There is a legend that states if you look in a mirror and repeat “Candyman” five times, he will come and kill you, but until this film I never understood why … or why even there was a “why?” Legendary cinematic psychopaths never really need a reason; they just need a supply of victims.
Candyman is the rarest of beings, a social justice horror film … and while it is most definitely marketed as a simple horror film, it would rather see itself as a film about social justice. Technically a sequel, Candyman revisits the neighborhood of Cabrini-Green thirty years later. Let me rephrase that: Candyman 2021 is definitely a sequel; it shares the same setting, some of the same characters, and a similar plot about a titular supernatural homicidal villain with a hook for a hand and a penchant for Polysorbate 80. However, it is also clear that Candyman 2021 is less inspired by its 1992 origin story than the murder of George Floyd by racist members of the Minneapolis Police in the spring of 2020.
The film begins by introducing us to the past with an unnerving hook-handed man who gave away candy in the Cabrini-Green
projects. Now look, ain’t nobody gonna convince me that a middle-aged man who hangs out in a hole in the wall of the building laundry room and tosses candy at children who come along is on the up-and-up. However, his murder at the hands of the police was unjustified on every level, especially the one where they had no direct link between suspect and crime.
And that’s what this film is declaring. Nobody’s saying George Floyd was 100% innocent. But the difference between assumed crime and police reaction is as large as the difference between Obama misstatement about the availability of preferred providers while trying to sell the ACA vs. his successor’s 30,000 lies while in office. Those who conflate either of these? Well you can stop reading right now; my stuff isn’t for you.
Artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) visits a more upscale modern day Cabrini-Green and becomes obsessed with the legend of Candyman, the hook-handed serial killer. He puts together an exhibit entitled “Say My Name” daring onlookers to repeat “Candyman.” Anybody who has lived near a BLM parade route in 2020 heard the phrase “Say his/her name” many, many times in an effort to give strength to the names of those who have died unnecessarily at the hands of the police. That cannot possibly be coincidence. Such represents the extended connection between the fictional Candyman and the victims of police brutality.
Being a horror film, of course, Candyman soon comes to life and blood starts to gush. I’m always confused by the collateral damage of supernatural psychopaths. I mean, only one person said his name, why
ya gotta gut both of them? I imagine Candyman shrugging through the post-mortem press conference, “Well, he was already there and the place was dark; the guy was a douche, he probably deserve to die anyway…”
I’ve now seen Candyman twice, and the second time was better than the first because I knew how to treat the all-too-abrupt ending. My first evaluation was that the film lost itself – in the desire to talk about social justice, it forgot the object of horror films – survival. It struck me as a version of Aliens where Ripley abandons her battle with the Queen to say, “Screw it. Go. Kill ‘em all. Corporate f***ers deserve it.” The second viewing, however, gave a greater light to the conclusion; I still feel that –as a horror film- Candyman ought to observe the object of horror films, however, this Candyman was a statement film first, horror film second, and I respect it and writer/director Nia DeCosta a great deal on that score.
In lieu of poem or parody lyrics, I have simply decided to list some of my favorite Candyman offshoots and how to summon them:
Dandyman – Wave a pastel colored ascot five times
Slandyman — Go on TV and besmirch somebody five times in a row
Handyman — Used to be yellow pages, now can be summoned through ACE Hardware website
Mandyman – Come and give without taking five times, but the catch is that he gets sent away
Randyman – Type “S-E-X” in any on-line chat room exactly one time
Klandyman – Scream “MAGA” in a megaphone five times
Rated R, 91 Minutes
Director: Nia DaCosta
Writer: Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Nia DaCosta
Genre: The horror of reality
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: SJWs
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Racists
