Candyman: Shadow Puppets

'Candyman (2020)' continues the trend of confusing titles in its series by being named the same thing as both the original film and its 2021 sequel. It's actually a short film depicting the history of the Candyman legend. It was released prior to Nia DaCosta's film as a sort of preview, but it actually plays during the credits of that film to compound its themes. It's a really effective short that portrays a series of vignettes depicting violence against black people, each of which added to the Candyman legend over the years and made it what it is today. Set to Phillip Glass' haunting score, the piece uses simple but effective shadow puppetry to tell its sad tale. It's a compelling film that hooks you immediately and doesn't let you go.

Candyman was creepy/ and frightening in the beginning and slowly tapered down to a mystery. I enjoyed the movie, I did smack my teeth a little. But it was still worth it, worth the money.

A rather curious short film, but with a certain artistic touch that through the figures narrates the story of the Candyman legend in an expressionist way. What's fascinating about this short film is that the story hints at what Jordan Peele and Nia DaCosta tried to do in the sequel to the original film. What this short film narrates is how the death of Daniel Robitaille was just the beginning of something that would be built through the racial crimes that occurred throughout the era. This implies that Daniel has become a vengeful entity whose power grew as the souls of the victims of racial crimes joined him to the point of becoming a single being: Candyman. As the sequel states, Candyman is a metaphor for how racial discrimination ends up resulting in anger on the part of the oppressed group that begins to take the place of the oppressor. This short film narrates quite well how the Candyman legend began to grow throughout history as a consequence of inequality. Good short film, the truth and I rate it with an 8/10.

10/10. Easily. Any day. Picture is gorgeous. Acting is our of this world. I don't know how to write a review. I know how. But it's much work. It's a 10/10. Take my word for it. Or don't.

(My take on the negative woke reviews is at the end of this review.)

Brilliant film. As a huge Candyman fan, I went in hesitant bc the trailer made it seem like they completely changed the entire story & created an entirely new Candyman. This was NOT the case. It is essentially a part 2 of the original 90s film. There were so many hype points for me, especially the ending scene with the original quotes & ... well, I won't spoil it. But the ending was the best part if you loved the original. I give it a 9 only because there is a character in this that their reasoning behind breaking the pact made no sense to me. And also bc we didn't get any "groin to gut" action. Yes, I'm a weirdo & the gore wasn't up to par for me. Lol.

About the other reviews: I'm a white girl born in 89 who grew up watching the originals. The negative reviews bc it was "woke" are banking on that Cabrini was gentrified since the 90s (like most places) & Candyman represents all of the ppl wrongly killed who live in the projects.

Who *typically* lives in the projects? People of Color.

If you're doing a part 2 to a film that took place in the projects in the 90s, the chances of that place still being the projects in our modern world is slim. It was modernized bc it makes sense. "Woke" is modernization. If you hate that, then you need to take a long look at yourself internally as a person bc your negative review of a film actually says was more negatively about you as a human being.

Good job Peele! You got people talking AGAIN!