EJ Moreno with a video review of 2021’s Candyman…
Candyman is back, and director Nia DaCosta wants viewers to say his name. In this update of the 90s slasher, 2021’s Candyman is one of the scariest films in quite some time. Critic EJ Moreno breaks down the style, the horror, and the legacy of this new film.
Watch EJ’s review of the movie below, and be sure to follow us on YouTube for more reviews, exclusive interviews, and other video content…
SEE ALSO: Read our written review of Candyman here
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 girlfriend, 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 terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.
Candyman features a cast that includes Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen), Teyonah Parris (WandaVision), Colman Domingo (Fear the Walking Dead), Rebecca Spence (Public Enemies), Cassie Kramer (Bimbo), and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett (Misfits), along with the returning Tony Todd and Vanessa Estelle Williams.
