It can be said that Candyman is remaining within the realm of known history at this point since from the trailer it would appear that the timeline isn’t going back as far as the original movie and its sequel did, meaning it won’t go back so far in history that the disconnect can be felt. Instead, things will be kept as close to current as possible, and the story is going back to Cabrini Green, which has been gentrified to such a degree that it’s no longer recognizable as the original tenement buildings in the first movie. But the feeling of dread is still there when the legend of Candyman is told by an old-time resident who’s played by Colman Domingo of Fear The Walking Dead. The story differs this time as it involves a man that handed out candy to the neighborhood kids but was falsely accused of hiding razor blades in the candies and beaten nearly to death before being slain by the police. The hook hand is still there, the bees are still there, and the terror is definitely still there.
Another great thing about this reboot is that it appears to be sticking to the idea that this horror story is centered around people of color since the first movie featured much of the same, though Virginia Madsen and Xander Berkeley definitely took a big role as well. This time the story will focus on visual artist Anthony McCoy, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, as he hears about the legend of Candyman and then begins to fall deeper and deeper into the legend as his psychosis begins to increase and his life begins to suffer. So far it looks as though the gore will be forthcoming, at least in some manner, since Candyman was, if anyone remembers, a bit gory considering that he used his hook more than once in a very effective but brutal way. Thinking what Cabrini Green is going to be like this time around is kind of interesting since in the first movie it was a dangerous place that Virginia Madsen’s character continued to visit in order to record the legend, much to the annoyance of the residents.
This time it’s already sounding as though people are bound to be using their better judgment, or are at least bound to try since it can be heard in the trailer as people aren’t willing to mess around with the legend of Candyman even if they don’t believe in him. The truth of any legend is faint at times, but it’s still there when people come to realize it. The Candyman legend is one of those that run along the same line as the Bloody Mary Legend since looking in the mirror and saying a name so many times is the catalyst that starts the nightmare. And while we didn’t get to see Tony Todd, the original Candyman, in the trailer, it has been announced that he will be there, though it doesn’t feel as though he’s going to be playing the role. That doesn’t matter so much to a lot of people since the fact is that Tony has aged quite a bit since the initial movie so it’s fair to say that casting a younger individual for the role of the villain would be acceptable. But keeping Todd out of it wouldn’t be as many fans would gladly state.
This movie was creepy, to begin with since the first time it came out a lot of people weren’t ready and were no doubt at least a little traumatized after watching it simply because of the story and how it was told. But as the sequels came out it became more of a fan favorite and unfortunately lost a bit of its edge. It would appear that Jordan Peele and Nia DaCosta are going to bring back that edge in a big way, but perhaps go even further with it and create a terror that is bound to envelop everyone it touches, no matter who they are or what they look like. That’s one of the great things about the Candyman story is that it does have a set area that’s affected within each story, but at the same time the villain doesn’t discriminate when it comes to taking his due.
The idea of having an artist as the tormented party that unwittingly summons the legendary killer is even better since like it or not, a lot of artists touch upon a part of the world that many people don’t want to see or can’t see. It sounds ridiculous to some since if they can’t see it then whatever ‘it’ is must not exist. But to many artists, there’s a world beyond ours that grants the type of inspiration, hope, terror, and fear of the unknown that makes such stories as this possible.
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