The iconic Candyman is back. Can it still cause fear in viewers?
We live in an age when pop culture remakes well-known productions and serves us again. It was only a matter of time before a producer got down to a new version of Candyman - the horror movie that made noise in 1992.
Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is an artist who was recognized by the community as the voice of a generation. People raved about his art. However, that time has passed, and our hero desperately seeks inspiration to push him on the right track. Anthony wants to create a picture that shows racial inequality. Show the unfair class difference and how the white man tries to deprive the black community of Chicago of its identity. The problem, however, is that the people whose rights he wants to fight for do not live in slums anymore, but in nice neighborhoods with spacious apartments. The hero himself, living with his girlfriend Brianna (Teyonah Parris), basking in luxury. There is, however, a place in the Windy City that is shrouded in a dark legend of a man with a grappling hook in place of his hand who once murdered people in the Cabrini-Green estate. In order for this murderer to reveal himself, his name must be said five times in front of the mirror. And his name is Candyman. Despite the fact that modern African American society does not believe in such fairy tales, it is nevertheless in vain to find a daredevil who will pronounce his name more than four times.
Producer and co-writer Jordan Peele and director Nia DaCosta made the story pretty well by plugging it directly into the Bernard Rose original. Well, if you watched the 1992 version, you probably remember that Helen saved a baby named Anthony from a fire. The similarity of names is not accidental, he is the main protagonist of the new version. He's not even aware of what happened to him once. Not only that, the creators are trying hard to convince us that the title Candyman is an urban legend told to naughty children to scare them. The legend of this murderer is gaining momentum every year. DaCosta and Peele have long kept us in the dark whether the famous Candyman will even appear. During the first part of the film, they try their best not to show it and deceive the viewer by the nose.
Nia DaCosta plays with the genre, holding the story tightly and not letting it slip for a minute. Due to the fact that this is a signature production also named after Peele, the viewer automatically knows that it will have a specific message. So it is a story of humiliation and social inequality that has touched and continues to do with African Americans in the United States. Although we do not see white policemen abusing black citizens on the screen, the tension between them is very palpable. The title Candyman is the embodiment of wrongs and a walking desire for revenge for years of oppression. It is a force that accumulated all the time to finally strike with the power of the bees. The choice of these insects was not accidental here. Unfortunately, retaliation affects everyone. It does not distinguish between skin color or social affiliation.
Everything matters at Candyman. The mirrors people face to say five times the name of this horrible murderer are meant to be a reflection for African Americans. They mobilize them not to forget their past wrongs. The wounds are not meant to heal. They are to be scratched, like a bite on Anthony's hand, and those responsible must be punished. Some grievances must not be forgotten, even ten or twenty years after them. Importantly, DeCosta and Peele know that the film's overly serious tone will kill its potential, so they keep putting on spectacular and entertaining scenes to sometimes drop some of that seriousness. After all, this is a horror movie that is supposed to make us jump on the armchair in fear and cover our eyes in panic. And it does. The director perfectly selects the proportions and guides the actors so that fans of the genre are not disappointed, and the critics do not accuse her of just hooking up to a well-known brand.
Horror fans will surely be delighted that DeCosta shows each murder in a very brutal and bloody way. He does not run away with the camera somewhere on a blood-splashed wall or armchair. In my opinion, Tony Todd couldn't have dreamed of a better return to Candyman's character. Such returns to well-known series usually end in a fiasco, fortunately not this time.
