IS IT STILL RELEVANT: CANDYMAN (2021)

Jason continues his discourse on the Blacksploitation films that led to SINNERS, and follows up last week’s edition with comments on the 2021 reboot/remake/relaunch/legacy sequel to CANDYMAN.

Candyman is not an easy film to follow up, with its high quality script, acting and brilliant storyline, as we saw in the two sequels that followed that chose to follow a more traditional stalker horror movie path with disappointing final results, so when it was announced that a follow up was coming almost thirty years after the first, that it would be a direct sequel to the original and that Jordan Peele was attached, excitement and nervousness were neck and neck with each other in the anticipation of its eventual release.

And let me tell you, it was worth every second of the wait.

It begins in a familiar setting. A young boy living in Cabrini-Green in the seventies going to do laundry, when he finds himself face to face with a hook-handed individual with a handful of candy. However, it’s here that the story begins to divert from what we know, and to form its own identity, one that speaks less of the monster we know, and more of the circumstances that gave birth to that monster. When we see that child walk away from the man unscathed, only to watch seconds later as police fill the room and begin an assault on him that ends with him dead, we know that no matter how familiar the franchise might be, we are in for something brand new, although one with no less bloodshed than we would expect from a Candyman film.

In this iteration, Candyman isn’t a person, although the one that we are most familiar with, Daniel Robitaille, is a part of the history, but is more of a legacy, an avenging spirit of retribution that manifests itself in the bodies of black men that have been wronged by society, and he serves as both a boogieman and protector of the gentrified neighborhood that he haunts. While it would be easy in the midst of exploring such a real world horror to forget to invest in the more metaphysical horror, this film manages to blend the two together expertly, so it never becomes overly preachy or heavy-handed, but instead uses reality to boost the supernatural, grounding the film and in turn making it that much more terrifying.

The story focuses on an artist who learns the legend of Candyman, and begins an obsessive journey to uncover the truth while simultaneously using the stories to create his next wave of pieces, beginning with a few paintings hidden behind a mirror, challenging the patrons of the gallery to say the name of Candyman five times as part of the exhibit, which of course ends exactly as you think it would. However, as the bodies pile up, he also begins to notice changes happening within him, and it becomes a race to uncover the truth before he finds himself consumed by a legend.

This film utilizes several techniques to really push the horror, the most effective being the creation of entire worlds in shadow puppetry, which becomes even more horrific over the closing credits where it’s used to reenact the tragic stories of Anthony Crawford, James Byrd Jr., and George Stinney interspersed with the film characters that we’ve come to know, including the joy of getting a brief return of Tony Todd to the role that he helped to immortalize. These images become even more relevant in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, and the realization of a large portion of the world that while horror is fun to watch in the relative safety of one’s home, there are very real horrors that exist in this world, and they very unfairly target those among us who have a darker tone of skin, and that no matter how innocent that person may be, there are a lot of individuals that would never accept that and are actively looking for reasons to create conflict in their lives. However well it showcases this, I cannot imagine that it even begins to scratch the surface of the terror that many live in on a daily basis, based on nothing more than their appearance.

As fear inducing as the real-world horrors are, they manage to stand shoulder to shoulder with the more fantastic elements of violence in the film, with the infamous hook tearing apart necks, stomachs, and being used to drag people to their untimely demise in such a way guaranteed to please any horror fan, and there are no shortage of victims in this film, with one scene alone almost featuring as many deaths than the entirety of the first film, and displaying them in a far more graphic way, so watching this not only helps one to become more socially aware of very real issues, but also should manage to bring joy to the gorehounds out there in the world.

So this one gets my highest recommendation, and works brilliantly as a double feature with the first, allowing one to fully take in the beginning, and as this is typed, the end of an amazing story, a necessary piece of horror history, and my personal favorite entry in the world of black horror cinema. If you haven’t experienced this film, it’s my suggestion that you get on it as soon as possible.

Until next time, boils and ghouls, I remain your humble servant in horror…

Jason Kuykendall has been a horror fan since the age of two, when his mother sat him down in front of When a Stranger Calls, so she began using horror movies as a babysitter. His favorite job was a mom and pop video store that he worked at when he was sixteen. He runs Creepy Bat Book Review but is thinking about firing and replacing himself due to how slack he’s become in his work. He’s made of 85% tattoos, 35% compassion, and 69% spite, and he also doesn’t understand math. He won’t pet your service dog, but he really, really wants to.

PLEASE NOTE: The views and opinions of the staff of Memento Mori Ink do not necessarily represent those of Memento Mori Ink or Crystal Lake Publishing. Thank you for understanding.