Yesterday I watched the recent (2021) follow-up to 1992 horror classic Candyman, and I have a lot of thoughts about it, so why not pour them into a blog? As always, these are merely the opinions of one person. And there will be spoilers for both films.
To start, let me note that I adore the original, a film that gets to me every time I watch it, and that will undoubtedly have coloured my reactions to the new film, as much as I tried to go in with an open mind. My initial response was very positive, the opening sequences feeling so much like the original I started to get the same deep tingling feeling. Unfortunately, it faded pretty quickly, and I was left with a distinctly hollow sensation, though it took me a while to work out why.
Candyman 2021 does a lot right. It’s fluidly directed, really well acted, expands on the mythos nicely, handles some social and political commentary quite well, and hits about the same level with the violence, mostly blood with little actual detail, and plenty of clever, subtle stylisation. It doesn’t have the same heightened, fever-dream mood and style as the original, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing; a more naturalistic approach could have worked.
Unfortunately, it has one big issue that undermines pretty much everything: poor characterisation. The original, every moment, every beat of it, is entirely driven by two characters, Helen Lyle and the Candyman himself, their relationship, their conflict, their wants and needs. The new one has no real character core, just a shallow protagonist things happen to, and equally shallow supporting characters. It hits very similar beats of interest becoming obsession, but without the character drive it feels almost perfunctory.
The titular spectre suffers, too. In the original he was a fully fledged being, by turns monstrous, tragic and even sympathetic, and a powerful presence felt even when not on the screen; he pervaded the film. In the new one, he’s little more than a generic silent killer, no voice, little presence, basically a hook-handed plot device spilling blood on cue. He’s also where the political and social commentary falters somewhat, the theme of him being the embodiment of black anger at their treatment not really meshing with his largely standard issue slasher depiction. It comes across almost as two films not entirely successfully meshed together.
The frustrating thing is that the new film itself provides a means for a superb character core, and it honestly confounds me it wasn’t used. Near the end it’s revealed the protagonist is the baby Helen saved at the climax of the original film, clearly meant to add some depth to things, but instead feeling like a twist for the sake of it (although, as this detail was widely known in the run-up to the film, it’s not much of one). I can’t help thinking it would have been far better for this to be revealed at the start, and then used as a catalyst for his interest, and artistic explorations, giving them, and his ultimate fate, whether tragic or redemptive, much greater personal stakes and weight. It would also strengthen Candyman himself, through him more proactively engaging with the protagonist, like he did with Helen: “If you want to know me, then become me”. Not so much “be my victim” as “be my vessel”.
The other issue with the film, a lesser, rather subjective one, but still felt, has to do with the iconography. One of the big difficulties of revists/remakes/reimaginings of popular IPs is the famous trappings thereof, and how to handle them. This film is sparing with the iconography of the first film, a bee here, a quiet snippet of Music Box there, a wander around what little is left of the original Cabrini Green, a hole in a wall, but it, for me, doesn’t work. They’re faint, unsatisfying echoes of a much better film, glimpses of texture amongst the sterile, gentrified contemporary setting and too-glossy presentation. The score is particularly underwhelming, very minimal, with only one decent rhythm, serving mostly to make me yearn for the mesmerically brilliant Philip Glass soundtrack of the original.
Overall, Candyman 2021 is a good, well-made film, but doesn’t really work as either a follow-up to the original, eschewing most of what made the latter so memorable, or as a new take on the concept, mostly thanks to its almost rudimentary character work. While not as bad as the 2018 Halloween, it still serves as proof of how hard it is to bottle lighting twice.
Foxy Musings 