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Nia DaCosta's Candyman is beautifully presented but falls just short of that perfect score

By Kenneth Ang - 20 Sep 2021

It's a gorgeous film

Image: MGM

For the record, I've never been big on horror films, and while that certainly isn't going to change any time soon, you shouldn't let my prejudices get in the way of appreciating Nia DaCosta's Candyman sequel. As a matter of fact, it's probably one of, if not the first slasher flick that I wouldn't mind watching again

Fundamentally, I think that the film is extremely well-presented, and no, it's not because the actual "slasher" component is ultra-gruesome and graphic (though it is). Rather, I say that from an artistic point of view, because amidst all the mirrors, hooks and gore, the Candyman series' underlying theme of highlighting racial injustice and discrimination comes through clear as day. Additionally, the movie even makes occasional use of shadow puppetry to help audiences visualise the Candyman concept and backstory, and it is this unorthodox yet oddly chilling method of presentation that I found compelling. 

 

Stock-taking

At its core, DaCosta's movie is a chronological sequel to the original Candyman film from 1992 by Bernard Rose, which was itself based on Clive Barker's short story called The Forbidden. As the title implies, the centrepiece tying all of the various film instalments together is an urban legend known as the Candyman, an apparition who takes the form of a gaunt, broad-shouldered black man in a weathered coat, sporting a sharp hook in place of his right hand. Much like the Bloody Mary legend that many folks are familiar with, the Candyman can apparently be summoned by reciting his name five times in front of a mirror, following which he will proceed to kill the person who did so by slashing them with his hook. 

Image: MGM

Delving into the film itself, the narrative centers around a young black artist named Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who is currently living in an apartment in the Cabrini Green estate with his girlfriend, art gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris). Although he's been doing pretty well so far, Anthony is having trouble finding inspiration for his latest exhibition, until a spooky story shared by Brianna's brother Troy (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) at a dinner party and a chance encounter with an older man piques his interest in the district's infamous Candyman legend.

After the latter shares his personal experience and knowledge about the supposed "Candyman" with Anthony, the excited artist resolves to portray the legend as a representation of anguish and injustice through his exhibition. Notably, he even dares exhibition guests to conduct the summoning ritual for themselves, believing it to be nothing more than an old wives' tale. 

However, after the exhibition, things start to take a grisly turn when people die mysteriously and in extremely gruesome fashion. As the number of victims pile up, Anthony and Brianna start to realise that the legend of the Candyman isn't just a spooky story, and little by little, the truth about the Candyman's origins as well as Anthony's role in propagating it starts to surface, with chilling consequences for everyone involved. 

 

The power of a good sucker-punch

Image: MGM

Now, as much as I'd like to reserve the best parts of the movie for you to discover on your own, there will still be several spoilers mentioned in this review for the purpose of providing context, though what I will say is that most of the movie's twists aren't exactly subtle to longtime fans of the series. 

Alright - the first point on the to-do list should already be something that you've figured out after reading the background of the Candyman. As the older man explains to Anthony later on in the movie, the Candyman was never an individual entity, or as the movie phrases it, "it's the whole damn hive". This is where the relevance of the bees is finally revealed, and for you as the audience to realise that the Candyman is actually a collective term. 

Although it sounds like a pretty dull twist when you read about it on paper, the way that the film set it up was actually very impressive, especially if you were unfamiliar with the Candyman before like I was. All the while, from the beginning of the show up till the older man's revelation, you're led to believe that the Candyman refers specifically to the angry spirit of Sherman Fields - a kind man from Cabrini Green who was beaten to death by the police after being accused of a crime he didn't commit, and who just happened to have a hook for a hand.

Of course, the film doesn't stop there. After dashing the jigsaw puzzle you thought you had completed into pieces, it adds more fuel to the fire by introducing the original Candyman, Daniel Robitaille. I'm not sure what the longtime fans think about it, but I personally loved how they set this one up, and as a treat, I'll even tell you that this isn't the only bit of information that gets turned on its head by the end of the movie! 

 

One step (or hook) at a time

Image: MGM

While I leave you to scratch your head as to what that might mean, let's talk about the pacing and presentation of the movie. Generally, it doesn't feel too fast or too slow, which is particularly impressive for a horror film too. After all, many other shows in the genre tend to dive into the scare-fest as quickly as possible, which doesn't leave much time for them to actually set up a competent premise, much less a good twist. However, Candyman isn't afraid to take its time somewhat, and yet it's also careful not to drop its entire payload at once. I don't think I need to spell out the importance of keeping your cards close to your chest here.

Accordingly, what results is a steady stream of information about the origins and significance of the Candyman, peppered with the usual murders that are staple of the slasher sub-genre. The movie does a good job of setting the mood and adjusting the environments to fit the flow of the narrative, or more specifically, Anthony's declining mental state. At the start of the show, the colours and environments used tend to be brighter and prioritise daytime sequences, but as the Candyman's reign of fear grips the cast, darker tones and themes, which are especially present in Anthony's increasingly macabre artworks start to take center stage alongside nighttime or stormy environments. 

This thematic shift adds points to the movie's presentation as a whole, and what's more impressive is that the chronological flow of the film still feels natural despite all of these background changes. Accordingly, Candyman is a surprisingly good example of how a movie can be resourceful with its environmental settings, and let's just say it's been rather successful because it made me...uncomfortably aware of mirrors and nighttime reflections for several days afterwards. 

 

The rust on the edge

Image: MGM

Finally, let's go over the coherence of the narrative, which is probably the only part I'm not completely sold on. 

However, don't get the wrong idea - I'm still pretty okay with how the storytelling aspect turned out in general, just that there are some things I wish the movie itself explained rather than having me read up on it afterwards in order to understand. Of course, being a gamer, I don't expect everything to always line up 100%. I'm fundamentally aware that some things don't have to make a lick of sense to be interesting (just look at Goat Simulator), but at the same time I felt this movie could have outdone itself if it filled in some of the logical gaps in its narrative.

For example, we all know how the Candyman basically slaughters anyone who performs the ritual, but by that token why does Brianna escape unharmed when she fulfills the condition towards the end? Or how nobody actually notices that Anthony's art, not to mention his injured hand is getting worse and worse as time wears on?

It's the little questions like these that keep the movie from being a flawless one, though most of them can be swept under the rug if you're just in it for the slasher bits and surprisingly excellent world-building. Although I would have liked to see some of these cleared up as I've mentioned before, I admit it's a small price to pay in exchange for having such stellar presentation and pacing across the board. 

 

Hook, line and sinker

Accordingly, Candyman is still an immensely entertaining movie, one that works just as well whether you're familiar with the "extended universe" or not. In fact, I think DaCosta deserves a solid round of applause for making the show so easy to appreciate, and I wouldn't be surprised if many other viewers went to read up on the Candyman lore after watching it.

Admittedly, there are some specks of rust on the narrative "hook", but none that really ruins the story outright. Most of the boxes that a good slasher flick needs to check off are already accounted for, and they've even managed to subtly weave in the underlying concepts of racial injustice and discrimination to boot. So, to cut a long story short, I never thought I'd see the day when I'd be willing to watch a horror movie for the second time, but that day is apparently today. It's got good pacing, gorgeous presentation, a largely coherent story and of course, a decent but reasonable amount of gore where needed - what more do you need?

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