The first double feature we will be watching is the original and very excellent Candy Man from 1992 followed by the very worthy sequel that came out last year in 2021.
1992's Candy Man is truly one of the only magnificent horror movies that came out in the early 90s. Candy Man, and in fact much of Clive Barker's work, often gets lumped into the slasher genre and though there are elements of the slasher here (an "other" taking revenge on those who wronged him, and the use of something sharp or blunt to punish those wrong doers) one of the elements missing here is a bunch of dumb people we think deserve to die. The characters in a Clive Barker story are typically intelligent, and if they do make a stupid mistake it's because their heart gets in the way of their logic. Clive Barker is above the slasher in so many ways and his ideas and creative storytelling created a subgenre all it's own: Urban Horror.
If horror has told us anything it's told us that anything can be frightening. Beyond that, anyplace can be frightening. Wielders of the horror pen, those of the likes Clive Barker and Stephen King, who merely dabble in cinema, where their true passion lies in the novel or short story, recognize this. King has turned rural Maine into a horrific place filled with demons and murderers, "ayah and don't forgit the cold shores right before a Northeaster, by golly!"
For Barker it was the urban underbelly. Urban horror.
Urban horror has it's roots in actual history. Specifically since Barker is from Great Britain English History. As the assembly line and stable factory work enticed the worker to leave their land and make a go of it in the city in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, the routine (though anything but comfortable) lifestyle of country farming began to dissipate. Standards of living got better, and life expectancy, especially among newborn children, increased, but there were new fears. Here it wasn't the backbreaking work on the farm that would eventually kill you. You wouldn't get eaten by a wolf or a some made up monster that lurked in a forest. A drought wouldn't starve you. No, life was indeed better. As life gets better, however fear grows, and we fear losing that which we have gained much more so than the fear of failing to get that which we do not yet have.
In the late 1800s with cities now containing more of the population than rural communities, there were all sorts of things to lose. Now you could die by being crushed in the gears of a machine or be buried deep within the confines of the mine. The owner could cover it up. Your family would be lost without your wages. You'd lose the roof over their head and the privilege of a nearby doctor, unless of course you wanted to turn to prostitution where a maniac like Jack the Ripper might be your next client and you could just become another dead whore. You wouldn't starve like during a drought or a plague in the country, but the food itself might kill you as there were no means of preservation at this point and no room in a small apartment for a root cellar for food preservation in jars or by salt. No the markets had plenty of food for all, and if your pork chop was green and tasted sour just drench it in enough Catsup to drown out the taste. Yes I spelled it right. Heinz's recipe was an American invention and though many of the Catsups or Ketchups of the day did contain tomatoes they also contained ground up walnuts, mushrooms.....and celery....yum. Gangs of robbers might snatch your belongings, kill your for your shoes, rape you just for fun. No, the city was a frightening place.
Flash forward to the 1960s. British folk horror made us afraid of the country. The locals (either hippies or backwards weirdos) will drug you, fuck you, you and sacrifice you to their evil non-Christian god (Wickerman, City of the Dead),
The American Hicksploitation film that emerged and has continued to grow since its creation in the early 1970s informed us that those left behind as we moved to the city in America were angry creatures that would do us harm. They might be inbred hillbillies who will rape us for their own sick hedonistic pleasure (Deliverance), or the remnants of evil spirits waiting for you in a CABIN IN THE WOODS! (The Evil Dead)
So by the 1980s we're safe in the suburbs right? Stable traditional families, affluence, malls, good jobs, good public amenities, good public schools. Ronald Regan and Margaret Thatcher with their conservative values have cracked down on the crime by declaring a war on drugs and us white folk we're safe in the suburbs right? Not with the likes of Michael Myers and Fred Kruger running around.
Every location has their own campfire story. Every region has their own legend and myth. Clive Barker loves delving into these urban legends. In his world non-traditional BDSM sexual acts can give you the most insufferable pain as well as the deepest pleasure before ending in gristly bloody death; urban issues such as inequality, class systems, gentrification, drug addiction and poverty create threatening gangs and the only thing more monstrous than them are the at best apathetic and at worst sadistic and corrupt police and politicians who would just as soon shoot you than arrest you. In Clive's world the police are never there to help. They are the guardian of the Haves. They are there to make sure things are running how they always have where those in power stay there and those that aren't continue to live among the rats and the cockroaches.
