Candyman

That was absolutely awful.

It was handsomely filmed but there was not one single likable character in the whole damn film and, of course, Jordan Peele insists on battering you over the head with the WHITE PEOPLE BAD agenda he trots out in everything he makes.

The original already had something to say about racism and the mistreatment of the poor in society but managed to weave it into an engaging story with a degree of subtlety whilst maintaining its primary focus on crafting a genuinely scary film that is still effective to this day.

Stick with the original.

The original Candyman already suffered from muddled mythology and unclear rules, and this film does nothing to fix that. The lore is messier and more confusing than ever, and that's not helped by the fact that this movie has ZERO character development for anyone involved.

It's established that the lead character, Anthony, is estranged from his mother. But we never learn why and this plot thread is never resolved. Other than that, we know nothing of substance about any of these characters and thus do not care when they are in danger or die.

Despite this, the actors really do give it their all and they make all of the scenes sufficiently watchable. The camerawork and direction are creative and also elevate the clumsily-written material to be watchable...but it's still not worth watching.

This sequel expanded on Candyman's muddled fictional mythology and mixed this mythology with some real people and events to give sociological and political background on some hot topics like racism and injustice to African Americans in the United States. I found it strange that they mixed some real-life racism-related crimes and their victims with a classic horror movie's fictional story for social commentary, but it's just my personal opinion. There are too many problems in this sequel, and I think the biggest problem is that this movie is definitely not as scary and thrilling as the first one. It's narrative is also unfocused, and that makes the story hard to follow because they crammed too many things into the script, which makes the script kind of messy, drawn out, and convoluted. I wasn't also impressed by the acting. The main guy's acting is really wooden; the character he played is also quite bland and hard to empathize with, and the supporting actors and characters aren't better than him. The movie is also quite slow-paced. It lasts 1.30 hours, but it feels much longer because of its slowness. Overall, I found this movie less scary and less enjoyable. It's a well-made movie; that's why I didn't give a low point, but it just couldn't give you the first movie's suspense, thrill, and horror.

Nia DaCosta has shown potential with her debut film Candyman. There was some interesting ideas and great cinematography, but the themes it presented & social commentary were handled with the subtely of a sledgehammer to the face. Way too unbalanced. All black people are innocent victims, all the white people were bullies & then slaughtered by "Candyman" (NOT Tony Todd, some creeper named Sherman) & all the cops instantly killed the black folks, even as they lay on the ground, unarmed & dying. I'm not saying bad things don't happen, but there needs to be some balance. Everything was obviously slanted towards one narrative.

Scrolling through these reviews, I saw a couple 5 and 6 stars, but mostly 1 and 2, all complaining about the movie focusing on racism rather than horror, and blaming Jordan Peele (even though this is not his solo film). All I have to say is these people have either never seen the original Candyman or failed to understand it. If you think the original didn't have anything to do with race I think you should watch it again. Nia Dacosta did a great job with this film and tying all the legends together, creating a "spiritual sequel" as planned. Candyman has never been cut and dry horror, and while I agree there could have been more chilling moments, this is not as bad of a film as these other reviewers would like you to think. If you walk into a black horror film expecting jason vorhees or michael myers, that's your fault, not Dacosta's.