I’ve said many times that a good horror flick is hard to come by. And since slasher films aren’t my favorite type of horror movie, I can’t say this one is good or bad. But I can say I wasn’t disappointed.
Having never seen the first movie back in the ’90s, from what I understand this is more of a continuation, years later. So with that, I did appreciate how they recapped that story with the use of shadow puppets. Doing it that way helped add a sinister vibe to it. Director, Nia DaCosta, I thought, created a very interesting artsy look to the film. Hard to really explain, but for example, the use of all the mirrors and reflections was a nice touch. And I liked the cast. Yaya Abdul-Mateen II was pretty good here. But Colman Domingo was probably the best one of the entire cast.
What I had the hardest time with was how much they showed the Candyman. I think the more you show a villain like him, the more you lose the fear factor of the character. And they showed him more than a few times. That also adds to the lack of suspense. Even though I knew something was about to happen, I didn’t feel anxious about it. I just kinda watched it play out. So I would have liked some more Jump Scare moments.
And for a slasher film, I will say it got me to look away once. You can slash throats and blow off body parts all you want, but for some reason, you take out a saw and I’m like EWWW. That was actually a good thing in my book. Cause it got a reaction out of me.
Candyman is probably gonna be one of those films, where those who have been waiting for it, will rush out to see it, and probably not rush to see it again. As I said, I didn’t hate it, I think there was so much more they could have done to make it a much better horror film. Hopefully, if there’s a sequel, they’ll step their game up and add more of slashing and less back story.