"Candyman"
Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abudul-Mateen II) is an artist, living in the recently gentrified neighbourhood of Cabrini-Green with his far more successful curator girlfriend Brianna (Teyonah Parris). He decides to work on the urban legend of "The Candyman", and his place in the neighbourhood, for his latest piece - but soon finds that this legend is all too real...
For a change, I'll get the central negatives out of the way first, because I had to really think on this movie:
The first "Candyman" is kind of meh. It's perfectly fine, and all the memorable bits are the bee-imagery, the hook for a hand, and Tony Todd.
This one is not particularly scary in the traditional horror movie sense, the script is a tad clunky in places (you can tell which bits are written by Jordan Peele, for example, and which are by Nia DaCosta) and there are few traditional scares or standout pieces of atmosphere. It juggles a lot during its short run time, and the ending is rushed - but makes up for it with a fantastic last few seconds.
That all being said:
The imagery and cinematography here is top notch stuff. The makers use the beehive imagery perfectly, and have some stunningly pretty setpieces, it's all somewhat heightened like a dream (a scene in the art critic's house was very "Phantasm" in parts) and that our titular villain can only be seen in mirrors is very cool touch. The shots of the skyline, the juxtaposition of the city with the gentrified area is good, and the gore effects and kills are fun,
But, as I said, it's a frustrating movie in that it juggles a lot, and if you go in wanting a particularly scary film you're in for a bad time. I really like it on its own merits if you meet it half way, though the ending is still annoying.
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