I was not looking forward to Nia DaCosta’s reboot of Candyman (2021) because I was always impressed by Bernard Rose’s 1999 movie and as I’ve always said: Remake terrible movies, not competent, well-done ones (despite the original Candyman not aging particularly well).

When DaCosta’s reboot does something well – such as providing a basis for sequels – it does really, really well.

It’s also well-acted, beautifully shot and witty, all of which are a good thing.

Though unfortunately there are more things that it doesn’t do right.

For a start, it’s not particularly scary. It has intense moments, but I’d prefer for an overarching sense of dread, as opposed to occasional moments of it.

Then there’s the overdoing of the ‘mirror’ motif. Both the original and the 2021 sequel begin with a person saying ‘Candyman’ five times in a mirror, but the sequel takes it a bit further with the opening of the movie playing with the idea.

It’s visually interesting but it’s time that’s squandered, that could have been used to build suspense that isn’t (which it could certainly use).

There’s more, some of which I go into with my video.