Candyman

Candyman pays homage to the original, while still maintaining its uniqueness with a fresh and provocative plot

This is horror with grandeur, a movie that pays homage to history and feels so of-the-moment as to seem fresh out of the lab...Candyman, the glossiest horror movie in ages, isn’t just horror. It’s horror that reaches for the Latin in that MGM (which produced the original film and gets co-credit here) logo we see in the opening credits — “Ars gratia artis,” “art for art’s sake.”

It helps that Candyman is exquisitely shot. Right from the first frame, DaCosta is always doing something interesting with the camera. There is smart visual storytelling almost everywhere you look, from the clever use of mirrors, to edgy scene transitions, to set design that starts to mirror Candyman’s look in interesting ways. The jump scares are rare but hardly needed: all this contributes to a growing feeling of dread as the film speeds towards its bold conclusion.

While the movie could be a notch scarier, the unsettling imagery and slow build to chaos make me want another movie by this director stat.

The new Candyman references the plot of the original as a sinister fanfare of shadow puppets, as if to say, “That was mythology. This is reality.” It’s less a “slasher film” than a drama with a slasher in the middle of it.

The first hour of Candyman does a bang-up job of mixing such audience-teasing popcorn thrills with trenchant, if sometimes too flatly stated, social critique. But by the last half-hour, there are so many themes, plotlines, and flashbacks in play that the movie’s message becomes muddled, and the forward momentum slows.

In trying to reckon with the contradictions of the ’92 film, as well as carve out their own work, DaCosta and her collaborators have created a misfire that can’t make its tangle of politics — about gentrification, the Black body (horror), racism, white desire — feel either relevant or provocative. When Blackness is whittled down, this is the kind of poor cultural product we are sold.

So many angry incels and boomers on here that can't handle a story being told about the struggles of a disenfranchised population. The terrorization of black communities is American history. Your feelings about facts will never change them. Luckily the people smart enough to something more complex that a comment on the internet will continue to tell stories like this one whether or not you fascists want them to. Smarter people than you will continue to decide the content of great art while your kind get left by the wayside. You will be a little redhatted footnote in the pages of history that no one bothers to read. Farewell troglodytes, culture will be moving forward without you. P.s. Awesome movie. Cinematography, story, acting, all great. Lots of hidden meaning in the visual effects. Deserves at least 2 watches.

Fair !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great cinematography and excellent production quality couldn't save candyman from being more of a dull yet tense buildup to nothing more than your run of the mill gore flick rather than anything truly terrifying or horrific. Its a shame as i feel with a slower pacing and more emphasis on an individual death than bombarding us with with multiple kills and backstory from start to end could've been far more impactful. The beginning was also quite slow. Definitely something to watch if you dont mind a very run of the mill horror.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

This had the potential to be really good but ultimately, it fails to do what the original did. You see the first one managed to create an atmosphere you just can't find in a horror movie and definitely can't find in this one. It was scary and by the end, you really did buy into the narrative. That maybe, just maybe saying Candyman 5 times, he might just appear. But what it really did well was to tell the same story that this one tries (and fails) to tell. It successfuly handled the deeper themes. And it did it without forcing them down your throat. It did a great job conveying the message and still being a really great horror movie. This sequel isn't a particularly good horror movie. Yes, it's very well scored and shot. But that's about all it has going for it. There's nothing you haven't already seen 1000 times in any other horror/slasher. You see, the reason is that it's not a horror movie. It's a political statement masquerading as a horror movie. More importantly. In an effort to push its narrative, it neglects the story and the characters. I see people commenting that the negative reviews are only because we don't get the "themes". Well we get it now and we got it with the original. The difference is that the original handled it tactfully and wove it into the story and the horror. It still successfully conveyed its message. More so than this one. Watching this sequel is like constantly being hit with a brick. WHITE BAD. WHITE BAD. WHITE BAD.