My Review of "Candyman (2021)"

Candyman is a horror movie that came out in 2021. It's a reboot of the original series of the same name. Although I didn't see the original, I still had a great time watching this one. I'm going to do my best not to mention the name 5 times just because that's how you summon him..

The movie starts out in the past in a low income community named Cabrini-Green. It's a suburb of Chicago. A young kid is going to the laundry room to do some laundry while the police overlook the area for a mysterious man. There's creepy visuals and music to haunt us as we know someone is watching the young boy in the laundry room.

The little kid starts to notice this as well and starts to investigate. This brings him closer to a horrible hole in the wall where he sees a shadow. Not realizing what it is he turns away and then he hears something drop on the ground. It so happens to be a piece of candy. When he goes to pick it up there's a creepy older man ready to terrorize him and all we hear are the screams of the child. The police quickly run to investigate.

We then get fast forwarded to today. Cabrini-Green is now a gentrified neighborhood and artists are making a name for themselves there. Namely Anthony who is our main character. He's a struggling artist as he's having a bit of a block. His girlfriend has been supporting him for a while and he needs to make new art to stay relevant.

Fortunately his girlfriend's brother tells the group about the horrors of Cabrini-Green and this sparks a bit of creative juices for Anthony. He researches the spooky background of the neighborhood and discovers that a lot of the story actually checks out. During his research something happens to him but this inadvertently provides him with the material he needs for his next piece.

His flow of creativity just blows up and he's ready for the art exhibition to display his work. This is basically the catalyst for terrorizing the city of Chicago. Curious individuals are going to test out the myth of the man who shall not be named and basically bad stuff happens.

The art direction of this movie is pretty cool. They have some paper shadow puppets to narrate some of the scenes. As part of the story mirrors are also important. I liked how they were able to implement reflections throughout the movie to keep the tension high throughout the movie. There's always something lurking around the corner. As the viewer you're scared for everyone even the horrible idiots who test out the myth.

I also liked how they were able to play upon today's new social diaspora. Social issues concerning gentrification, police profiling and the struggles of the modern artist. They play around with the fact that a lot of the things they talk about have been talked about repeatedly today. In that regard, they see some of these artists as kitsch as they've seen the same things over and over again. That doesn't mean that it isn't still a reality. It's funny how people get bored of things so fast. I guess this is a reflection as to how some people use social movements as fads.

Overall, I liked this movie more than I expected. I liked the messages that they were trying to convey in this movie without being too on the nose. There are a nice level of twists in this movie that make them feel more like accents to this movie. I have to give this film a 7.5 out of 10. It is something I'd probably check out again if I saw it on TV.