Candyman

Candyman (2021)

When this movie started, I was all set to give it four stars just for the understated credits sequence and the foggy Chicago skyline angles. But by the end I couldn’t quite bring myself to rate it so highly.

Candyman (1992)

There’s something about the familiar that can be so scary. I think Candyman has always been particularly scary to me because it’s set in Chicago. I recognize the highways from above, I attended classes in that college, and I stared out my window at Cabrini Green every time we drove to my grandparents’ condo downtown. Everything about the movie (except, thankfully, for the Candyman) is so familiar.

And can I just say that Philip Glass should have done the music for every horror movie ever? That opening sequence is fantastic and incredibly haunting.

Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995)

I wanted to celebrate Mardi Gras today by finding a movie somehow related to the holiday, and discovered there are surprisingly few out there. There are several horror movies that use (Louisiana) voodoo and similar folklore to build their story, but very few actually take place during Mardi Gras.

There is a movie called Mardi Gras Massacre, but everything I’ve read about it says it’s awful, and I was hesitant to do my first non-Thursday throwback review for something I knew would be terrible. Then I found that most of the events in this movie take place around Mardi Gras, and decided to make it the first sequel I’ve reviewed (it’s the second movie in the Candyman franchise) and the first throwback review I’ve done on a day other than Thursday. And I’m glad I did, because I mostly liked it.