Candyman hooks audience to the big screen
Candyman is a thrilling remake of the original film, released in 1992. This spine-chilling horror movie has had many people wondering what it is about Candyman that makes him so vengeful. Not only has he terrorized the people of Cabrini-Green but he has made it known that he is not one to be forgotten.
On Aug. 27 the new movie Candyman was released into theatres and ‘hooked’ everyone’s attention. The original urban legend of Candyman is about a man who had over one hundred thousand in debt and needed a way out. He was severely depressed and had no other choice but to do something insane. He ended up putting cyanide into pixy sticks and gave them to his own children. In the newest version of the film, it was told that Candyman would put razor blades in the candy and then give the candy to kids in the area. He was a man who had been discriminated against and beaten to the point where he couldn’t take it anymore and it drove him to snap.
Anthony Mccoy, the main character, is an artist from the Chicago projects who finds interest in the violence and history of Cabrini-Green. Two decades before the resurrection of Candyman, a woman went crazy in there and became a murderer, supposedly because of the spirit of Candyman. He starts to become obsessed with the idea of Candyman and uses his opening piece in an art show to bring attention to this horrifying urban legend. The more he becomes invested in this history, the more he becomes connected to the character and slowly becomes him. With an infection following a bee sting on his hand, he is forced to get his hand removed and has a hook put in its place. He can be summoned by chanting his name five times in a mirror and you can see him for yourself.
Candyman is more than just a horror movie, it also delivers a relevant social message. The director utilizes symbolism in the film to represent the oppression throughout the Black community. The symbolic meaning of the swarm is a very important point in the movie because they use the idea of the bees to represent the police. Around the Chicago projects there are cops that supposedly are there to ‘keep them safe’ when in reality, they are there to “keep them in.” The metaphor for cops is brought back from the point that the original Candyman was ‘swarmed’ by the police purely because of his race. One bee won’t win but a whole swarm will.
To live in a community where you feel as though you don’t belong, makes it difficult to forget the struggles you went through to survive. For Candyman, revenge felt like the only option after everything they put him through. In his life he was in a position where he had no power, and now that he has it he is going to use it to his advantage.
