STARRING: YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II, TEYONAH PARRIS, NAHAN STEWART-JARRETT, COLMAN DOMINGO, VANESSA WILLIAMS, REBECCA SPENCE, AND TONY TODD
DIRECTOR: NIA DACOSTA
DATE: AUGUST 27TH, 2021
The Candyman franchise has released its fourth installment of the cult favorite. The original film debuted in 1992 grossing over $25.8 million at the box office but sadly the films that followed, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1985) and Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999) didn’t fare as well only accumulating a fraction of the original movie’s gross. Since its release on August 27th the latest version of the film has racked in $73.3 million worldwide at the box office. The Horror film, which has a run time of 1 hour and 31 minutes, has Jordan Peele as its executive producer, and being know as the new ‘King of Horror’ in Hollywood, the film promises to keep the viewers on the edge of their seats.
Candyman is oversaturated with political commentary that, at times, was exhausting to watch. It’s as though the film was attempting to educate the audience on every social injustice that has ever occurred and offers its solution on how to fix it. The plot stuck to the original movie somewhat which left me questioning the many shortcomings within the script.
The film follows Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) as a struggling artist who is desperately searching for a muse to excite his creative juices. One day while seeking inspiration in the old Cabrini-Green Housing Project he encounters William Burke (Colman Domingo) who befriends him and begins telling him about the legend of the Candyman, who in this adaptation is Sherman Fields (Michael Hargrove).
Once he finds his motivation within the Candyman legend, McCoy becomes obsessed with it by doing painstaking research and illustrating dark, horrifying paintings. He isolates himself from everyone and begins a physical and psychological transformation that will leave the audience stunned.
Peele and director Nia DaCosta found a way to subtly inject racial strife into a Horror film. It projects the unjustness that is occurring currently within the United States just as it did in the original film. Candyman represents the rage of African Americans who wish to find ways to fight back using their artistic gifts as a tool for justice.
There were a few key aspects that made the movie somewhat tolerable which were the visually aesthetically pleasing shadow puppet shows which told several key backstories of the characters. One character who gave the movie life when it dragged from one scene to the next was Troy Cartwright (Nathan Stewart-Jarret) who was the ultimate comedy relief.
Candyman will definitely not be winning any Oscars nor should there be any more sequels but it does entertain and cater to a certain audience who may find it appealing.
