The original Candyman was a clever spin on the Bloody Mary urban legend, but the remake’s revision of his origin story makes the character much more like Wes Craven’s legendary A Nightmare On Elm Street villain Freddy Krueger. Released in 1992, director Bernard Rose’s Candyman was a rare fusion of satire and horror that managed to be as terrifying as it was thoughtful. Adapted from horror icon Clive Barker’s short story “The Forbidden,” Candyman brought the action of the source story from under-resourced Liverpool to Chicago’s impoverished Cabrini-Green projects.
The most famous parts of the tale remained the same, though. In Rose’s critically acclaimed horror movie, the eponymous killer was still a supernatural slasher who killed anyone foolish enough to utter his name five times in a mirror. However, as imposing as Tony Todd’s titular villain was, the Candyman still had a sad backstory that made him surprisingly sympathetic. He was killed by a racist lynch mob after falling in love with a rich white landowner’s daughter, a tragic tale that the remake has discarded in favor of a different origin.
Horror fans can rest assured that the new Candyman has an equally tear-jerking origin, though. A harmless neighborhood figure who handed candy out to children (hence his moniker), the Candyman was beaten, tortured, and killed by corrupt cops when one child found a razor blade in their candy. Candyman was later proven innocent but his cursed un-death had already begun, in a new twist that bears a striking similarity to the death of Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare On Elm Street. The trailer leans into this comparison more than the original movies, with imagery of Candyman’s disembodied hand and story elements like him killing because of perceived crimes against children and potentially possessing the main character being very familiar to fans of Craven’s supernatural slasher series.
In fairness to the Candyman remake, Craven’s paranormal slasher franchise casts a long shadow over the history of horror and it is hard to imagine a hook-handed killer not calling to mind Freddy Krueger’s trademark razor glove. However, the decision to have razors be the weapon of choice that caused the entire story to unravel is a pointed one that brings Craven’s creation to mind for viewers. That said, Freddy Krueger is not innocent of the crimes for which he was killed by a mob. Interestingly, 2010’s A Nightmare On Elm Street remake originally revealed he had been innocent in a killer twist that the critically mauled movie badly needed, but opted to cut.
The fact that Candyman looks set to possess the movie’s main character, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s artist/photographer, Anthony McCoy, also calls to mind some of Freddy’s on-screen misadventures. The slasher villain attempted to possess the hero of 1985’s Freddy’s Revenge as well as frequently invading the dreams of his victims throughout the series. However, since the remake’s Candyman is innocent of the crimes he was accused of and the victim of what seems like some blatant racial profiling and fatal police brutality, the comparison only extends so far. He is clearly a more sympathetic figure than Krueger, whose creators actively cut his tragic upbringing from early A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors drafts to avoid the villain becoming too complex. Ultimately, the title character of Candyman still is not a perfect dupe for A Nightmare On Elm Street‘s Krueger, but this remake appears to bring him a lot closer.
Key Release Dates
Candyman
Release Date:2021-08-27
