When looking at classic horror villains, few are as iconic as Tony Todd's Candyman. Released in 1992, the film went onto becoming a contemporary cult-classic with it spawning a total of four sequels with the latest positioning itself as being a direct follow-up to the original while ignoring the ones in-between. The newest Candyman aims to bring the story to a more modernized setting, along with deepening the main characters mythology. While it never exceeds the scariness of the first and boasts an uneven tone, the newest Candyman offers enough visceral thrills for audiences to make it a generally satisfying experience.
Serving as a direct sequel to the original, Candyman's plot focuses on an artist ( Yahya Abdul-Mateen ll) exploring the macabre history of Candyman, an urban legend ghost who terrorizes the housing projects of Cabrini-Green Chicago. His exploring of the urban legend slowly unravels his sanity, unleashing a terrifying wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny. Candyman's plot gives the franchise a makeover which gives it relevance to today's world, while retaining the original's creepiness. With that film, there was a genuine thrill present regarding the concept of a ghost who waits for his name to be chanted five times before making his kill. The newest sequel is observant of the original's cult status and molds its story to be the definitive follow-up, while doing its own thing with the inclusion of previous key characters. Although it carries pacing issues, there's enough solid tension present along with brilliant performances and well-staged scares to make it a thoroughly well made sequel that stands as being the strongest since the original.
The cast of Candyman delivers fine work with its main lead Yahya Abdul-Mateen ll putting in a terrific performance as visual artist Anthony McCoy, who becomes obsessed with the Candyman legend along with his character having a direct connection to the originals plot. Mateen ll commands the screen with his character conveying the sheer terror of the story, as well as showing his characters obsession with the legend. Teyonah Parris impresses as Anthony's girlfriend Brianna, whose also revealed to be an art gallery director. Colman Domingo proves highly-effective in a scene-stealing performance as Cabrini-Green resident Billy, who informs Anthony about the Candyman's legend. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett does well with making the most of his part as Brianna's brother Troy. Other noteworthy performances include Vanessa Williams reprising her role from the first as Anthony's estranged mother Anne-Marie McCoy. Despite her role being minimal, she helps with bridging the two stories together while keeping her character consistent. Michael Hargrove is effectively creepy as the Sherman Fields/Candyman shown throughout the film with Tony Todd making a surprise cameo that's bound to thrill fans. As a whole, the acting in Candyman plays a significant part in maintaining both its suspense and tension.
The directing by Nia DaCosta is surprisingly well-executed with her demonstrating strong skill in crafting effective suspense, along with keeping tension steadily building. She gives the films atmosphere both a look and style that's similar to a Jordan Peele film, while demonstrating a uniquely creative approach with using silhouette puppets to illustrate flashbacks. The films score does well with echoing Philip Glass' work on the original with the violence consisting of heavy gore, stabbings, throat slashing, and a gross hand wound creeping up to the rest of the body in a style that's downright chilling. The film also carries disturbing sequences including one in which a character witnesses her father committing suicide by jumping from a high window. Whereas the film works visually, it finds itself struggling in regards to its editing with the first half starting off well with the characters being reasonably established, then becomes problematic within it's second with the climax ultimately feeling underwhelming despite a cleverly final scene. Despite these issues, DaCosta delivers a horror story that's well-crafted, along with possessing a more serious tone than its predecessor.
The writing for Candyman takes a progressive approach with its concept, most notably with bringing it into the Black Lives Matter era. The script tackles themes pertaining to gentrification, disenfranchisement, racism, creative inspiration, art criticism, murder, and suicide which gives its story relevance while incorporating the demonology aspects of the original. The writing drives home the message that racial justice can beget acts of violence in addition to sustaining horrific legends. Some of the more interesting questions posed by the script include whether artists are truly creators or just replicating history, as well as begging the question of whether location plays into the identity of Black residents, particularly areas that are acknowledged as being both designed and built by white people. These are interesting angles that the film pursues along with characters the audience can become connected to. It could be argued however that the film leans too heavily on exploring its themes rather than embracing the camp nature of the originals plot, yet it still manages to be both thought-provoking and terrifying.
As noble as its efforts are in bringing awareness to the issues the film touches on, Candyman struggles in its balancing of both horror and seriousness. The original worked because it played like a straight Nightmare On Elm Street type horror film that had the right balance of realism and excitement. There's no denying that DaCosta has a point she wants to make with the story and does an admirable job of doing so, but one wonders if that intent devoids the sequel of the originals level of fun and campiness. Her passion for wanting to bring this story to the screen is visible, as well as wanting to honor what's already been established while taking the mythology in a powerful new direction that's aware of the world surrounding it. If there's one thing that the new Candyman demonstrates, it's showing the power of art and storytelling that makes it an honorable follow-up to the original classic.
Final Verdict: Stream It
Images Courtesy Of Universal Pictures
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