Candyman: Shadow Puppets

This movie is about as woke as modern horror can get. It doesn't subvert expectations and play on racial discomforts like Get Out: Candyman 2021 is literally a story about black ghosts and the responsibility that gets passed on to the supernatural when justice fails. It should be laughable and you wouldn't expect to take it seriously.

Except you do.

There isn't much runtime and the titular Candyman is more symbolic this time around. The horror is lightweight as well. The most prevailing thing is the very realistic characters and the symbolism. Basically Candyman gives you more to think about than horror.

It won't be everyone's cup of tea, but it's certainly a good movie.

Very little horror, a lot of woke drama scenes, and hard to get into if you're wanting to watch a supernatural horror on a Friday date night.

(My take on the negative woke reviews is at the end of this review.)

Brilliant film. As a huge Candyman fan, I went in hesitant bc the trailer made it seem like they completely changed the entire story & created an entirely new Candyman. This was NOT the case. It is essentially a part 2 of the original 90s film. There were so many hype points for me, especially the ending scene with the original quotes & ... well, I won't spoil it. But the ending was the best part if you loved the original. I give it a 9 only because there is a character in this that their reasoning behind breaking the pact made no sense to me. And also bc we didn't get any "groin to gut" action. Yes, I'm a weirdo & the gore wasn't up to par for me. Lol.

About the other reviews: I'm a white girl born in 89 who grew up watching the originals. The negative reviews bc it was "woke" are banking on that Cabrini was gentrified since the 90s (like most places) & Candyman represents all of the ppl wrongly killed who live in the projects.

Who *typically* lives in the projects? People of Color.

If you're doing a part 2 to a film that took place in the projects in the 90s, the chances of that place still being the projects in our modern world is slim. It was modernized bc it makes sense. "Woke" is modernization. If you hate that, then you need to take a long look at yourself internally as a person bc your negative review of a film actually says was more negatively about you as a human being.

Good job Peele! You got people talking AGAIN!

'Candyman (2020)' continues the trend of confusing titles in its series by being named the same thing as both the original film and its 2021 sequel. It's actually a short film depicting the history of the Candyman legend. It was released prior to Nia DaCosta's film as a sort of preview, but it actually plays during the credits of that film to compound its themes. It's a really effective short that portrays a series of vignettes depicting violence against black people, each of which added to the Candyman legend over the years and made it what it is today. Set to Phillip Glass' haunting score, the piece uses simple but effective shadow puppetry to tell its sad tale. It's a compelling film that hooks you immediately and doesn't let you go.

The movie was pretty good. Scary. Good pacing and acting. Doesn't deserve the hate. Don't be fooled by that. It really is a pretty good movie and was exciting to watch.