Larry Oliver Film Reviews

  Contains spoilers Co-writer-director Nia DaCosta’s reboot-sequel, Candyman , is a literate horror movie, if not entirely a smart one. At its heart, it tells a variation of the story of an artist, Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul Mateen II) who sells his soul to the Devil. There is a bee sting and slow disfigurement. Slowly but surely Anthony becomes the titular figure, with the finishing touch, a hook for a hand, administered in a surprising left-field way. Meanwhile, equally surprising, he is not associated with a series of deaths of those who took the Candyman challenge: to say Candyman’s name five times in front of a mirror. This invariably ends with the spectral Candyman, the ghost of a mutilated African American appearing the material world and hacking to death all those who summoned him. Anything for an eternity’s sleep. Candyman first featured in a story, ‘The Forbidden’, written by British author Clive Barker, about a photographer, Helen, who becomes fascinated by neighbour...

  Pictured : Waiting to receive unholy orders, Lord Sir Jimmy Crystal ( Jack O'Connell , how's that) in a scene from the horror sequel, ' 28 Years Later - The Bone Temple ', written by Alex Garland and directed by Nia DaCosta . Still courtesy of Sony Pictures International. The Marvels and Hedda director Nia DaCosta might have seemed a left-field choice to helm the fourth film in the British ‘28’ horror franchise, 28 Years Later – The Bone Temple but the American delivers the series’ most impactful sequel to date. Filled with specifically British references - the Teletubbies, British Rail, Duran Duran and Jimmy Savile – the film blends an unrelenting sense of dread with leavening humour. At its heart, the film sidelines the threat from the infected – zombies, if you will – to chart the inevitable clash between tracksuit-wearing cult leader Lord Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell) and iodine skinned doctor Ian Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), introduced in the 2025 film, 28 Year...