[Once again I'm going to attempt to do a horror(ish) movie review a day for the entire month of October. Might throw in the odd horror related book, comic, or music review as well. I've done this the last few years here and on The Cleveland Movie Blog. Most of the time I succeeded. Other times I didn't. Last year I completely failed and didn't do it at all. I'm optimistic about this year.]
While I don’t arbitrarily hate all horror remakes and
sequels, in general I find most of them to be comfortably familiar, eminently
forgettable entertainments at best, and crass cash grabs at worst. But there’s
always those exceptions that prove the rule, like John Carpenter’s remake of THE
THING, or Sam Raimi’s EVIL DEAD 2, films that stand on their own as
classics of the genre. Nia DaCosta’s CANDYMAN is a welcome addition to
that exclusive club.
CANDYMAN 2021 is a sequel to Bernard Rose’s 1992 film of the same name, but while I would recommend checking out the original, it’s not necessary. DaCosta gives us all we need to know about the urban legend surrounding its hook-handed killer and the events of the previous film via a nifty little shadow puppet show, just one of the film’s many satisfying stylistic flourishes.
