Candyman - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Candyman



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:

​

Movie
Ahhh, Candyman, talk about bringing my childhood horror influences back into the limelight. The 1992 film of the same name wasn’t exactly a monster hit back in the day, but after some time spent on home video, it became a cult classic. Tony Todd’s rasping voice and 6 foot 5 inch hulking frame made him the perfect visual representation of the monstrous (and iconic) black horror villain, and I was curious to see what they would do without him for this new sequel (although kind of a half sequel, half remaking the film for modern audiences). I did learn at the last minute (for me at least) that Tony Todd WOULD be reprising his roll as the infamous hooked villain at some portion of the film, but that director Nia DaCosta saved him for the final moments of the movie in a transformation scene.

Usually sequels or remakes made decades later don’t really fly with long time fans of the series, but since Candyman wasn’t exactly high art (and the sequels were pretty campy if my memory serves me correctly) so I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the 2021 film was actually pretty good. The original movie was always praised (and sometimes demonized) for it’s overt take on racism, social issues in class, as well as it’s nasty and gory death scenes. DaCosta amps up the gore with modern day sensibilities (meaning lotsa blood) and delicately handles the race and class issues in a way that feels like just a modern take on what the original film was saying (whether you agree with said take or not is a completely different conversation, but I had to admit that it fit seamlessly with the tone of the original).

Candyman is back! Decades after the infamous Cabrini-Green projects fire from 20+ years ago where Candyman died in a fire thanks to the locals, the projects have been rebuilt into a much more gentrified high end apartment complex. Gone are the suffering masses and in its place is a giant high rise setting where artist Anthony McCoy (Abdul-Mateen II) and his girlfriend Brianna (Teyonah Parris) have just moved into. Anthony is intent on creating a new series of art using the old projects area as a muse, but soon stumbles upon an old story about a man who was murdered in the Cabrini-Green projects and rose from the dead as the unkillable Candyman. A man with a hook for a hand and an insatiable lust for killing those who summoned him by speaking his name into a mirror 5 times (good old Bloody Mary story tropes).

After jokingly saying the man’s name into a mirror Anthony’s life gets turned upside down. He starts transforming after a bee sting starts a mysterious skin malady (seriously? You don’t go to the doctor when your skin starts sluffing and peeling?), and he also begins to see the mysterious Candyman’s visage in the mirror. Simultaneously people around town who have been inspired by Anthony’s art of Candyman start saying the name as well, which naturally results in a rash of murders as the hooked monster hacks and slashes his way through the stupid white kids (and adults) who summon the vengeful spirit). Anthony’s transformation is explained by an old time resident who say Candyman as a kid, telling him the true tale of the monster, and how the visage is not JUST one person, but all of the black men who have suffered and died at the hands of oppression, forming a sort of hive spiritual existence. The closer and closer Anthony gets to the truth, though, the more and more he realizes he has a strange connection to the vengeful spirit. One that has been hidden from him his whole life and may well change the course of his life forever.

Honestly, I was surprised. I expected Candyman to be what every 20+ year old sequel to do. Bomb horribly and be a train wreck. Color me a bit surprised when second time director DaCosta (who has only done 1 feature film, although she was now chosen to head up The Marvels for Marvel next) actually created a pretty fun horror movie. The first half of the movie is very subtle and tense, building the setup for the infamous Candyman to make his appearance. However, it’s the latter half where things start to swing wildly in a different direction. It’s here that DaCosta changes the story from a monster who was pure evil, to a more sympathetic anti-hero in a way. I can’t remember if the 2 sequels to the original went this way narratively (it’s been AGES since I’ve seen them), but this new iteration creates a plot point of Candyman not being ONE person (Tony Todd’s Daniel), but rather a hive spirit of countless wronged black men who have been killed over the years. Then when it’s obvious where Anthony is heading (it sort of telegraphs him being the next Candyman) they change the tone with him being summoned as a vengeful spirit against those who were oppression the community. So instead of a monster created from pain and suffering, he’s a monster with a soul. One that can be used as a weapon for the oppressed rather than as an uncontrollable force that made him so disturbing in the 1990s. I’m not sure I liked this particular interpretation as we have had way too many villains become “anti-heroes” in modern cinema, especially horror and super hero movies. It’s as if directors can’t come to grips with a character being “evil” and try to humanize them a little TOO much. Don’t get me wrong, The Candyman in 1992 was definitely humanized in many ways. But there was a clear separation of him bieng a monster when he came back due to him allowing his pain and suffering to warp him, rather than lionizing and creating a folk hero out of the character. It was an interesting twist, but not one that really jived with me personally.




