Candyman (2020)

[BetterButter]

 

[QueerGirrl]

Haven't seen the original in a long time, this should be interesting.

[Ravenya003]

The original film was the first horror movie I ever watched, with a cousin who (when the credits rolled) immediately went to the nearest mirror and said: "candyman" five times.

I may have to see this movie just to prove to myself I'm over that lasting trauma. 

[Spartan Girl]

Nice that this time black people are the lead characters instead of just the background characters/murder victims.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the ending to the original where Virginia Madsen becomes the new Candywoman and gives her garbage cheating husband what he deserves. I'm guessing this movie will have a different resolution.

[Chaos Theory]

The original and Farewell To The Flesh are among my favorite two horror movies ever so I am highly ambivalent about the remake.    If anyone can do it justice it’s Jordan Peele but the first two movies (The third - Day of the dead was trash) told an incredible story that was equal parts scary tragic and beautiful.    

i am hoping for the best but expecting to be disappointed........

[calliope1975]

I read an article today that said Yahya's character is

Spoiler

Anthony, the baby from the original that Helen sacrificed her life saving.

Not sure how spoilery that is so I'll be cautious. That made me 100% more interested in seeing this as I loved the original. 

[JBC344]

This looks really good. Glad that they established it in the same timeline as the original with Vanessa William's character back. 

[BetterButter]

 

[BetterButter]

‘Candyman’ Retelling Moves To August 2021

[BetterButter]

 

[Spartan Girl]

Anyone seen this yet? It’s been getting good reviews although the trolls accusing it of making it “woke” makes me roll my eyes. Do they not remember that Candyman’s origin story was a hate crime? 

[Anela]

11 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

Anyone seen this yet? It’s been getting good reviews although the trolls accusing it of making it “woke” makes me roll my eyes. Do they not remember that Candyman’s origin story was a hate crime? 

I might see it tonight, but I'm not sure I'll be awake enough in two hours.

I looked it up on IMDB, because I like the look of the trailer, and I saw all of the comments about it being "woke" and pushing a message that they didn't like (it doesn't sound like it would bother me). I watched the first movie again recently, on Peacock - it was never one of my favourites, but I couldn't remember much about it. 

Edited August 28, 2021 by Anela

[Bruinsfan]

I saw it and wasn't thrilled with it, though there's not much I could point to and definitely say "I hated that." Maybe the artist angle struck me as too similar to Velvet Buzzsaw, which also didn't knock my socks off.

[peridot]

This movie was an interesting approach to the Candyman mythos.  I really like how they framed a few scenes.  Having the Candyman trapped behind a mirror/reflective surface was a pretty good concept.  Poor Anthony, he got caught up in the schemes of a psycho. 

I'm glad those cops weren't able to get away with what they did.  I wasn't expecting for Tony Todd to show up.

The animated scenes at the end were heartbreaking. 

Edited September 19, 2021 by peridot

[Spartan Girl]

Finally but the bullet and rented this for Halloween. And holy hell this was good. Hard to watch and downright grisly but good. Bravo Nia DaCosta!

Love the idea that there was a whole hive of Candymen, vengeful spirits created by hate crimes. I guess poor Anthony was always meant to be turned into one of them, but it’s still depressing. Especially when you realize that Helen ultimately died for nothing. Poor Ann-Marie, she lost her son all over again.

As much as I hated that crazy guy for what he did to Anthony, I get that he felt responsible for what happened to Sherman. In fairness, you see a creepy looking guy come out of the wall, you’re gonna scream. But the fact that his sister died because she summoned Candyman/Sherman must have really messed him up.

That last sequence was hard to watch, but worth it. Anthony coming back to get the cops at the end was every bit as satisfying as Helen disemboweling Trevor’s lying cheating ass in the original movie.

Tony Todd only had a minute at the end—a pity but still amazing. That voice is like velvet.

The cinematography and effects were very haunting, especially the shadow puppet scenes.

On 9/18/2021 at 9:59 PM, peridot said:

The animated scenes at the end were heartbreaking

Oh man, yes. I almost didn’t want to watch, but forced myself to do it.

[Bastet]

On 10/20/2021 at 4:53 PM, Spartan Girl said:

That last sequence was hard to watch, but worth it. Anthony coming back to get the cops at the end was every bit as satisfying as Helen disemboweling Trevor’s lying cheating ass in the original movie.

