Candyman 🐝

I’m Adam Frazier, and you’re reading Pop ‘n’ Pizza, a newsletter that highlights the latest in pop culture and pulp fiction. In today’s issue, I’m reviewing the new horror movie CANDYMAN, directed by Nia DaCosta and produced by Jordan Peele.

CANDYMAN

• Genre: Supernatural Horror
• Release Date: August 27, 2021
• Running Time: 91 Minutes
• Rated: R

Behind the Scenes

• Directed by Nia DaCosta
• Written by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Nia DaCosta
• Cinematography by John Guleserian
• Music by Robert A. A. Lowe
• Studio: Universal Pictures

In Front of the Camera

• Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (HBO’s WATCHMEN, US)
• Teyonah Parris (WANDAVISION, CHI-RAQ)
• Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (MISFITS)
• Colman Domingo (MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, SELMA)
• Vanessa Estelle Williams (CANDYMAN, NEW JACK CITY)

What To Know Before You Go

Written and directed by Bernard Rose, 1992’s CANDYMAN is based on Clive Barker's 1985 short story "The Forbidden" and stars Virginia Madsen as Helen, a Chicago graduate student completing a thesis on urban legends and folklore. Her research leads her to the housing projects of Cabrini-Green and the legend of Candyman (Tony Todd), a vengeful slave spirit with a hook hand who can be summoned by those who dare to say his name five times into a mirror.

With mesmerizing cinematography by Anthony B. Richmond (THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH), an exquisite score by Philip Glass, and a commanding, complex performance by Tony Todd, CANDYMAN was a success, earning $25 million on an $8 million budget. It even spawned a couple of sequels: 1995’s CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH and 1999’s CANDYMAN: DAY OF THE DEAD. It was also a pivotal moment for the horror genre; a major American horror film with a Black man as its titular character and main antagonist.

Why You Should Check It Out

Now, nearly 30 years later, Nia DaCosta (LITTLE WOODS, next year’s THE MARVELS) and co-writer/producer Jordan Peele (GET OUT, US) are taking us back to Cabrini-Green and summoning the iconic character for a sequel to the 1992 film. In present day, artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris), move into a luxury condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition.

In desperate need of inspiration for his next piece, Anthony sets out to photograph the ruins of Cabrini’s housing projects where he encounters Burke (Colman Domingo), an old-timer who exposes the artist to the legend of Candyman. Obessed with the story, Anthony begins to explore the real-life tragedy behind the legend in his art. The new work, “Say My Name,” forces people to look in a mirror and confront the past. By inviting people to say the name “Candyman” in the mirror five times, he awakens the collective trauma of a community and unleashes a swarm of violence.

Co-written by Peele, Win Rosenfeld, and DaCosta, CANDYMAN forces us to confront America’s long history of white violence against Black people and examine how that history of violence — a tradition of oppression — continues to repeat itself. Its themes are perennial, making it both timely and timeless. It’s a dialogue between the past and the present, where both sides are horrified to learn that nothing’s changed.

In my review of 2017’s GET OUT, I state that “the best horror films act as subversive social commentaries, dealing with humanity’s fears on a subconscious level and offering a kind of communal catharsis.” CANDYMAN, like its predecessor, is entertaining on a visceral level - it’s fun, scary, stylish - but it’s also intellectually stimulating, emotionally engaging and imbued with meaning. It’s extremely gratifying to see so much thought and care put into a movie that could’ve been just another slapped-together studio cash-grab.

Abdul-Mateen, Parris, and Domingo deliver superb performances, and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Vanessa Estelle Williams shine in limited roles. Behind the camera, production designer Cara Brower (US, TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN) and cinematographer John Guleserian (ABOUT TIME) create striking visuals, elevated further by the incredible puppetry of Manual Cinema and the work of Cameron Spratley and Sherwin Ovid, two Black artists whose combined talents make up Anthony’s work in the film. The whole film is a beautifully macabre work of art.

Look, I watch a lot of movies — somewhere around 700 movies a year — and it’s rare that a new film excites me this way. Nia DaCosta’s CANDYMAN is phenomenal. It’s a pitch-perfect sequel that stands on its own while elevating the source material. I’m staggered by it. The storytelling, the performances — the profundity of it — it’s breathtaking, really. I think it’s the movie of the year. See it immediately. Hell, see it five times.

After you see the movie, be sure to check out Universal Pictures and Monkeypaw Productions’ social impact initiative site, which dives deeper into the historical context of the film and its themes.

Would You Like To Know More?

If you dig this, you may also enjoy:

• THE BOOKS OF BLOOD, VOLUME 5 (Amazon)
• HORROR NOIRE: A HISTORY OF BLACK HORROR (Shudder)
• NIGHTBREED: THE DIRECTOR’S CUT (Amazon Prime Video)
• THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS (Amazon Prime Video)
• TALES FROM THE HOOD (Amazon Prime Video)

Slices:

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Trailer

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