Candyman Review: 5 Ups & 5 Downs

3. The Brutally Gory Kills

The new Candyman is far from a bloodbath, but it does boast a number of grimly effective kill scenes sure to stick in the audience's mind for a good while.

The initial art gallery murders serve as a brutal statement of intent for the rest of the movie, selling the Candyman's ruthless efficiency as a killer, while lingering on some gnarly bodily mutilation.

A sure-to-be-infamous scene set in a high school bathroom is also well-executed, for despite feeling a little tacked-on to the rest of the story, sees DaCosta focusing on the absolute gut-wrenching fear this unstoppable figure can inspire.

There's also an inspired slaughter sequence near the end of the film which, informed by so much current social context, is enormously satisfying to behold.

If you're expecting a sheer gallery of death and destruction you might be left a little disappointed, but the kills here are effectively deployed along with some uniquely unsettling body horror elements.