MANILA, PHILIPPINES — Back in 1992, a small horror film about a modern urban legend made $25 million in the United States, turning it into a horror classic. Candyman starred Virginia Madsen as Helen Lyle, a graduate student investigating the mythical “Candyman” (Tony Todd) who appears with a hook where his right hand used to be if you say his name five times. That modest film has developed a cult following and surprisingly, in 2021, a direct sequel to it has been released.
Visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) lives in Chicago with his girlfriend, Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris), a director of an art gallery. Brianna’s brother Troy (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) shares the story of Helen Lyle, a graduate student from the 1990s who went on a killing spree in the Cabrini-Green housing project and even attempted to sacrifice a baby in a bonfire. The couple think nothing of it, but Anthony visits what is left of Cabrini-Green after most of it has been gentrified.
Bit by a bee on his hand while looking for artistic inspiration at Cabrini-Green, Anthony meets laundromat owner William Burke (Colman Domingo). Burke tells Anthony of the legend of “the Candyman,” Sherman Fields, a man with a hook for a hand who supposedly placed a razor blade in candy. Anthony learns that if people say the word “Candyman” five times, he will appear and kill his summoner.
Inspired by this story, Anthony develops an exhibit based on the urban legend which Brianna then exhibits at her gallery. Critics pan the exhibit, however, and Anthony is devastated. When one of Brianna’s co-workers and his girlfriend are found dead at the gallery after saying Candyman’s name, Anthony’s hidden past and the urban legend become entwined like no one could have expected.
When the first Candyman film was released in 1992, curiosity about the slasher film circulated around the concept (similar to the urban legend of Bloody Mary), as well as actors Virginia Madsen and Tony Todd. Based on Clive Barker’s “The Forbidden,” there was an inescapable racial element to it, because the white Madsen and the black Todd were paired off as opposites in the film yet the end saw them almost together.
Todd, whose deep bass voice has become a character actor of note in many films and television shows in the decades since, has always been identified with Candyman, and even appeared in the sequels, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, and Candyman: Day of the Dead. He has been the one constant in these films, and it would have been a disappointment if he did not make some kind of appearance in this latest film.
Writer-producer-director Jordan Peele has made a name for himself in recent years with horror films like 2017’s Get Out and 2019’s Us, hence the challenge of taking on the Candyman series seemed like a natural progression for him. However, Peele only produced and co-wrote the screenplay for this movie, handing the directorial duties to Nia DaCosta, who had only previously directed one film prior to this.
Fans of the 1992 film will instantly note several callbacks to it, namely the old Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago, the bees that are a constant presence, and of course, the Candyman’s backstory, more developed and actually taken further this time around. Using shadow puppets was a brilliant way of showing the urban legend without needing to tap actors or animate scenes. The shadows also had a level of darkness against the light about them, something fitting the Candyman story for sure.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has been rising in visibility in recent years after appearances in an episode of Black Mirror, playing the villain Black Manta in Aquaman, and starring as Dr. Manhattan in HBO’s Watchmen. On the other hand, Teyonah Parris just appeared as Monica Rambeau a.k.a. Photon on WandaVision earlier this year and will reprise that role in DaCosta’s next film The Marvels. Appearing in a horror/slasher film might seem beneath them at this point but given Peele’s reputation and the previously mentioned following of the 1992 film, it might not be such a shocker.
Although 2021’s Candyman can stand on its own, at least a cursory knowledge of the 1992 original can be helpful in making the audience appreciate this “spiritual sequel” more. After all, DaCosta still used archival images and recordings of Madsen’s voice, the setting remains the same albeit 29 years later, Anthony’s mother Anne-Marie (Vanessa Williams) appeared in the first film, and the story is directly tied to it.
The way that one bee sting and Burke’s ultimate plan for Anthony to become the next Candyman does seem a bit farfetched and extreme, but for a horror film, it’s actually quite intelligent compared to other films in the genre. The morbid origin of the Candyman was rooted in slavery but here, the character is allowed to evolve even as a successor is chosen to carry on his legacy. Having Todd appear and speak, even for a moment, was the final callback to the original, and likely satisfied those same fans.
As horror films go, Candyman didn’t reach the heights that Jason Voorhees did in the Friday the 13th films, Freddy Krueger in the Nightmare on Elm Street films, or Michael Myers in the Halloween films. Yet the character was famous enough to generate a few sequels and we might see even more of him in the future. Just say his name five times.
