Candyman (2021) Movie Review & Comments

I like the original so I’ve just been to see this despite the hit and miss reviews and I’m really disappointed. Poor script, it wasn’t scary or tense, the final part of the film seemed rushed, the scene in the school seemed out of place to the rest of the film to me, it was disjointed, I could go on. Only 90 minutes long but at one stage it felt like it would never end. It could have been such a good film. 3/10
 
i never understood the love for the original, i seen it in the cinema when it first came out and thought it was cap, watched it again afew years later and still thought it was crap, watched it about a month ago with my son and guess what? its still crap lol
im a glutton for punishment and will watch this when i get the chance lol
 
Stylishly done but this felt more like Velvet Buzzsaw than the original Candyman, and the myopic and relentless social commentary just wore me down with its ‘white people this, black people that’ script. The commentary was there in the film and used judiciously and intelligently, as well as sympatheticly, here it’s like a bludgeon. Zero scares and not an awful lot in the gore dept either, save for some The Fly-style body horror (The Bee?). That said there were a few well directed scenes and I liked the build up to the finale. Also liked that they incorporated the first movie.

I’m not a massive fan of the original even after a recent watch but I’d still say on balance the 1992 film is superior to this uneven, overly political sequel. 5/10
 
Oh dear. I was very disappointed with this. For the majority of the short run time I felt bored. The original film had a nightmarish quality, a consistent creepy atmosphere, great performances (especially Todd & Madsen), excellent practical effects and a terrific score.
Plot wise this follow up (and it most definitely is a sequel) makes perfect sense, the main twist I guessed maybe 10 mins into film though. That’s about as it good as it gets, some icky body horror aside, there’s nothing in the way of scares or shocks. Performances range from bland to irritating, poorly served by a thunderously pretentious script complete with sledgehammered social commentary.
One of the biggest failures of the year for me.
3.5/10

Can't disagree with any of that. I too felt bored watching it. If you're making a horror movie, I feel like you have to at least make it scary, gory, or intelligent and it didn't really succeed at any of those.

The supporting cast apart from his girlfriend were all awful, one-dimensional caricatures, and even worse most of the victims of Candyman weren't even that, pretty much their only scenes were their deaths, so it was difficult to care what happened to anyone in the movie.

Also, nitpicking but the whole bee sting infection thing annoyed me. He's a painter, his arms are his career, why would he not have gone to the hospital as soon as it started spreading? And why did he leave without explanation when he was told he needed to be admitted? They really could have done with explaining that whole area of the film better, perhaps have him go in earlier in the film and get refused treatment because he has no medical insurance, since he has no job, you even get a bonus political statement for the movie there Jordan..
 
Quite possibly the worst sequel/remake I've had the misfortune to pay to watch. Just terrible compared to the original. Only redeeming feature was seeing the end title appear. A couple of predictable gory kills can in no way be classed a horror.
 
Quite possibly the worst sequel/remake I've had the misfortune to pay to watch. Just terrible compared to the original. Only redeeming feature was seeing the end title appear. A couple of predictable gory kills can in no way be classed a horror.
I liked how they shot the bathroom sequence, very cool, but it was also so stupid, obviously added in later and horribly misjudged in tone. Just dreadful.
 
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Pointless, just like the whole film.

I think the point of most horror sequels/remakes/reboots etc is to simply make money 🤪 😂

Like anime or comic book fiction or something like Harry Potter, the modern horror genre has a lot of devoted followers who will pay to see their favourite villains in anything half decent.

In all seriousness and as somebody who enjoyed it enough, the only reason this exists is because

1) Halloween (2018) made a huge profit
2) The original is one of Jordan Peele's fave films and he's Hollywood new golden boy.

If this does well expect to see trailers for direct sequels to A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th in the next two years.
 
The point of all films is to make money.

That's a damn good point 😳 😁

Sometimes, more so in experimental decades than now imo, there's a glimmer of purpose or reason or artistic integrity. With the horror sequel it's generally a cheap and nasty cash in. Often because they are so inexpensive to make that they help support the studio.
 
I knew this would happen because it wasn't in need of a reimagining.
The original already had a race relations context.

If you like the original, I highly recommend Bernard Rose's Paperhouse, which came just before.

Barker's work is all getting remakes soon. I keep hearing about Hellraiser and Nightbreed coming. I want to be optimistic but I'm also realistic.
 
Now on Prime Video...

 
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Beat me to it, I was just gonna come and post that I spotted it on Prime.

I'll check it out having watched the original quite recently, but not expecting anything special.
 

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