Rated R for bloody horror violence, and language including some sexual references




Video:

Candyman’s 2K mastered Blu-ray looks almost as incredible as the 4K UHD disc in some way. It’s extremely glossy and clean, with great detail levels and a rather modern looking color palette. Except for some very mild banding and some noise spikes, this COULD have been a 5/5 rated Blu-ray as well. But, the Blu-ray format does make some of these artifacts easier to show up and is just not AS good of a disc (tier wise, the 4K UHD obviously thrashes it overall) as the 4K big brother. Clothes are well defined and nuanced, black levels are really good (although the banding does come and go if you know where to look for it). Faces are INCREDIBLY detailed (the honeycombed flesh looks nastily real near the end) and overall this is a great Blu-ray disc.








Audio:

What’s a good horror movie without a killer sound mix? Well, Candyman doesn’t dissapoint there either, delivering one of the best Dolby Atmos mixes in quite some time. The track is powerful and aggressive from the get go, shaking the walls with heavy bass from the second the opening scene plays, and doesn’t ever let go. There’s plenty of dialog centric scenes to fall back on so the bass slides into the background, but that low end pulse just stays with the film whether it’s quite and talky, or whether it just is ripping the walls down with a jump scare from the titular demon. There’s a delicate sense of immersion that comes from the mix as well, and while the overheads aren’t used a whole TON for discrete sounds, they do make use of a few jump scare moments (such as the elevator scene) as well as some ambient creaks and groans to fill out the top of the sound stage. Honestly, this is a superb track that really is as deserving of praise as the already killer (pun intended) video encode (both Blu-ray and 4K UHD)






Extras:

• ALTERNATE ENDING
• DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES
• SAY MY NAME: Filmmakers and cast discuss how the horror at the center of Candyman is both timely and timeless, which is a tragedy in and of itself.
• BODY HORROR: We explore director Nia DaCosta's influences in the subgenre of body horror, and what Anthony's physical transformation means to the story.
• THE FILMMAKER'S EYE: NIA DACOSTA: Take a closer look at director Nia DaCosta, and how her singular voice and perspective were perfect to tell this story.
• PAINTING CHAOS: Filmmakers reveal how Anthony's artwork evolves throughout the film and how they strived for authenticity in recreating Chicago's vibrant art scene.
• THE ART OF ROBERT AIKI AUBREY LOWE: Composer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe reveals some of the unconventional methodology he used to create the unique and haunting soundscapes sounds of the film.
• TERROR IN THE SHADOWS: A behind-the-scenes look at how the analogue shadow puppetry scenes were created and an unpacking of why this ancient artistic medium was the most conceptually relevant for depicting the legends' cycle of violence.
• CANDYMAN: THE IMPACT OF BLACK HORROR: A roundtable discussion moderated by Colman Domingo about the nuanced relationship Black Americans have with Candyman, the horror genre and the overall idea of monsters and victims.

Final Score:
​

Candyman 2021 is a fun film for sure, and a nice change of pace for horror fans (especially after how mediocre the latest Halloween movie was this month). It’s not quite a sequel, but kind of a reboot, and a remake in one with elements of the first being canonized still. I can see Jordan Peele’s aggressive take social issues running throughout the film’s narrative, but if you’ve watched the original, it’s obvious he and DaCosta were being very careful to blend their modern take on it with old 1990s story (small tidbit, Virginia Madsen, who played the original protagonist does some narration for this film). The 4K UHD may not be a native 4K master, but it looks AMAZING on disc, and with the reasonable extras makes this a very appealing packaging. Recommended for a good watch.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen nII, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, Vanessa Williams, Tony Todd
Directed by: Nia DaCosta
Written by: Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, Nia DaCosta
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), French (Canadian) Spanish DD 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal
Rated: R
Runtime: 91 minutes
Blu-Ray Release November 16th, 2021

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[Todd Anderson]

I think I might need to give this film a shot... sounds like the movie might be a bit middling. But I like the sounds of "killer audio track!"