Candyman: How Good Is This Film? What does it mean?

Um, isn't it actually called Lollipop?

(The Candy Man from Willy Wonka OST is even better. Plus that's where Craig David got the name from his album so it MUST be good, no?)

To be fair while the slavery aspect are nice window dressing, that is all they are (a convenient way to transport the short stories original Liverpudlian setting to the US). But I like stories about the potency of myth, the idea how it can create realities (cf Alan Moore's Promethea) so I was always going to like Candyman.

COmpletely defies horror convention as well, with dislikable lead who eventually gets it, and rather noble boogieman.

Ha, according to IMDB, "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" was originally going to be called Candy Man.

okay I just read a description of the "Candyman" sequels and WOW way to fuck up an extremely effective, terrifying movie

what a movie

it is hard 2 sing "knockin' boots" w/ a mouthful of bees.

I love this movie. Never saw the sequels, tho.

Me too, I figured the sequels would be awful. But then I think horror movie sequels in general are rotten.

there is some great vintage chicago scenery in this movie, esp. the cabrini-green footage

Exterior, hallway and stairway scenes were actually filmed for a few days in the infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects, though the producers had to make a deal with the ruling gang members to put them in the movie as extras to ensure the cast and crew's safety during filming. Even with this arrangement, a sniper put a bullet through the production van on the last day of filming, though no one was injured.

ha a few weeks ago we spent a week in my film class talking about "candyman" - dope film

i love this movie so much

one of the best movies ever made

Helen's Theme >>>>
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_rKIJDhbb3I

I don't even care that much for horror movies these days. But this remains a stone cold classic for me.

It's the only one I watch every year.

The other 90's one I still watch sometimes is Lord Of Illusions, which is bad but good.

I've never seen that one. I'll check it.

trevor deserved it

no doubt hah

HELENNNNNNNNNM

It is candyman time. Tomorrow night it is.

from your groin to your gullet

one of my favorites. hope the remake takes place in the glossy condos and shopping centers that have since been built on the site of cabrini-green

When I finally caught it I was 13 and, I thought, more or less jaded to horror movies, but this one really got me.

saw it for the first time last week and loved it. great philip glass score too.

i couldn't help but think that the hook was a really inefficient way of going about things, though. good for the insertion part at the beginning of your, uh, project, but the ripping or slicing? difficult probably.

Life is difficult, so should death be.

I love every bit of Tony Todd's dialogue.

And his first appearance in the parking garage.

otm

tony todd is the greatest. he's the highlight of several final destination movies too

I caught bits and pieces a couple weekends ago when an out-of-town friend picked this from my film hoard as his early morning 'waiting for everybody else to wake the fuck up already' movie, realized I haven't seen it properly in ages, probably should rectify that ASAP (particularly since I seem to be on a Barker run lately, even including Rawhead Rex that very same weekend, which everyone agreed was conceptually interesting while, ehhhhhhhh...let's say flawed in execution).

hope the remake takes place in the glossy condos and shopping centers that have since been built on the site of cabrini-green

Apparently it is!

Watched this two nights ago for the first time too. Did someone whisper his name five times into Netflix’ servers?

TBH, my focus was less on the content of the disparate scenes I saw and more on the wonders of nature that allow for things like Virginia and Michael Madsen generating from the same set of parents.

AVC: Then came the motion picture! Candyman.

TT: I had just done a film where I had gone to Africa for the first time, so I was all into that. Then I get a call one day, I was getting a lot of work at this point, a lot of television, we were booking easily twice a month, but I didn’t know I was successful yet, because I was worried about my little baby. Anyway, I get a call from my agent saying “This director wants to see you, wants to just meet you about this movie called Candyman.” I thought he was fucking joking. I mean, what is that? A Sammy Davis thing? What is that? He said, “No no no. They won’t give us the script, but they said it’s a major studio film, and they want to just meet you.” I said, “Okay.” And I met Bernard Rose, who’s a crazy maniacal Englishman who had a habit of twisting his hair between his fingers. He said, “I saw your film that you did in Africa, and you’re my guy. The only problem is, we got to convince the studio.” So I knew I had his blessings, and he slipped me a copy of the script. I read it, and word leaked out to me, it was the whole thing of the urban mythology, and the fact that this was a possibility of an African-American, I don’t know, icon, but a horror figure. ’Cause I was heavy into the whole Dracula, Phantom Of The Opera thing.

