Candyman 2021’s Connections To The Original Movie Explained

Candyman may be marketed as a reboot of the franchise, but it directly connects back to the 1992 original in multiple ways, making it a proper sequel.

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Candyman may be marketed as a reboot of the franchise, but it directly connects back to the 1992 original in multiple ways, making it a proper sequel. This trend of horror reboots that are actually sequels, but confusingly use the original movie’s name, is getting a bit out of hand at this point. Halloween set the pace in 2018, being a sequel to John Carpenter’s original, but duplicating its title. 2022’s Scream 5 will just be titled Scream, despite being a sequel. Anyone who sees the 2021 film will quickly realize Candyman pulled the same trick.

Thankfully, Candyman is being quite warmly received so far, by both fans and critics. After one decent and one terrible sequel starring Tony Todd back in the 1990s, it’s nice to finally have a follow-up that feels at least near the level of the original, even if not quite there. Todd tried his hardest to make the other sequels work, but everything around him failed to match his effort, especially in the case of the absolutely woeful Candyman: Day of the Dead, which tellingly went direct to video.

Despite the identical name, and marketing which mostly stresses its standalone elements, Candyman 2021 is definitely a sequel, and could rightly be called Candyman 4 – although not the winter-set Candyman 4 that Tony Todd originally planned to make – since it doesn’t retcon anything about the other sequels. To illustrate that fact, here’s a look at the major elements Candyman 2021 has in common with the 1992 original, elements which enable it to properly continue the legacy started by Todd and director Bernard Rose nearly 30 years ago.

Helen Lyle’s Legend Is Referenced

Early on in Candyman 2021, Helen Lyle from the original movie is discussed, and it would appear that Candyman’s goal of making her an urban legend did work. Yet, the legend is twisted from what really happened, painting Helen as a psychotic woman who killed a dog and attempted to burn baby Anthony McCoy in a giant bonfire. Thankfully, Anne-Marie McCoy (a returning Vanessa Williams) knows the truth, that it was, in fact, Helen who saved Anthony from one of six Candyman manifestations. Anthony later listens to an audio recording Helen made during her investigation of the Candyman legend, and while she’s uncredited, Virginia Madsen did reportedly voice these new lines. Interestingly though, no mention is made of Helen returning from the grave to murder her cheating husband Trevor. It leaves the door open, and one cannot help but wonder how that death was ultimately explained away.

Anthony McCoy Is The Grown-Up Baby Candyman Chose

Leading Candyman 2021’s cast is Yahya Abdul-Mateen II – who played villain Black Manta in Aquaman – as Anthony McCoy, a struggling artist who finds new inspiration after discovering the Candyman legend and daring to say his name five times. The fact that Anthony is the teased new Candyman killer and the baby from the 1992 original as a grown-up actually became pretty well-known in the time since Candyman was originally planned to release in 2020, before the Coronavirus led to a delay. Oddly, the movie itself treats the reveal of Anthony’s heritage as a twist, making one wonder if that knowledge getting out there was unplanned. Anyway, it would appear that Candyman – the Daniel Robitaille version – never ceased having a plan for Anthony to join him in the pantheon of legends that serve as the writing on the wall, and the whisper in the classroom.

Tony Todd Returns As Candyman At The End

In many respects, it’s possible for a newcomer to watch Candyman 2021 without prior knowledge of the franchise and still follow the story. One area where that falters is the very end, when after Anthony completes his post-death transformation into the latest Candyman legend, he briefly transforms into Daniel Robitaille, played by a de-aged and returning Tony Todd. While Daniel had been mentioned as being the original Candyman earlier in the movie, no images of him were shown, so new viewers might be left scratching their heads as to who this guy was telling Brianna to “tell everyone” in the final scene. For long-time Candyman fans though, seeing – and hearing – Todd in the role again, even briefly, was a purely crowd-pleasing moment. As good as Mateen is, Tony Todd will forever be the go-to image of Candyman that people see when they imagine him asking them to be his victim.

Candyman 2021 Went Back To Chicago & Cabrini Green

While many movies set in specific locations actually shoot elsewhere, then do their best to hide that fact, one thing that gave the original Candyman movie an extra layer of authenticity was that it really did film in Chicago. Not only that, but it really did film in the infamously dangerous Cabrini Green housing projects, with the filmmakers even having to make nice with the gangs that ran the place before they could feel safe filming scenes there. Thankfully, the sequel retained that authenticity, returning to what’s left of the old Cabrini Green projects to film new scenes. While Chicago has changed visually in nearly 30 years, the fact that both movies were shot there is apparent and helps both feel connected visually as well as narratively.

Candyman 2021 Is A Proper Sequel, NOT A Reboot

While it looks ready to revitalize the franchise, in the sense it could be considered a reboot, Candyman 2021 definitely isn’t one in the usual sense of resetting the continuity. Candyman 2021 is in many ways a love letter to the 1992 original, throwing in helpings of references, character cameos, gory deaths on par with the past, some of the same iconic music, and not directly retconning any of the prior movies. Nia DaCosta and Nope movie producer/writer Jordan Peele’s film really is Candyman 4, albeit so good that it should probably be considered Candyman 2 instead. Although fans certainly wouldn’t want to erase Tony Todd’s work in the other sequels. Candyman 2021 shows how a horror franchise resurrection can truly be done right, paying homage to and honoring past glories, but charting a bright new future path forward, should further sequels ultimately be commissioned by Universal and Blumhouse.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/candyman-2021-original-1992-movie-sequel-connections/