize the parts of the retelling of the story in this one that are inaccurate. You’ll also recognize immediately that Anthony is the baby from the first movie. That is not remotely hidden. You don’t need to know that to appreciate the movie, but it definitely adds some nice depth to it. In ways like that, this movie exists as both a remake and a sequel. One of the lessons of the movie is that the thing that give legends their power is being passed down, so it’s very fitting that this somewhat forgotten franchise from 30 years ago gains meaning from retelling it.

 

I don’t remember the original movie that well. I forget how aware it was of the fact that it’s about a white grad student doing cultural anthropology in a mostly black housing project. That’s not great. This movie is definitely better about that. Black filmmaker. Black cast. There’s no gawking feel to the movie. Candyman is a response to a collective trauma shared by a community. The movie does a great job examining that in a way that feels timely while still being an enjoyable psychological horror movie. The Candyman franchise at its best is quite interesting in that it’s not quite a slasher and not quite a fable. It has elements of both. It’s a brain-breaker yet Candyman still finds time to hack a few people to death. Director Nia Dacosta doesn’t resort to jump scares much. She’s pretty matter-of-fact with the violence. She doesn’t always revel in the violence. She’ll often show it from a distance or through another person’s reaction to it. I’m not as crazy about her treatment of the art world in the movie. She goes after the pretention, phoniness, and opportunism of it in ways that weren’t as incisive as the cultural commentary. Despite being the new angle of this installment, it didn’t feel very fresh. Anthony could’ve just as easily been a reporter and the things I liked about the movie would all be intact.

 

This is one of those movies where the cast kind of feels secondary. Yahta Abdul-Mateen II is good as Anthony yet if he was left out of a sequel, I wouldn’t feel deprived. Same with Teyonah Parris. I like her as Anthony’s girlfriend who doesn’t know how to handle his mental breakdown. She isn’t vital to it working though. The person who makes the biggest impression is Coleman Domingo as the carrier of the Candyman legend. That dude has presence. I could listen to his gravelly voice explain local folklore to me for hours. I also have to say that Vanessa Williams as Anthony’s mother has one of my favorite reaction shots ever. It’s that moment used in all the previews when Anthony says ‘Candyman’ in front of her and she shuts it down. I’d love to know how specifically that was directed. She does about 5 different things in about 1 second that come together perfectly. It’s funny yet still captures how seriously she takes the threat.

 

I enjoyed the movie overall. What set it over though was actually the end credits. We hear throughout the movie that Candyman is a repetitive cycle of wrongly accused black men getting persecuted by society. We hear parts of the stories in the movie. During the credits, it uses the creepy shadow puppets to tell all the different stories wordlessly over simple, haunting music. It entranced me and left me with the perfect uneasy feeling when I left the theater.

 

Verdict: Strongly Recommend