Candyman
By Jeffrey Anderson,
Common Sense Media Reviewer
Common Sense Media Reviewers
Update on classic horror tale is both scary and important.
A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this movie.
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Diverse Representations
Positive representation of Black characters, showing both successes and trials. Characters are realistic and three-dimensional. Supporting cast includes a loving, mixed-race LGBTQ+ couple. A White art critic tries to tell Anthony's story and define his art through her own experiences, which is clearly meant to be problematic.
Inclusion information: Black directors, Black actors
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Candyman
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What's the Story?
In CANDYMAN, Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is an up-and-coming artist who's living with Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris), an art curator. At dinner one night, Brianna's brother, Troy (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), tells the story of Candyman, who terrorized the nearby Cabrini Green housing projects years ago. Inspired, Anthony looks into the story further, hoping to create a new series of artworks. Then Anthony meets William Burke (Colman Domingo), who grew up in Cabrini Green and had an encounter with the actual Candyman, and learns more. Unfortunately, as Anthony's art is shown to the world, the Candyman legend is reawakened, with horrific results.
Is It Any Good?
Neither a reboot nor a direct sequel, Nia DaCosta's horror movie responds to elements from the 1992 cult classic and moves forward into the Black Lives Matter era, with chilling, brilliant results. Following up on the promise of her powerful debut Little Woods, DaCosta's Candyman -- with help from co-writer and co-producer Jordan Peele -- follows a bracingly logical path through Clive Barker's original 1985 short story and Bernard Rose's 1992 movie, taking the urban setting and the Black monster (played here, as in three other movies, by Tony Todd) and examining them further. With swift strokes, like an artist passionately wielding a paintbrush, DaCosta touches on gentrification, artistic appropriation, and artistic objectivity in fascinating ways.
Using silhouette puppets to illustrate flashbacks and a musical score that echoes Philip Glass's 1992 recordings, the movie asks: Are these artists actual creators, or are they merely repeating history? How does location play into the identities of Black residents, especially when that location was designed and built by White people? Can Black people reclaim their own stories? In one striking subplot, a White art critic tries to tell Anthony's story and define his art through her own experiences. Yet in the midst of these and other timely discourses, Candyman manages to be a brutal and powerful horror tale (right from the start, with its mirror-image studio logos), perhaps even surpassing whatever Barker's original story, or any other adaptation, has ever intended or achieved. A final cry to keep telling stories -- rather than burying them, as in the Tulsa massacre of 1921 -- is an imperative crossover from horror to real life.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about Candyman's violence. How did it make you feel? Was it exciting? Shocking? What did the movie show or not show to achieve this effect? Why is that important?
Is the movie scary? What's the appeal of scary movies? Why do people sometimes like to be scared?
What does the final message, "tell everyone," mean? What other messages do you think the film is trying to convey about art, race, and identity? The filmmakers have put together resources and organizations that support racial justice and healing; click here to learn more.
Why do you think the movie is set in the art world? How much art is created, and how much is "borrowed" from other places? What does this all mean? What does it mean for a movie called Candyman?
How does this film compare to the other movies in the Candyman series, and to the original story?
Movie Details
- In theaters: August 27, 2021
- On DVD or streaming: September 16, 2021
- Cast: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett
- Director: Nia DaCosta
- Inclusion Information: Black directors, Black actors
- Studio: Universal Pictures
- Genre: Horror
- Topics: Monsters, Ghosts, and Vampires
- Run time: 91 minutes
- MPAA rating: R
- MPAA explanation: bloody horror violence, and language including some sexual references
- Last updated: February 24, 2023
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