I had to do what they call a “Personality Test,” where I had to go to the studio at literally 8 in the morning, in front of a bunch of suits, and display whether I had a personality. So I did my best not to spill the coffee or insult them, and at the end of it, I heard they didn’t think I had a personality. They said, “Well, we don’t know if he has personality, but if you believe that he can do the film… Okay… Are you sure? He said, “Yeah. That’s the guy.” And then the last hurdle was meeting Virginia Madsen, who’s from the Chicago area, and she just had it in her contract that she had to sign off on me. Then we met, went to lunch, and she said “Yes,” and that was it. And I remember we came here to Chicago, and it was my first time in Chicago, we went to the Kingston Mines, me and Bernard, listening to some great blues. Keith Richards stopped by that night, and he was just saying, “This role is going to change your life.” And at the time, I’m going “Okay, I’ve heard this before. I’ve done some things. I’ve had some life interruptions, but change my life? I’m going to do the best I can, but I don’t know if your ego is stating that this is going to change my life.” But in fact, he was right, because not a day goes by, to this day, 17 years later, without people, I mean multiple people, coming up and saying “Candyman!” Which amazes me, because usually film does not have that much of an attention span.

AVC: Does it bother you that when you die, the headline will begin, “Candyman actor Tony Todd…”

TT: Well, it did at a point, but then I said “You can’t change it, so that’s what it is.” I selectively do films that are completely away from that, and then I go back to it, and there’s nothing you can do about it. And I embrace it. The only thing that’s changed is that I got to go food shopping after midnight. And sometimes I have to put up with weird questions. But there are perks. I can get in front of any line at any nightclub in the world.

AVC: What do you think resonated with people about the character?

TT: I think that it was genuinely frightening. I think the fact that it came from an urban landscape, something that people could relate to, the housing project, and I also think the message of redemption, and that the violence stemmed from a racist act in the first place, the undeniable love that was denied between Candyman and Virginia Madsen’s character hit a chord with people. And I think Philip Glass’ music, and Tony [Anthony B. Richmond], our DP’s phenomenal cinematography. It just had the elements all there. And then the bees. And the bees have always been creepy. I knew when I read the script, I said “That moment when the bees are first coming around, that’s a memorable moment. That’s a film moment that’s right up there.”

AVC: The second one was directed by Bill Condon?

TT: Yeah, Bill Condon who’s now going to be doing Twilight.

AVC: He won an Academy Award too.

TT: Yeah, for Gods And Monsters, and I think Dreamgirls.

AVC: Given the mania for remaking horror films, it’s surprising that no one has remade Candyman.

TT: They keep saying it’s going to be remade. I keep hearing rumors. At one point, I was actively pursuing it. Once I had gotten past the fact that I can’t get away from it, so, well, let me embrace the brand. So when it came time for me to really get a significant payday if I had done the brand—but of course there’s an entanglement now with who owns it. So even if it was done without me, like three owners own the rights, and they’re so maniacally greedy that they can’t come to an agreement. The last rumor I heard was that they were going to go back to the original source, which took place in England, and use a white actor to do the role, but that didn’t go over too well on the Internet.

AVC: That would be a bold revisionist take.

TT: Well sometimes boldness is what we need, instead of just doing a remake by cookie-cutter.

AVC: Which definitely seems like how things tend to be.

TT: It’s sad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlwzuZ9kOQU

I've got to admit, when the cliche slow/spooky Destiny's Child started I chuckled, because it was already kinda playing out like a parody. I think we're now seeing that if Jordan Peele puts his name on everything, the law of diminishing returns supersedes his skill and reputation.

at the very least it looks gorgeous

I think one of the keys of Key and Peele's genre parodies was that they were always really, really well made.

Between this, Aquaman and Watchmen, Yahya Abdul-Mateen is carving out quite a career in genre material!

lotta squelching sounds in that preview

it's got tony todd in it according to wikipedia so i am down

agreed that candyman is basically perfect

Anytime they do these horror remakes in modern times I always cringe waiting for the obligatory moment where someone starts cameraphoning the horrific events and then cut to a scene of the video going viral.

At least in this case Candyman wouldn't be visible so people would be taping someone fighting an invisible foe

It's been a long while since I drove by where Cabrini was, I honestly don't remember what's there now...

it's got tony todd in it according to wikipedia so i am down

oh shit! i didn't know! all right i'm in

https://goo.gl/maps/oneJs5mpRujer9xU9

lots of condos, a big target

Is this a proper remake or a stealth sequel?