Hence we get to the plot of the 1992 classic movie. And its a simple one. Helen Lyle, played by Virginia Madsen is doing her thesis at the University of Illinois Chicago on, surprise! urban myths and legends. Her work takes her and her black best friend Bernie Walsh played by Kasi Lemmons to Cabrini-Green, to investigate the Candy Man myth, an entity with a hook for a hand who is supposedly responsible for several deaths in the projects. All you have to do to summon this vengeful ghost is say the words "Candy Man" in the mirror five times. Then he appears and you are gutted. Why do people do this? It's a horror movie, best not think too much about it, but it is typically the end result of a dare. Jordan Peele mocks this trope in the recent sequel. This whole scenario is obviously a direct riff on the Bloody Mary myth.
Clive Barker's original story took place in Liverpool London and was about the British class structure, Bernard Rose the director chose to change the location to a project in Chicago called Cabrini-Green.
Cabrini-Green is a masterful piece of set decoration as you can see every crack and smell every piece of human excrement in this dilapidated complex. When Helen and Bernie arrive of course Bernie is hyper-aware that they should not be there and tries to convince Helen to leave. She doesn't else there would be no movie.
Bernard's wise choice throughout this film is to cast people of color as people who don't live in the projects. There's subtext here. Especially with the character of Bernie. Those characters who do represent a minority are aware of the dangers within projects. Helen on the other hand is focused to get the information needed for her thesis, but beyond that she is just plain reckless in her naivety while those around her point out danger after danger. The people of color in this film are adeptly aware of the danger that surrounds them and are hyper vigilant as if they've perhaps lived in a similar place like that before, or at least are close to someone who has.
Gilbert Lewis who plays Detective Frank Valento is another bit of choice casting as the cop who is only willing to solve the Cabrini Green murders when Helen finally gets assaulted. His attitude is that of cheerful acceptance that now a white woman has been attacked, we can do something about that silly psycho who is murdering people in the projects.
Candy Man is eventually found to be true (duh) and is played by Tony Todd in his career making performance of this powerful, brutal and some might even say sexy vengeful spirit. The character walks with a dominant step and speaks with a low baritone urging Helen in a very seductive tone while oozing masculinity and live bees (yes those are live bees in his mouth when he kisses her) "Be my victim." He has become a demi-god living off the fear and belief of his believers, much like Fred Kruger in Nightmare on Elm Street, and stemming from the myth of the Tibetan tulpa.
The tulpa is an entity that can be created, through thoughts and prayers. A group's collective belief through groupthink creates the tupla and keeps it alive. In this case it is belief and fear that kept the vengeful spirit alive. A vengeful spirit wronged through racism and violence. A spirit who kills the innocents of this world just as his innocence was ignored.
Virginia Madsen would never quite reach the fame of her brother Michael Madsen (Kill Bill, Species) but she had her own prolific career in film and television as the woman you can't quite remember is there. Though I would say this role, as well as her Academy Award nominated performance as Paul Giamatti's love interest Maya Randall in the movie Sideways really show her acting chops. We will forgive her for playing the role of Princess Irulan in the original Dune, David Lynch's sci-fi turkey.
Kasi Lemmons was also known as the best friend roll of Jodie Foster in "Silence of the Lambs," where she would have the honor of being in the iconic shot of her running down the corridor to inform Agent Starling that Hannibal Lecter had escaped. She would eventually escape the type casting of "black best friend" to direct the amazing Southern Gothic film Eve's Bayou.
Bernard Rose would lose interest in mainstream directing and would churn out a bunch of independent films, becoming one of the early pushers of digital film making in the early 2000s.
Gillbert Lewis would continue to be a character actor and would make a living making appearances in mainly television with guest roles in: Fresh Prince of Belair, Alien Nation and General Hospital.
And finally the man the myth the legend Tony Todd turning in a rugged performance that would reach cult status. He would spend most of his career making appearances at horror conventions and starring in other horror films with over a hundred credits to his name: The Final Destination franchise, Wishmaster, and Hatchet as well as multiple guest starring roles in television (Xena Warrior Princess, Psych, Boston Legal, Beverly Hills 90210), voice performances for mainly the DC Animated Universe cartoons and Michael Bay's Transformers franchise, oh and not to mention several stints on Broadway. He was one of the most prolific working actors in Hollywood. March of this year he declared he was retiring from the screen at age 67 to focus on family and live theater. Tony you deserve it. Thank you for giving the horror community so much.
