DJariya

I just got back from seeing it. I’d probably give it a B. I was entertained, but it wasn’t really scary. It was more creepy. I did like the tie-ins to the original movie and expanding the mythology. This isn’t a spoiler, but Vanessa Williams (Not the singer) is in this movie and plays the same character from the original. The makeup work was pretty good, Yahyah Abdul Mateen was a good lead in this.

There is a cameo at the end



Its about 90 minutes, so it’s a pretty short movie.

DJariya

Honestly I don’t think you need to freak out about crowds. This is a very niche horror movie and not the kind of movie that will draw lots of people. Just see a matinee during the week. I caught a 430pm matinee today and there was no more than 15 to 20 people in my auditorium. I had a whole row to myself.

Not sure how slow box office will be this weekend, but I see this making no more than $10M tops opening weekend.

dex14

It’s on the way to around a $20mil+ opening weekend. I think this would’ve hit big in regular times. Black audiences usually love horror. Mix that with a film directed towards that demographic, a well known property, and Peele’s name on the marketing, it would’ve had a boffo opening.

Why So Blu?

I just got back from a matinee and there probably 20-30 people (mixed crowd) and I enjoyed the film. It played more like a thriller in parts, which have this really cool neo-noir aesthetic to it.

I do feel that the final "stinger," if you will,

At least that's what I got out of it. The Dolby Cinema presentation was great, too. I'll be getting the 4K disc for sure.

dex14

I felt the whole movie was that.

JayTL

I felt like this movie should have leaned more into social commentary, and also more into the horror aspect of Candyman. It wanted to do both, but just ...kind of didn't


Instead it almost came across as preachy (and not in THAT way, I mean it felt like it tried to be a movie with a message) with some slasher scenes in it. I'd say an extra 15 minutes could have helped...

dex14

To me, it seemed like a good chunk of the movie was cut. Especially scenes that may have included Colman Domingo's character.


I hope if stuff was cut, maybe we'll get a director's cut.

JayTL

I feel the same. It feels like they had a good chunk cut to hit the 90 minute mark.

jpcamb

I was pretty pleasantly surprised with this one. I didn't care for "Get Out" most likely as it was hyped to hell when I finally saw it, but this felt like a better movie to me. I liked that the female lead was smart and it did not play heavily into the "don't go into the basement- oh shit she went into the basement" trope of horror movies and she was smart about how she handled herself. I had not seen the first movie so I don't know the backstory and such aside from what was in the film. I did feel Domingo was wasted in the role somewhat and he got a little bit cartoonish near the end which is a shame as I liked him in FTWD. I would probably watch this again at home when it's on again. It did feel like it had some stuff cut out and it could have been a bit longer but it held my interest for the whole film and I was not tempted to be looking at my phone etc.

Dr. DVD

Thinking of going for a showing next weekend with the Regal pass and spending most of next Saturday at the movies. Going to shoot for a matinee of both this and Shang Chi

DJariya

Estimated $22M opening weekend.

Twitter

Budget was reportedly $25M.

redtornado

Glad to see it doing well at the box office. Would like to see another chapter in the Candyman universe.

dex14

First black female director to have a number one movie at the domestic box office.

Can’t wait to see what she does with The Marvels.

mh4268

That's how I would describe it.

Osiris3657

I liked it, but that ending was so sudden. Feels incomplete

DJLinus

I saw this yesterday and thought it was okay. Filmed and acted well and I liked how it tied into the first, but I didn't think it was scary. As for the sledgehammer comment above, I don't mind my horror movies trying to say something, but here they ditched the subtext and jumped right into text.

LiquidSky

Watched last weekend and enjoyed the movie.

MysterioMan007

I saw this about a week ago and enjoyed it. Never was a huge fan of the original movie, but liked this one a bit more.Yahya Abdul-Mateen could be star if he chooses the right roles. It was nice to revisit the neighborhood from the original and expand on the mythology surrounding the Candyman. I like the idea they were going for here with multiple Candymans throughout history. But Tony Todd will always be my Candyman.

dex14

This will be available on PVOD starting Friday.

Throwing Copper

It dropped on PPV today. 20 bucks.

OldBoy

this was ok. not great by any stretch. a little bizarre and some scenes felt out of place (girls in HS), but the last shot was the best of any movie this year.

OldBoy

also, kept thinking this seemed like direct sequel and though i never saw Farewell to Flesh, just kept thinking this has to be sequel especially with cameos.

Toddarino

Saw this in the theater yesterday. It was good, but like others have mentioned not scary at all. I’d go see a sequel mostly because of what happened at the end.

Abob Teff

Say my name 5 times and my Random Page Three Thoughts will appear in the mirror ...

They were set up: the "lead" girl was the girl at the art gallery but then she seemed forgotten about ... until there was that great transition! But yes, they did feel shoe-horned in and left Candyman's motivations a big foggy. I'm assuming the school is in the neighborhood. They were briefly bullying the girl in the bathroom stall. Then again, most of Candyman's motivations were unclear. Notice he only killed white people in this movie. At first it seemed like people who had wronged Anthony, but that went away pretty quickly.

All in all I like the commentary they were going for, I wish they had done a little tighter job on the storytelling though. We could have used a tightened up social commentary, better character development for Anthony and Brianna (the little bit of background she got should have either been cut or made to pay off), and clearer motivations of Laundryman (Laundryman, Laundryman, Laundryman, Laundryman ... AAAGGGHHHH!!!!!) and Candyman.

DiCosta's visuals were amazing and, save for the first kills, I love the ways she chose to keep the kills distanced from the camera. I have seen that surreal low-hanging fog (is it fog if it isn't on the ground?) in Chicago many times; simply flipping the image upside-down brought a new level of creep to it.

The shadow puppets were a great and effective way to tell backstory. I'll admit I felt a bit goofy sitting in the theater watching them ... I was the only white person in the theater and it felt as if I was the only one who was watching this as more than a gory horror film. This occurred to me when everybody else was laughing and leaving, but I sat there with tears in my eyes from the story being conveyed over the end credits.

I need to go back and watch the original again. I probably haven't seen it since the 90s, but it did stay in my memory. Can we stop with the whole "reboot/spiritual sequel" and whatever creative colloquialisms they keep coming up with ... it is a sequel. Now it would be nice if you'd change the title.

asianxcore

Finally got a chance to see this in a theater today.

I enjoyed the overall film, even though there were pieces of it that wasn't fond of.

Loved the cinematography, score & set pieces as well as Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the lead role (as Anthony McCoy).

Thought the film did solid work in extending the mythos of the first film. As others mentioned, I really liked the idea of multiple Candymen existing throughout history.

To echo more of what has already been said, I thought the film could have benefited from leaning heavier into Social Commentary rather than sprinkling it throughout, which made much of the dialogue feel odd & forced in that specific area. That alone would have helped improve so much of the film's dialogue as well as some not-so-subtle lines in the ending.

Also, while I appreciated the Body Horror aspects of the film (the FX work was solid), I didn't think the film earned it organically. Anthony gets stung early on and rarely does anyone acknowledge how disgusting his hand/arm/neck are throughout. Outside the art dealer dinner & hospital visit, everyone in the film just seems to ignore it completely, even when parts of Anthony's affected body aren't even covered.