In advance of seeing Nia deCosta's remake tomorrow, I thought I'd re-visit Bernard Rose's 1992 original - and a mixed blessing it is through a more modern lens (dare you say 'enlightened' five times?).
The theme of urban myths is still richly fertile ground for a horror movie, and it's certainly a worthy stab at a Clive Barker approved take on his short story 'The Forbidden'. Rose's script transplants it from Barker's childhood territory of troubled, impoverished Liverpool to the violent real life ghetto of the Cabrini Green inner city project in Chicago. Philip Glass's angelic choir score still elevates the movie with that hauntingly evocative earworm of a title track 'It Was Always You, Helen' (my ring-tone for a while now) that serves double duty in seeding Rose's intention that this is more a love story than a revenge tale.
The performances bring what they can yet within what I now can't avoid feeling are uncomfortable attitude prejudices of the time that are valid to consider since race is at the heart of CANDYMAN's raison d'etre. Yes, Virginia Madsen's cool enigmatic researcher Helen Lyle is beautiful and capable instead of a helpless scream queen, which is somewhat enlightened. Kasi Lemmons makes the best of her close gal pal Bernadette Walsh. Tony Todd, the strongest suit in the deck, gives Candyman a grace and nobility without camping up any of his lines, a refreshing change to the period's tendency to descend into trailer line flambouyancy (I'm thinking of your sequels' descent, Mr Krueger). In fairness let me add bonus points for the sound design reverb on Todd's dialogue that makes it unnervingly feel like it's occurring in your head.
Nevertheless, there's no escaping that Madsen's Hitchcock-esque heroine is there as a white saviour who single-handedly rescues both a baby and the black marginalised community. Lemmons' character is not only bumped off well before the end, but she is also the very lightest-skinned black actress one could imagine. Putting those elements together makes CANDYMAN feel less like the progression that the studio trumpeted and more like in effect a reinforcement of the status quo.
*FUN FACT: According to the making-of documentary, and backed up by the actors, Rose mastered hypnotism and for most of the shoot placed Madsen under hypnosis before the majority of her scenes, hence her often unblinking passivity
I generally avoid most remakes (especially western reworkings of J-horror originals). The hook, pardon my pun, with a 2021 version of CANDYMAN is what may be attempted in an era of new confidence and opportunity by black artists instead of simply about them. Let's see, shall we...?
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