I was assuming the former but Tony Todd bring in this indicates otherwise!

Being in this

sequel per wikipedia

I think someone called this a "spiritual sequel." I assume that's another word for "soft reboot." Vanessa Williams is in this one, too. She was in previous films in the series.

peele is just a producer on this, i wouldn't get caught up on his influence

Looks like he's a writer, too. Just heard that this may have something to do with gentrification, which is intriguing, especially given the setting.

I mean the original kinda did too

But I think it has even more resonance if it's filmed so many years later at the same location, where this housing project was long since torn down to make way for condos and the like.

Apparently Vanessa Williams is playing her same character, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen her now-grown child? At least if IMDB is to be believed: They are billed as "Anne-Marie McCoy" and "Anthony McCoy," the character names from the original film.

The scene where Williams says "Nononono. Don't say that," in the trailer has convinced me to see this movie

Well really, "Jordan Peele writes and produces a Candyman movie" convinced me to see it but that scene is strong confirmation.

On the good news front: the soundtrack for the new "Candyman" movie is by Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe

— Backspin Promotions (@BackspinPromo) February 29, 2020

im unfamiliar with him but he's got his work cut out for him, the original score is great.

Robert Lowe is well up to the task of following Phillip Glass’ excellent ‘92 score. He’s been a post-rock heavy in 90 Day Men and Om and is now a modular synth master.

On a separate tip - an inside joke between my wife and me, when in awkward situations, is to say Virginia Madsen’s line, ‘I’m working on my thesis.’

Hah excellent

whoa that is an awesome and unexpected choice for the soundtrack, now i am legit hyped

what's blood for... if not for spilling?

it's candyman hours my friends

https://imgur.com/GInPpPB

https://i.imgur.com/m6wmWj2.jpg

Helennnnnn

how the hell is the new sequel also called Candyman

it's not a sequel, is how, I guess.

Candyman is a 2021 supernatural slasher film directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld and DaCosta. It is a direct sequel to the 1992 film of the same name and the fourth film in the Candyman film series, based on the short story "The Forbidden" by Clive Barker.

oh shit my weekend plans are sorted then

Huh, I thought it was a remake rather than a sequel. Thing is with Candyman you could have five films just called Candyman and it would make some sort of narrative sense. You'd obv have to kill the series there, though.

Oddly I am less annoyed by this than I am about the naming of Suicide Squad and The Suicide Squad.

Forget it Jake, it's ContentTown et al....

Thing is with Candyman you could have five films just called Candyman and it would make some sort of narrative sense.

lol otm

Walter Chaw grapples with this very issue (among many others) in his review: https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2021/08/candyman-2021.html

I liked the Bernard Rose film; wrote a paper on it way back when for an undergrad class on horror cinema. I should look for the Barker story.

"Gone is the heavy atmosphere of Rose's film, plus most of Philip Glass's extraordinary organ and vocal score."

Madsen + Todd both being excellent, Cabrini Green and the Glass soundtrack, these are some of the magic ingredients that made it something different.

not sure im gonna watch this. will prob avoid like i did candyman two and three

I remember the original being...fine. Is the worship a new development?

has always been way better than fine!

has been one of my favs sicne first viewing

the original is amazing

idk i’m still hopeful i’ll love this

The original is one of the few horror movies I actively enjoyed watching when I was actively anti-horror due to it always giving me inescapable nightmares

wow my grammar is atrocious, "it" means horror in general, including "funny" horror

Candyman had more for me to latch onto than "people get brutally murdered no matter what they do"

i went to see it in 2019 at a local old-timey theatre with organ player that showed it as one of their Halloween movies. still holds up really well.

did the old timey organ player do the philip glass score?

this fucking ruled.

I thought it seemed pretty good while it was happening but there's a lot that disappointed me by the end / in hindsight. some fun audience reaction moments last night.

Walter Chaw: https://www.filmfreakcentral.net/ffc/2021/08/candyman-2021.html

previously linked itt

do NOT link it three more times!!

this fucking ruled.

I think Angelica Bastien does an even better job than Chaw in outlining what’s wrong with the film.

https://www.vulture.com/article/candyman-2021-movie-review-nia-dacosta-jordan-peele.html