4.5/5
“Tell… everyone.”
“Candyman” is the best horror film of the year and the biggest surprise of 2021, to be completely frank.
Director Nia DaCosta’s incarnation of “Candyman” is one heck of a modern horror film. It’s a visually stunning, thematically relevant bloody romp that I found myself loving, especially after the ominous opening titles featuring the skyscrapers of Chicago inverted and hidden by fog.
Produced by Jordan Peele’s company Monkeypaw Productions, this film serves as a direct sequel/soft reboot to the original 1992 film by Bernard Rose, based on Clive Barker’s short story. It tells the story of visual artist Anthony McCoy, who centers his next piece on the gentrification of the Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago. While researching, he comes across a macabre urban legend about a hook-handed ghost known as Candyman, who can be summoned if you say his name five times into a mirror. Misguided by his ambitions and destiny, Anthony says his name and unleashes a gruesome wave of violence as his sanity spirals.
While the film is not exactly scary per se, I developed goosebumps multiple times, leaving me thoroughly disturbed with the imagery onscreen. However, if you have trypophobia (the fear of irregular patterns or small holes) then you’re going to have an unpleasant viewing experience.
In all honesty though, the scariest part of “Candyman” is how it depicts the horrors that we project upon society, which run parallel to the horror stories we pass down generation after generation. In essence, the message of the Candyman legend is how violence and pain must not be forgotten and shoved to the side. They cannot be misremembered or ignored because then myth will prevail over truth. That pain becomes violent retribution, and ultimately, the cycle will never end from one generation to the next, each with a new horrific face.
“Candyman” stuffs much of its brisk 90 minute runtime with these themes of racial trauma and violence, and while it may come across heavy-handed, it works well.
DaCosta’s direction is sublime, and she imbues this film with full gravitas from behind the camera. Barring James Wan’s “Malignant,” the film has some of the cleanest, eeriest camerawork in horror films, thanks to director of photography John Guleserian (who also shot Netflix’s gender-swapped remake of “He’s All That,” starring Addison Rae). The central performances from Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony, Teyonah Parris, Colman Domingo, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Vanessa Williams and, of course, Tony Todd are also terrific, with Mateen II delivering a truly compelling lead performance.
I seriously cannot believe how much I loved ”Candyman” after not enjoying the first one all that much, although a rewatch is required for me after seeing this iteration. It’s simply excellent, with strong performances, fantastic cinematography, a chilling score by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe and a powerful message about racial trauma & gentrification.
Dare to say his name.