Tony Todd's refusal to do a Leprechaun crossover cemented Candyman as the purest of slashers
Aux Features Candyman
Cinematic crossovers are nothing new, but they’ve rarely been crafted with the care afforded to the ever-ballooning Marvel and Star Wars cinematic universes. While brand synergy resides at the core of any crossover strategy, there’s an emphasis on story and world-building in those properties that’s absent from the crossovers of yore, which weren’t films so much as they were cage matches.
Who wins when Frankenstein lumbers towards the Wolf Man? Can Godzilla crush King Kong? Could Jason meet Freddy Krueger in his dreams? There’s a logic to those crossovers, at least in that they mirror tonally and court similar audiences. But then there’s the weirder ones: Abbott and Costello meeting Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, for example. What makes them work? Do they work? And, perhaps most intriguingly, what are you losing in that crossover process?
Plenty of insane crossovers have almost happened over the years—Pinhead vs. Michael Myers, for example—but none boggle the mind so much as a proposed film that would’ve pit Tony Todd’s mythic Candyman against Warwick Davis’ cackling Leprechaun. Todd’s remarked on the potential project—a possibility due to the properties being held by the same studio—a number of times over the years, including in a new interview with Dread Central that finds him again taking credit for squashing the thing.
This was right around the time of Freddy vs Jason and [Candyman vs Leprechaun] did come across my desk. I saw it and I said, “I will never be involved in something like that.” I respect the character. Once a horror character becomes something of an icon, reluctantly or not, you have to treat that with respect. I remember watching Abbott and Costello vs Frankenstein continuously as a kid and being amazed that my horror legends were making a comedy. So, I guess there are some ways to make something like that work, but I wasn’t interested in doing that with Candyman.”
Todd’s quote is striking, if only because, well, nearly no horror icons are treated with respect, at least not in the long run. Just about every major horror figure has been corrupted, compromised, or otherwise defanged, not just by crossovers, but also by studios trying to jam these monsters, cynically and often uncomfortably, into the cinematic trends of the moment. Thanks to Todd, that never happened with Candyman. The sequels were shaky, sure, but the actor made pains to craft a monster that never betrayed his own tragic backstory, even if, as tends to happen with Todd, it meant occasionally veering into portentousness. Through it all, though Candyman always felt like a character, not just a killer. As such, Jordan Peele’s upcoming reboot has a helluva lot less character rehabilitation on its hands.
That sets it in stark contrast with David Gordon Green’s recent Halloween reboot, which is notable for having sought to strip away the convoluted storytelling and lame gimmicks of the latter-day sequels and focus instead on the unknowingness that made Michael Myers “The Shape.” Did it succeed? We didn’t think so, but it was nevertheless a valiant effort to restore a once-feared figure to their former glory. And that trend’s likely to continue as Jason Voorhees and Freddy Krueger both prepare to (again) be resurrected.
The Candyman series isn’t perfect, but at least we never had to see Todd stand knee-to-hat with the Leprechaun, the former’s meandering drone clashing against the latter’s braindead one-liners.
Let us offer thanks for such small favors by revisiting the most humiliating moments of a few our favorite movie monsters (and, of course, the Leprechaun).
Freddy Krueger
Remember when Freddy discovered Nintendo and Breckin Meyer hopped around like a comatose Mario?
Michael Myers
Sorry for reminding you that Busta Rhymes once karate-kicked a supernaturally strong man-beast through a window. “Trick or treat, motherfucker.”
Pinhead
Hellraiser: Revelations. All of it. Death to fake Pinheads.
Jason Voorhees
Never should’ve left Crystal Lake.
Leprechaun
Just because Leprechaun is nobody’s favorite movie monster doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch him kill a Starship Troopers extra with a lightsaber.
26 Comments
Further proof we don’t live in the best of all possible worlds.
So many reboots. Just let it end. I don’t get the nostalgia. These “horror icons” each had one, if that, half decent movie and a slew of horrible sequels before even the, multiple in some cases, attempts to reboot them. Good horror is not really suited to franchises and certainly not reboots.
IT NEVER ENDS!!!
I don’t mind because new crops of kids and teens need a scare movie just like we did. I do mind when these properties get treated like sacred cows that must be pure and not tainted. I mean, these are kids’ movies at the end of the day just like “Flash Gordon” or “Dracula” or “Dr. Phibes”. Adults can and should enjoy them and they can be well made. But they’re kids’ movies at the end of day, with all the illogic and convenience of plots and films meant for uncomplicated and un-nuanced young minds.
Final Destination franchise vs The Buffyverse.
A part of me likes to pretend that Cabin in the Woods is set in the Buffyverse and after the credits start rolling, Buffy and the Scooby Gang just roll-up and defeat the world ending elder god like it’s not big deal.
