Director: Nia DaCosta
Notable Cast: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris,
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, Kyle Kaminsky, Vanessa Williams, Brian
King, Miriam Moss, Rebecca Spence
The original Candyman was a seminal part of my
childhood and my growth as a horror fan. It was a staple of our weekly video
store rentals as a family and watching it as an 8-year-old certainly elevated
my love of horror. It’s a film that makes it into my rotation on a yearly basis
and one that I still uphold as one of the iconic horror films to push the genre
forward, particularly in 1992. The first set of sequels, however, sincerely
fail to recapture so much of the original’s brilliance, although each one
certainly tries to embed their stories with their own take on social
commentary. They just lose a substantial amount of the themes and storytelling
as they move further into generic slasher territory.
The latest sequel, Candyman, following the titling
scheme of the 2018 Halloween sequel, ignores Candyman 2 and 3 (Farewell
to the Flesh and Day of the Dead respectively) to go back to what
made the original one such an iconic horror film. The film is intentionally
engrossed with taking the Candyman lore, expanding it, and deepening its
engagement with the racial and social commentaries from the original and
pushing them into a new century. It’s also a film that doubles down on the
horror elements, moving further from the inherent sadness and gothic romance of
its predecessor, and kicking the supernatural slasher elements to the
forefront. The combination proves impressively buzzworthy, carrying quite the
sting, and providing an instant classic that brings the mythological ghostly
legend to the modern age.