It was a surprise when it was announced another Candyman movie was being made, but the intention to take the story back to its roots was a good way to go, a path now being doubled down on by bringing back the movie’s other main character of Helen Lyle.
The plot of Candyman, incidentally the second-best film ever made adapting a Clive Barker tale, followed Helen, a graduate student researching urban legends who encountered the tale of the titular ghost said to stalk the residents of a crime-riddled housing project, who can be brought forth by saying his name five times into a mirror, whereupon he will kill his summoner with a hook jammed into the bloody stump of his wrist. After discrediting the myth, he begins killing to re-perpetuate the fear and belief that’s necessary for him to exist, with Helen being blamed for the deaths. Events ultimately culminate in her surpassing him and taking her place as a figure of modern-day folklore, existing in the dreams of those who continued to tell her story.
The ‘spiritual sequel’ returns to the neighbourhood of the original, the public housing now upgraded and the area gentrified, but the legend of the hook-handed killer still looms large over the area. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II stars as Anthony McCoy, who as a baby was saved by Helen in the original film’s climax. Cassie Kramer, meanwhile, will take over the role from Virginia Madsen, but exactly what part Helen will play in the movie is yet to be established.
It’s most likely she’ll have remained an ethereal presence in the area, no amount of demolition and rebuilding able to destroy the memory of her, with the retellings of her actions and sacrifice becoming inflated until she’s an unrecognizable figure of myth as haunting as the Candyman himself. Perhaps she’s become a force of vengeance punishing men on behalf of women scorned or wrongly accused. Either way, we’ll find out how her fable has been updated when the movie is released in June.