Movie Review: Candyman

Wanna watch a scary movie?
Candyman hit theaters August 27, 2021

We’re getting into spooky season, and this year I think scary movie fans are going to be excited to see what’s coming to theaters. I’ll save that for another post though, because today it’s all about Candyman.

If you grew up in the 80’s and the 90’s you’ve probably seen the original Candyman movie (shoutout to my grandma for the scary movie trauma she caused me as a child with movies like Candyman haha). If you remember the bogeyman will appear after you say his name five times in the mirror and he will kill you. Anyone ever play the sleepover game Bloody Mary? It’s similar to that except it actually comes to life.

The movie also plays on the yearly fear parents have at Halloween with their children getting razor blades and drugs in their candy. Get ready for your skin to crawl as the movie takes you through the fear of the unknown and all things that go bump in the night.

The big question on all our minds—why a new Candyman. The 2021 release of Candyman gives the Candyman a reason to exist. You get a backstory to the bogeyman, the systems that built him and the reasons he is still needed today.

Blood, guts and gore?

Of course you’ll find blood, guts and gore in Candyman! Would you expect a scary movie to be any other way?

If you’re ready for the creeps head to a theater near you and checkout Candyman!

The most important question I have to ask is…Would you say his name?

Candyman Synopsis

Oscar® winner Jordan Peele unleashes a fresh take on the blood-chilling urban legend: Candyman. Filmmaker Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, upcoming Captain Marvel 2) directs this contemporary incarnation of the cult classic. 

For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini-Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his partner, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials.

With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini-Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; HBO’s Euphoria, Assassination Nation) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifying wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.

Universal Pictures presents, from Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures and Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld’s Monkeypaw Productions, in association with BRON Creative, Candyman. Candyman is directed by DaCosta, and is produced by Ian Cooper (Us), Rosenfeld and Peele. The screenplay is by Peele & Rosenfeld and DaCosta. The film is based on the 1992 film Candyman, written by Bernard Rose, and the short story “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker. The film’s executive producers are David Kern, Aaron L. Gilbert and Jason Cloth.

Genre: Horror

Cast: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo

Director: Nia DaCosta

Screenplay by: Jordan Peele & Win Rosenfeld and Nia DaCosta

Producers: Ian Cooper, Win Rosenfeld, Jordan Peele

Executive Producer: David Kern, Aaron L. Gilbert, Jason Cloth