When I saw the trailer, I assumed this was going to be a remake of the cult 90s scary movie (that's what happens when filmmakers use the same title in recent years. In fact, it is a direct sequel, which was delayed by COVID, I was very excited when it was finally released, written and produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out). Basically, in Chicago, it has been thirty years since the events at the Cabrini-Green housing project. Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is a visual artist who has recently moved into an apartment with his girlfriend, art gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris). One night, Brianna's brother Troy (Misfits' Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) shares the urban legend of Helen Lyle, a graduate student who went on a killing spree in the early 1990s. Her rampage culminated in a bonfire outside Cabrini-Green when she attempted to sacrifice a baby. The residents were able to rescue the child before Helen perished in the fire. Following a scathing meeting with art critic Finley Stephens (Rebecca Spence), Anthony is desperate for a creative spark to turn his career around. He becomes interested in this urban story and goes to Cabrini-Green for inspiration. Exploring the abandoned part of the project, he encounters laundromat owner William Burke (Colman Domingo), who introduces him to the story of the Candyman. When Burke was a child, he was frightened by an encounter with Sherman Fields (Michael Hargrove), a hook-handed man whom the police believed was responsible for putting a razor blade in a piece of candy that ended up in the hands of a white girl. Burke inadvertently alerted the police to Sherman hiding behind the walls of one of the tower blocks, and the racist officers beat Sherman to death. When children continued to receive candy with razor blades inside, Sherman was cleared of the accusations, and the legend implies that if somebody says "Candyman" in a mirror five times, Sherman's spirit will appear and kill the person who summons him. Anthony is inspired by this story and develops an art exhibit called Say My Name, based on the Candyman's legend. It consists of a bathroom mirror containing a bloody lair inside and showcases it at Brianna's art gallery. He is dismayed when it does not get a positive reaction from audiences. That night, one of Brianna's co-workers and his girlfriend are slaughtered by the Candyman after saying his name five times in front of Anthony's mirrored exhibit. The legend spreads, and more people are killed after repeating the Candyman's name, including the art critic and a group of teenage girls at a school. While exploring Cabrini-Green, Anthony was stung by a bee on his right, which develops into a huge scab, and since then he has undergone a physical transformation spreading across his entire body. He goes to a hospital, where learns that his mother lied about where he was born, and when he confronts his mother, Anne-Marie (Vanessa Estelle Williams), she reluctantly reveals that he was the baby Helen rescued from the fire the night she died. Daniel Robitaille (Tony Todd) was the first Candyman, Anne-Marie never told Anthony about these events because she wanted him to have a normal life. The community had vowed never to repeat the Candyman's legend after that night, and she fears what will happen now that someone has broken the pact. Worried about Anthony, Brianna goes to Cabrini-Green to find him and Burke, who she realises first told him about the Candyman. At the laundromat, she is attacked and subdued by Burke, who takes her to an abandoned church where Anthony, his body continuing to deteriorate, is waiting. Anthony starts blacking out and tries to save Brianna as Burke reveals that he not only witnessed Sherman's death, he also saw Sherman's spirit returning as the Candyman and witnessed him murdering his older sister and her friend, who summoned him. Burke plans to have the police gun Anthony down to create a new legend with the Candyman as an instrument of vengeance rather than a symbol of Black pain and suffering. To complete Anthony's transformation into the Candyman, Burke saws off his right hand and replaces it with a hook. Brianna manages to escape the church and is chased through Cabrini-Green by Burke, whom she viciously stabs to death. Anthony appears and collapses into her arms as the police, called by Burke, show up and shoot Anthony dead. Brianna is arrested and handcuffed, an officer in the police car attempts to question her and agree a story that Anthony provoked the police into shooting him. Brianna uses the police car's rear-view mirror to summon the Candyman. He appears, now in Anthony's guise, and massacres the police. As more police arrive at the scene, Anthony's body is swarmed with bees, changing momentarily into Burke, and then taking on the appearance of Robitaille and instructing Brianna to "tell everyone". Also starring Kyle Kaminsky as Grady Greenberg, Troy's boyfriend, Brian King as Clive Privler, and Virginia Madsen as the voice of Helen Lyle. Abdul-Mateen gives a terrific performance as the artist who becomes obsessed and possessed in equal measure striving for his art, the story of the original is cleverly interwoven, and this follow-up is more politically charged. It has many clever aspects in amongst the main story, from the creepy shadow puppetry in between the action to the origins of another Candyman (who actually has candy haha), it is superbly atmospheric, gory at the right moments, and to be honest, I think it's almost better than the original, a fantastic supernatural slasher horror. Very good!
