Direction: Nia da Costa
Country: USA
With Nia da Costa (Little Woods, 2019) directing from a screenplay she co-wrote with Jordan Peele (Get Out, 2017; Us, 2019) and producer Win Rosenfeld, this fresh installment of Candyman, a direct sequel to the 1992 original directed by Bernard Rose, it’s dark and eerie in spots, but not totally memorable.
Following an enticing prelude that harkens back to 1977, the story leaps to the Chicago area where the Calabrini-Green housing project had been built, now completely renovated. The African-American visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen) moves there, into a new luxury apartment with his wife, Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris), an art gallery director. After hearing about the legend of Candyman, a vengeful hook-handed ghost, Anthony becomes totally connected and inspired by the macabre story that involves it. He relaunches his career with an exhibition about the topic, but the event ends up in tragedy, leaving him haunted by the supernatural figure.
Wobbling along the way, the film feels too familiar in places to become fully accomplished, but provides an up-to-date look at racism and social class gaps. The implacable, surprising ending elevates the bar just enough to make it passable. Even failing to scare, this Candyman manages to give the story a contemporary twist that says much about the racial prejudices endured by the African-American community. It deserves credit for that, but horror-wise, the film is more manipulative than unnerving.