The spiritual sequel of Candy Man made last year is a worthy entry into the franchise. As it was produced and written by Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) and directed by new comer Nia DaCosta (who also assisted in the writing) whose only other film credit is an independent thriller called Little Woods, a movie I've never seen, we go even deeper into these social issues and frankly I think it's wonderful we have people of color producing, directing and starring this time around. The atrocities we witnessed in the first movie was from the concerned liberal point of view. "Won't somebody do something!?" they shout, but they make no action to help the victims of Cabrini-Green instead they shake their heads and talk about a system broken. A system that allows them the privilege to work at a nice college, drink good wine at a fine restaurant, and talk about the finer points of pretentious academia while they hide affairs they have with their students at the university.
The movie doesn't stare too long at these issues rather it goes off on a plot that was a favorite of Hitchcock's, that of the wrongly accused innocent. This isn't a bad thing. The original Candy Man is great entertainment with a dab of social commentary. With Jordan Peele at the helm however what we get is an entertaining deep dive into that social commentary.
In the modern sequel the ideas of gentrification, who is responsible, who created these projects, the blame game we all play, is deeply discussed throughout the film. Jordan tells us eventually its a combination of everyone participating in a system that creates a cesspool of poverty so that those who are in power can remain in power and can sleep well at night. In Clive Barker's original short story it was about the class structure in England. In the movie franchise it's about America's difficult relationship with slavery, white supremacy, and institutional racism. The last is something Jordan Peele and Nia DaCosta admit in the movie is something the African American community is complicit in just as much as the white folks. After all the black artist lead Anthony McCoy played Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the sequel benefits from gentrification. Artists are after all people who don't make a lot of money who need a place to live too, right? He is living with his long time girlfriend Bri Cartwright played by Teyonnah Parris who is an art gallery director and apparently has paid the majority of the bills since the beginning of their relationship.
The plot begins with Anthony becoming inspired to paint again by the urban legends in Cabrini-Green. After saying the name Candyman five times he begins working obsessively on a solo show all about the projects, gentrification, Cabrini-Green, Candy Man, violence and white supremacy. Eventually we find out that Anthony himself is becoming possessed by the spirit of Candy Man.
Peele and collaborators wisely skew the facts from the first movie changing it from the original, because legends, especially urban legends morph from their original source into something larger than life and yet Peele, the master writer (I think his writing is far superior to his directing) ties these discrepancies in with a brilliant bit of written exposition explained by laundromat owner and vengeful spirit guru Billy Burke played by Colman Domingo. He's a moderately successful small businessman bitter against the racism and white supremacy he witnessed as a lifetime of living in Cabrini-Green. He wisely explained that Candy Man is a "hive." It is a group of innocent black men who have been slaughtered by white people in power. This ranges from the original tale that started the legend in the 1890s about a black artist who had a forbidden love affair with a white woman who was then viciously murdered by a lynch mob, to a disabled man living in Cabrini-Green in 1977 who was wrongly beaten to death by police officers.
Deaths ensue. Violence happens. We find that everyone plays their part in institutional racism whether they are black or white. Christiana Clark has an especially chilling scene as Danielle Harrington successful museum curator who offers Bri a job with her because of her "story" which involves growing up with a mentally ill artist father, the recent deaths surrounding the art created by her boyfriend, not to mention the recent unhinged behavior from the boyfriend himself. Danielle wants to exploit Bri for her tragedies and personal struggles. She wants to use her as a symbol of a woman of color who has been abused by the male patriarchy. This is a small but very important part of the themes of this masterful sequel.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is someone who has had a huge boom in recent years with roles in such hits as: Us, The Greatest Showman, Aquaman (where he played the villain Black Manta), The Trial of the Chicago 7, Morpheus in the most recent Matrix film replacing the immortal Lawrence Fishburne, and most recently the lead role in Michael Bays most recent action flick Ambulance. He is on fire!
Teyonah Parris has been making a living churning out rolls in different socially relevant films such as "Dear White People" and the "Chi-Raq" the latter directed by the master social satirist commentator himself Spike Lee. In 2023 she will be in the Marvel Superhero movie The Marvels, which will center around the Captain Marvel Character.
Coleman Domingo is a stage actor with some supporting rolls from some seriously impressive films, not the least of which is Spielberg's Lincoln, and the movie Selma from 2014. He is also a recurring character on AMC's Fear the Walking Dead.
Christiana Clark is a mostly regional actress, most notably a Shakespeare actress and has worked for the last seven seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.
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And for all of you coming this coming Saturday the dinner theme will be soul food. Expect fried chicken as the main course and red soda pop to drink.
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