CANDYMAN (15)
Almost 30 years after Clive Barker’s hook-handed creation terrified audiences, he is re-tooled as an allegory for social justice in the age of Black Lives Matter.
The fingerprints of Jordan Peele, Oscar-winning scribe of Get Out, are indelible on a script also credited to director Nia DaCosta and Win Rosenfeld, which touches on worthy subjects but neglects the first rule of horror: make it scary.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays struggling visual artist Anthony McCoy who lives with girlfriend Brianna (Teyonah Parris) in the gentrified Cabrini Green neighbourhood of Chicago. Here the urban legend of Daniel Robitaille (Tony Todd), aka the Candyman, once struck fear into residents’ hearts, and the artist plunders the legend for an installation which invites visitors to summon the killer by repeating his name... He duly returns and Anthony’s sanity fractures.
Nameless characters provide fodder for the title character’s hook but give us little to no reason to care about their demise. ■ In cinemas Friday