WHAT’S IT ABOUT
For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini-Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In the present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his partner, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials. With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini-Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; HBO’s Euphoria, Assassination Nation) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifying wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
There’s a killer that can get you in your sleep. There’s one that put his soul in a doll. A cubbed puzzle resurrects evil, and there’s that holiday killer that will not die. This one kills you for being stupid enough to say his name in the mirror. That’s all it takes to call Candyman and start the mass killings of all who summon him. So why now? In the film, an artist named Anthony McCoy is destined to die at the hands of Candyman. Anthony’s artwork and interest in the story of Chicago’s Cabrini-Green projects caused the reemergence of the spiritual and physical pains African-Americans had experienced at the hands of law enforcement. The original Candyman came out in 1992 and spawned two sequels that sent this franchise into the abyss of horrible films no one would ever speak of. Fortunately, Jordan Peele (Get Out) and his production company got involved with the project, and the rest is history. This new story is consistent with the first movie that saw Candyman as an antihero for the Black community. This 2021 sequel does what it’s supposed to do. It reintroduces a 29-year-old film to a new audience and does it flawlessly. It’s the story of an innocent Black man killed at the hands of Chicago police. Anthony hears the story and is inspired to create paintings of the pain. Since the original Candyman was an artist in the 1800s, Anthony unknowingly had an instant spiritual bond. As Anthony slowly starts to lose his mind, more people are dying at the hands of Candyman, and we learn more and more about the history of Candyman. This film gives a backstory that’s easy to follow no matter how far-fetched the overall outcome may appear to be.
OUR RATING – A MONKEYPAW 8
MEDIA
- Genre – Thriller
- Street date
- Digital – November 2nd, 2021
- DVD/Blu-Ray November 16th, 2021
- Video – 1080p
- Screen size – 2.39:1
- Sound – English: Dolby Atmos, English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1, French: Dolby Digital 5.1, Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
- Subtitles – English SDH, Spanish, French
Extras
- Alternate Ending (UHD 2:38)
- Deleted Scenes (UHD 3 Scenes 5:52 total)
- Candyman The Impact of Black Horror (UHD 20:24)
- Say My Name (UHD 6:45)
- Body Horror (UHD 6:22)
- The Filmmaker’s Eye: Nia DaCosta (UHD 4:48)
- Painting Chaos (UHD 7:17)
- The Art of Robert Aiki Aubrey Low (UHD 4:54)
- Terror in the Shadows (UHD 4:09)