After summoning the unrelenting spirit of Candyman, one woman is forced to make a choice that will last an eternity; and with each passing moment, another innocent life will be slaughtered by the evil entity, until that choice is made…
A WORD FROM CHRIS R. NOTARILE
I’ve been asked quite a few times over the years to tackle Candyman, and I’ll be honest, prior to making this short, I did not have a decent take on the character. Then when I heard about the new film’s announcement in 2019, I figured that was the final nail in the coffin: Jordan Peele was producing and Nia DaCosta directing? It’s in good hands.
Well truth be told, as of this posting, I still haven’t seen the new movie, but I’ve heard some mixed reviews about it. Some loved it, others hated it. Now, I do know how the film ends and the basic premise, and that doesn’t exactly sound like something I’d care for. And that was pretty much what motivated me to try my hand at Candyman.
As I do with most fan films, I try not to mess with canon, but if the franchise itself is already messy, I pick a specific starting place and go from there. For Candyman, I just stuck with the first film. It ended on a pretty clear note, with Helen being a vengeful spirit in her own right, and Candyman himself being scorned. For some reason, people seem to think they ended up together, but you show me one relationship where the man betrays the woman, then she leaves him to burn alive, that was successful. As far as I’m concerned, Helen is not only the one that got away, but the last person Candyman wants to hang out with.
Since the basis for the original film was rooted in Phantom of the Opera, I wanted keep the concept of romance at the center of the story, even if it was 100% one sided. I wanted Candyman to seek a bride, and I wanted to remind people that he’s an asshole. He may appear sympathetic, or have the capacity to love, but he’s still a murderous monster who is forcing a woman to spend eternity with him. He is not an anti-hero. He is not a good guy. He’s just an indiscriminate evil spirit who kills in order to keep his legend alive. I really wanted to remind people of that.
Filming took place over the course of two days. Naciya Watts and Herman Wilkins are newcomers to Blinky and they knocked their roles out of the park. I swear in some shots, Herman looks like he could pass for Tony Todd’s younger brother, if not the man himself.
The costume for Candyman was a real challenge, specifically the chest piece. I had thankfully found a website that sells the official coat, which was a load off my mind, but the chest piece, you’d think would be easy to acquire, especially given I was shooting in October, but I could not find a decent zombie chest piece ANYWHERE! And anything I found online was either poorly made or super expensive. So I bit the bullet and decided to craft it myself. Using merely wire, tin foil and plastic wrap, I made the entire piece. Then with a heat gun, I melted all the wrapped plastic in place, then painted the whole thing with spray paint and blood. It was actually incredibly easy and cost effective to make this prop. The organs were also made the same way. I 100% chalk this up to my days in college creating stop motion armature puppets. It’s the exact same process, and I’m glad I learned how to do it.
