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Movie Review: Candyman

Mike Tyrkus

Less of a remake and more a reimagining of the 1992 film, director Nia DaCosta’s new incarnation of Candyman proves to be a wildly entertaining film steeped in the hallmarks of classic horror that proves to be one of the best films of the summer.

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in “Candyman.” © 2021 Universal Pictures

The legend of the Candyman, a supernatural killer brandishing a hook for a hand, was a well-known one to the residents of the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood. According to the stories, he can be summoned if you say his name five times while looking into a mirror. Over the years there have been many killings attributed to this particular boogeyman in the area. Now, a decade after the Cabrini towers were torn down and the area was gentrified, and the area repopulated by upwardly mobile millennials, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) turns to the Candyman legend for inspiration after he and his girlfriend (Teyonah Parris) move into one of the luxurious condo lofts in Cabrini. As Anthony unravels the true story behind the Candyman legend, he begins to descend into a world of uncertainty that seems to be leading him on direct path to madness and violence.

Written by DaCosta, along with producers Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld (who both brought The Twilight Zone into the public consciousness again with the recent revisiting of that classic television series), Candyman plays as a masterful tale of suspense and is all the more effective for it. There no shortage of the horror that fans of the original cult classic may expect, but those elements are handled here with an understated sense of style and a healthy dose of less-is-more that makes the scares of the film all the more effective and the character-driven story the vehicle that controls the ride.

Throughout it all, Abdul-Mateen holds everything together as he appears to be descending into the heart of darkness while simultaneously creating his most provocative work yet. Parris also shines as her Brianna tries to remain sane as she bears first-hand witness to Anthony’s unravelling psyche.

John Guleserian’s cinematography effortlessly captures the almost monochromic world of Cabrini Green and Robert A.A. Lowe’s score accents the film in all the right places. This is a wildly intelligent horror film that works on levels that most recent entries into the genre have failed miserably to achieve. There is a tight, lean story at work throughout that actually has something to say and readily succeeds in making you think about exactly what it wants you to.

Although some may feel nostalgic for the Candyman of old (that character even made it onto our Top 10 Horror Movie Villains of All Time), this new version is a sleeker, meaner, and far more terrifying version of the character than there has ever been.

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Mike Tyrkus

Editor in Chief at CinemaNerdz.com
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.

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