‘Candyman’ Review: 2021’s Biggest Disappointment
Though the original Candyman from 1992 never reached the status as Jason from Friday the 13th or Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street, he’s still a pretty iconic character. When I heard that a new film in the franchise was getting made with Jordan Peele involved, my interest was certainly piqued. We’ve seen disastrous remakes and sequels to so many horror franchises over the last decade but this felt different as Candyman only has one sequel.
The latest Candyman movie has received a ton of hype. As of right now, it’s sitting at 85% on Rotten Tomatoes and word of mouth has been strong online. Unfortunately, I’m here to burst your bubble. The film is mainly about Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Anthony McCoy, who lives in Chicago and is an up-and-coming artist. Early in the film, he shows his girlfriend a new piece that depicts a violent act. She essentially tells him that it’s very blunt and on the nose. That was foreshadowing for the rest of the movie.
Social commentary is nothing new to horror films. Many of the best ones have overarching political messages. However, Seth Brundle in The Fly never turns to the camera and starts talking about the AIDS crisis of the 80s (many interpret The Fly to be about the AIDS crisis). While Peele is never subtle about his political messaging in Get Out or Us, you at least have to think a little bit to get what those films are about. That isn’t the case with Candyman. The film is a commentary about gentrification in urban areas, white supremacy and police brutality against Black people in America. You know how I know this? Candyman makes it abundantly clear in several instances.
Candyman should be a movie about these topics. The first one was certainly ripe with social commentary. Director Nia DaCosta handles this subject matter with the subtly of a kick in the face. She does have skill as a director. There are some really fun horror set-pieces and creepy moments. Abdul-Mateen is a superstar in the making but DaCosta loses interest in his character far too often. There’s just a lot in the movie that seems unnecessary to the plot. Pretty much everything that has to do with art doesn’t actually have much to do with how the film is resolved.
Also, the ending is baffling. There are so many ways that they could’ve gone about filming the climactic scene but it’s just so hamfisted. Candyman is not a terrible movie but it just feels like it could’ve been so much better. DaCosta is a decent director but the script she co-wrote with Peele and Win Rosenfeld is truly bad. It feels very disjointed and so many scenes feel unnecessary in the end. What I will say is that though the movie is frustrating, I was consistently engaged. I was disappointed with the end result but I certainly wasn’t bored. It’s just a shame that it wasn’t a better script as I think we could’ve had a seriously awesome horror movie on our hands.
