Summary:
A skeptical grad student accidentally summons a murderous urban legend.
My Thoughts:
I’ve watched a few films based on the works of Clive Barker, but never have his films ever inspired me to pick up one of his books. His films- even the best of them, like “Hellraiser”- always end up feeling slightly hokey to me. Barker’s stories tend to deal with unknown and unexplainable horrors (somewhat like the writing of Lovecraft, or like the films of John Carpenter), and they often involve some kind of fantastical element; demons from other dimensions, mythical serial killers, that sort of thing. I’ve often found myself thinking that Barkers brand of horror is very much a product of 70s and 80s horror flicks and books. Many of the concepts in his books are amalgams of dozens of other ideas that seem familiar, but they’re still different enough that they take on their own aesthetic.
I’ve never quite bought into Barker’s aesthetic completely, but I am a horror fan, and that paired with the knowledge that Jordan Peele (director of “Us” and “Get Out”) was involved in a remake of this film made me eager to give this movie a shot. I was actually pleasantly surprised by a number of things in this film, but simultaneously, I never thought this film rose above the level of average. There are lots of cool ideas- but I honestly thought there were plenty of moments that felt a bit dated; this is one film where I think might actually really benefit from a remake.
“They say that I have shed innocent blood. What’s blood for if not for shedding?”
Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen, “Dune (1984)”) and her friend Bernie Walsh (Kasi Lemmons, “The Silence of the Lambs”) are grad students finishing up their research on urban legends. Helen’s husband Trevor (Xander Berkeley, “Terminator 2: Judgement Day”) is a professor at a university whom isn’t very supportive of Helen’s endeavors. After a number of unsolved murders happen in a poorer neighborhood and the people in that neighborhood begin attributing the murders to an urban legend named Candyman (Tony Todd, “The Crow”), Helen and Bernie go to investigate, where they encounter Anne-Marie (Venessa Williams), a woman who lives next door to one of the victims. As Helen and Bernie close in on who they believe might be behind the murders, the urban legend seems to manifest itself.
The thing that I really liked most about this film was the way that it approached the concept of storytelling in general. Most of this story is rather generic when you think about it in terms of telling an urban legend story (Candyman is essentially Bloody Mary), but it’s in talking about the fact that the Candyman is an urban legend that the writing elevates this film. There are a few scenes where the Candyman approaches Helen and speaks to her in a dreamlike manor, telling her that if he comes with her and dies, she will live forever in the minds of those who remember her story. I actually really love the themes that this sort of hints at: the idea that the creator of a story, even the subject of a story can be mortal, but the story itself takes on a life of its own and becomes something more, something immortal. Those kinds of themes are addressed a few more times throughout the film, and though those themes might seem out of place in a slasher film, it actually works quite well.
Another thing I liked was the path which Helen’s character was taken on. As Helen investigates these murders, she quickly becomes a suspect in the case; that plot point isn’t very unusual- wrong man subplots are pretty common in slahers/giallo films, which is where this movie finds its roots. What is unusual is to put the character into a dreamlike state so that she herself is not sure if she’s the murderer. I really enjoyed this twist- by making Helen unsure if she is actually the murderer we add another layer of intrigue.
For a slasher film, there wasn’t a ton of violence that occurred onscreen, but that was made up for excessiveness of the bloody aftermaths. I often find myself gravitating to horror films with images that will stick with me, and this film has quite a few shocking images. Honestly, even though I’ve always been rather tepid on Clive Barker’s flicks, I can say that there are images that stick with me from every one of his films (the “Jesus wept” scene in “Hellraiser” is bloody brilliant).
Though I did enjoy many elements of this film, as a whole it’s not particularly great. This movie is twenty-seven years old, and there are scenes that really have started to feel a bit dated. Much of the acting, from pretty much everyone involved, is second rate. Tony Todd in particular gives a remarkably cheesy performance as Candyman. The atmosphere crafted around many of the scenes can be slightly creepy at times, but it never reaches a level that I would call scary. The ideas and themes that are implemented in the story make this film better than your average “Friday the Thirteenth” inspired slasher, but it never rises to the level of true slasher greats like “Deep Red” or even “Halloween.”
Verdict:
A few clever moments in the writing and the occasional shockingly bloody scene are reason enough for me to give this a positive review. I don’t think this particular Clive Barker story is as memorable as “Hellraiser” or even the more recent (and also middling) “Midnight Meat Train”, but it does have a few moments that make it worth watching. As I mentioned above, Jordan Peele has a hand in the 2020 remake “Candyman”, so I’m actually more interested in seeing how that film turns out. This film had some great ideas, and I think with the proper budget and right direction, it could really be something special.
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