Back when it was still a good site, Cracked did an After Hours that theorized that all of Joss Whedon’s works are in the same universe. It’s worth checking out. (At least most of the folks who got laid off and/or saw the writing on the wall and left early are working…Dan is writing for John Oliver, Soren is with American Dad, Cody, Katy S., and Tom are doing Some More News, Teresa’s on GMM, Bridget just did some production for IMDB, and Michael and Abe are building a new empire with Small Beans.–I know that had nothing to do with your comment and everything to do with my Twitter feed, but I loved the old Cracked’s video division.)
A part of me likes to pretend that Cabin in the Woods is set in the Buffyverse and after the credits start rolling
Spoilers for both ahead:I’m really glad that I saw Cabin in the Woods before I saw the episode of Buffy where the demons got loose (in that underground secret army bunker that her lame boyfriend worked). When Cabin came out I was still in the middle of my first watch of Buffy. (Thanks, Netflix, because I wasn’t watching tv much when the show aired.) The “let the demons loose” scene in Cabin was so much better. Both scenes were great but Cabin had a bigger budget, more variety, more blood and gore. It was fun to imagine Whedon and company on the set of Buffy, thinking how much better it could be…
Yeah, Candyman v Leprechaun could have been fun thoughBut, respect to Tony Todd, his dignity and integrity is sort of why the character was so iconic in the first place I suppose
I watched part of Eli Roth’s series on A & E. Having never seen Candyman, I thought they did a good job in explaining how its concept is about deeper themes than some other horror films (poverty, race, etc). Todd is right that a Leprehaun crossover would crap all over that.Also, I saw LEPRECHAUN IN SPACE as a child because it was on TV at 3 in the morning and it is traumatizing. A man turns into a spider and Sly from “The Bold and the Beautiful” doesn’t take his shirt off until the very end.
I’d highly recommend seeing Candyman. Contrary to the headline, I’d hardly describe it as “the purest of slashers”. It’s much more “mythic” in tone than all that, and along with touching on poverty, race, and “privilege” (a term I don’t throw around lightly), it also digs into the mechanics of myth and folklore. It feels as literate as you’d hope a film co-written by Clive Barker and Bernard Rose, and scored by Philip Glass, would be. It’s on my short list of horror movies I heartily recommend to non-horror movie fans (see also: the Jeff Goldblum remake of The Fly, and Pumpkinhead).
Agreed in full. It’s an outstanding film.
It has always been one of my favorites, and you could argue that it is the beginning of the art-house movement, at least in the US. I introduced some friends to it last weekend and they really liked it. Holds up really well.
I think art-house films as a US “thing” date well back into the ‘50s, largely revolving around foreign film (the first Oscar for that being awarded in 1947). Candyman might count as one of the earlier examples of art-house horror, though I recall it getting a pretty wide theatrical release (probably on the box office strength of Barker’s name in the wake of Hellraiser). Rose’s earlier, critically acclaimed Paperhouse (which I unfortunately haven’t seen) might have a better claim to launching art-house horror.
I obviously meant art-house horror, such as A24 has had such success with over the last few years. You should definitely track down Paperhouse. I haven’t seen it in over 25 years, but there are images and scenes from it that I vividly recall.
I mean, Tony Todd is definitely not wrong.
“But, respect to Tony Todd, his dignity and integrity is sort of why the character was so iconic in the first place I suppose”
Sure it is. His dignity and integrity are why he only did TWO terrible, cash-in sequels.
Ugh, no thank you. Candyman is as tragic as he is terrifying; he’s both a victim of and the vengeful result of deeply-entrenched racism & bigotry. Doing a damn Leprechaun crossover would totally whizz all over that.
Or maybe YOU’RE just a victim of your prejudice against leprechauns!!
Jason Takes Manhattan could have worked had they not spent the first two acts on a boat and he wasn’t so singularly focussed on the people on that boat. Like that scene on the subway should have been like the scene from Predator 2, where he just butchers the whole train but nope he leaves them all alone continuing to go after the remaining characters from that boat.If you sell a film on the promise of going big then go big or go home.
Even by the standards of 80s movie cliches, those punk mugger kids in Jason Takes Manhattan are especially non-threatening for what is supposed to be the most dangerous era of New York. They look like they’re trying to scare up some money for the arcade from junior high kids outside a suburban mall bus station circa 1989.
Who can take a crossover? And sprinkle it with “Nope”?
To say that Candyman is a slasher is to admit you haven’t seen the movie and don’t know anything about it.
Please remedy this.
Candyman was excellent. The fact that belief created him and he’s threatened by disbelief and fights back?
Never before in film history have so many kid’s films become sacred to so many adults.
“Busta Rhymes once karate-kicked a supernaturally strong man-beast through a window”So *that’s* what’s happening in that murky, confusingly edited H:R clip. Jeez, what a mess.