Review: ‘Candyman’
Anchored by powerful performances from its excellent cast, Nia DaCosta’s Candyman is a smart, thrilling, terrifying and brutal experience that is a more than worthy successor to the 1992 original.
The horror movie landscape is filled to the brim with sequels, reboots and remakes. While some, like Fede Alvarez‘s excellent 2013 Evil Dead reboot, have managed to justify their existence by taking inspiration from the original to craft something more fresh and original for audiences, others, such as 2013’s Poltergeist remake, were practically dead on arrival, due to their failure to expand on the original, choosing to rehash some of the same themes, plotlines and exact scenes instead. Candyman, much like 2018’s Halloween sequel, is the rare “spiritual sequel” (as it is being referred to by the team behind the film) that builds from the original to bring something new and fresh to the table, while still honoring everything that came before it.
For as long as the residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood were terrorized by the word-of-mouth ghost story about the supernatural killer Daniel Robitaille, aka the Candyman, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In the present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, a visual artist named Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his girlfriend, an art gallery director named Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris), moved into a luxurious loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by the upwardly mobile millennials.
With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind the Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes the terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with his destiny.
On a surface level, Candyman is a technical and visual marvel, with director Nia DaCosta, alongside cinematographer John Guleserian, making use of camera angles, movements and unsettling imagery to create a truly immersive experience that will undoubtedly shock and unsettle even the most seasoned of horror fans. DaCosta is incredibly assured as only a second-time director, displaying the confidence and skillset of a filmmaker with decades of experience. She is undoubtedly the real deal, which shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, seeing as Marvel recently brought her on board to direct their upcoming Captain Marvel sequel.
Luckily, however, Candyman also has much more going on for it beneath its highly polished sheen, thanks to an incredibly strong script from DaCosta, producer Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfield. As equally interested in making its audience think as it is in making them squeamish, Candyman cycles through themes of gentrification, art, exploitation, social activism, police brutality and much more, dealing with each of them in a layered, nuanced manner that is sure to start conversations as soon as the credits roll. Candyman‘s only fault lies in its oftentimes frustrating pacing. As Candyman murders his victims one-by one, DaCosta weaves in and out of scenes of Anthony attempting to paint his next masterwork and Brianna discussing her future as an art gallery director with some industry figures, causing some of the kills to slightly lose their steam and impact.
However, Candyman thankfully also boasts a series of incredible performances that are worth the price of admission alone. Abdul Mateen II is fantastic as the complicated Anthony, turning in complex tightrope walk of a performance, perfectly capturing Anthony’s carefully constructed facade and charming demeanor before they both soon give way to a mesmerizing and intense showcase of fear, desperation and paranoia. Parris is incredibly charismatic as the poised and professional Brianna, delivering an impressive performance that easily allows for the audience to root for her character as she takes over in the film’s third act. Domingo and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, who plays Brianna’s brother, steal the show, however, with Stewart-Jarrett delivering every single hilarious line of his with aplomb and incredible comedic timing. Domingo, on the other hand, manages to imbue the film some much needed intensity and frenetic energy with a powerhouse of a performance as the man who may hold the key to Candyman’s secret origins.
Ultimately, Candyman is a bold, brutal and audacious experience, one that will leave audiences not only unsettled but also deep in thought for long after the final credits roll, while also cementing DaCosta’s status as an exciting new voice in the industry.
Rating 4.5/5
Candyman will be released in theaters on Friday, August 27, 2021.