Yes!  I just watched the original and this new one last night with a friend, and both had great endings (other than that, I thought the original was okay and this one was good). 

This one had some terrific visual effects, with all the mirrors and other reflective surfaces and the terrific use of puppets instead of clips from the first film to give the backstory, and even better use to illustrate examples of racial violence.  And, of course, some delicious social commentary.

Edited December 19, 2021 by Bastet

[Racj82]

Yeah...no. This wasn't good. It was a beautiful looking mess with some great ideas. The story was all over the place. Too many things were happening that deserved bigger reactions to what was going on. Talented cast. Some good concepts. I like the thought of Candyman being the living the embodiment of oppression and injustice of black people over time. The execution was just not good.

[Sheenieb]

8 hours ago, Racj82 said:

Yeah...no. This wasn't good. It was a beautiful looking mess with some great ideas. The story was all over the place. Too many things were happening that deserved bigger reactions to what was going on. Talented cast. Some good concepts. I like the thought of Candyman being the living the embodiment of oppression and injustice of black people over time. The execution was just not good.

It pains me to say it, but I agree. I was looking forward to it, but the story wasn't cohesive. I ended up having more questions than answers. Why was Anthony estranged from his mother? What was the point of Brianna's trauma with witnessing her father's suicide if it had no bearing on the story? She was separated from the A plot.

I liked the gentrification of Cabrini Green and the fact that no one knew the Candyman story anymore because the older neighbors were pushed out. That could've been a good springboard, but it didn't go anywhere.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

On 10/20/2021 at 7:53 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Love the idea that there was a whole hive of Candymen, vengeful spirits created by hate crimes. I guess poor Anthony was always meant to be turned into one of them, but it’s still depressing. Especially when you realize that Helen ultimately died for nothing. Poor Ann-Marie, she lost her son all over again.

"Why did you lie?"

"I just wanted you to grow up happy and normal."

"Do I look normal, Momma?"

 

[snickers]

So Candyman terrified me as a kid, and I wasn't easily scared. 

 

As sequels go, this was quite different, but I liked it....I get why it would not work for some, but I really liked the Director's vision, though the third act was kind of a mess....but I liked the message behind it and the use of the puppets

 

That scene with Sherman coming out of the wall though....perfection with the creepiness....what kid wouldn't scream like someone mentioned above.

 

But it wasn't the Candyman of the 90's.....

[Bruinsfan]

Yeah, lurker pops out of hole in wall of dark basement  to offer candy to isolated child is really the kind of situation where 99 times out of 100 things aren't going to work out well for the kid. It was a shame that in this particular case Sherman had no bad intentions, but I can't blame Anthony or the police officers for how they reacted.

[Enero]

On 12/24/2021 at 4:26 PM, Sheenieb said:

What was the point of Brianna's trauma with witnessing her father's suicide if it had no bearing on the story? She was separated from the A plot.

Yeah. When they started talking about cleaning out the dad’s storage unit and doing a show and selling his works that were in the unit I thought the father’s art was somehow going to be connected to Candyman and perhaps get Brianna to believe what Anthony was telling her. 

That said, I enjoyed this movie. As others have stated the use of visuals with the mirrors and reflective surfaces was outstanding. I thought further expanding on the social injustice that created the original Candyman to show that Candyman in essence embodies years of injustices against black men, specifically by those in authority, was well-done. 

Poor Anthony never had a chance though. Before even knowing his backstory, that he was the baby from the original movie, I knew he was done for as soon as he was stung by the bee when visiting Cabrini Green. I don’t think he ever even summoned Candyman did he, by saying his name 5 times while looking at a mirror? I know he was playing around with Briana and said the name but I don’t believe he managed to get it out 5 times in one sitting.  I do wonder though why the spirit of Candyman was so fixated on Anthony for all these years? Why did he try to kill him 20-30 years earlier? And then essentially haunted and possessed him all those years later. What was it about Anthony that made him a specific target for Candyman?
 

The acting was good in this. Great call back to the original by bringing back Vanessa E. Williams. 
 

On 10/20/2021 at 7:53 PM, Spartan Girl said:

Tony Todd only had a minute at the end—a pity but still amazing. That voice is like velvet.

Yes. This. Love his voice! It was great to see him but it was too  brief of a cameo.