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Social Horror ‘CANDYMAN’ Radically Addresses Black Trauma in Brutal Fashion

For what it does right – and it does do plenty right – Bernard Rose’s 1992 cult horror-slasher Candyman feels like a dated product of its racially off-putting times. Hone in on where it focuses the spotlight: Virginia Madsen’s curious and lily white grad student Helen Lyle, out to deconstruct the urban myths of a hook-handed boogeyman terrorizing the Black community. A white woman in distress scouring the trauma of the African-American hood, Helen is a peculiar cypher for a story about the lingering horrors of race. Read More

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“Not the Bees!”: ‘CANDYMAN’ Returns in First Trailer for Jordan Peele-Produced Sequel

1992’s Candyman embodied the idea that good horror movies touch on greater social issues of our times. To an almost unwavering degree, the horror film spoke to racial superstition, director Bernard Rose using the projects as a backdrop to deliver an underrated supernatural slasher with something real on its mind. Leave it to Jordan Peele to pick up the ball nearly 30 years later and run with these ideas.

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