'Candyman' Delayed Until 2021: Binge These 5 Slasher Flicks While You Wait
Horror aficionados have been eagerly anticipating the theatrical release of Candyman, the follow-up to the ‘90s franchise starring Tony Todd. To the dismay of fans, the film’s director, Nia DaCosta, confirmed that the movie was pushed to a 2021 premiere date. With that in mind, here are five slasher flicks to check out while you wait for Candyman to materialize on the big screen.
1. ‘Psycho’ (1960)
In 1960, director Alfred Hitchcock delivered Psycho to packed audiences. In the film, Janet Leigh stars as Marion Crane, a woman who has embezzled money from her employer and fled her town. While on the run, she stops at the remote Bates Motel, where she meets the manager, Norman Bates.
On the surface, Norman appears to be a kind man living under his domineering mom’s thumb, but he harbors a dark secret. Mystery, murder, and melodrama follow, and Hitchcock stuns fans with a mother of a twist reveal.
2. ‘Halloween’ (1978)
Eighteen years after her mother starred as Marion in Psycho, Jaime Lee Curtis became the scream queen of her generation. Curtis portrayed Laurie Strode in Halloween, one of the most iconic slasher flicks in cinema. The film follows Michael Meyers, who, at the age of six, stabbed his older sister to death on Halloween. Consequently, he was institutionalized until his escape 15 years later.
Michael returns to his hometown, disguises himself in a haunting mask, and proceeds to stalk Laurie and her friends. Butchery ensues, but final girl Laurie survives to fight another day. She reappears in the sequel, which introduces a narrative curveball — Michael is, in fact, her brother.
3. ‘Friday the 13th Part 2’ (1981)
Mrs. Voorhees terrorized camp counselors in Friday the 13th. Her motive? The unhinged mother sought revenged for the drowning death of her son Jason. The boy had died years earlier when irresponsible teens were busy hooking up rather than supervising campers. The woman met her demise during the climax of the film, but the horror had just begun.
In Friday the 13th Part 2, Jason — who somehow survived the drowning — emerges as a traumatized hermit stalking the very campsite where his mother died. And this time, the kill count is higher, and the carnage is even gorier at the hands of Jason. Film buffs will note that Jason adopts the famed hockey mask disguise in the third installment of the dozen-film franchise.
4. ‘Scream’ (1996)
By the early ‘90s slasher flicks had taken a backseat to creature features, psychological thrillers, and other varieties of horror. But when director Wes Craven partnered with screenwriter Kevin Williamson to create Scream, they reawakened the genre.
In the story, a masked Ghostface killer carries out sinister prank calls before slaughtering each victim. The villain’s ultimate goal is to terrorize and murder an unassuming teenaged girl named Sidney Prescott. Craven brilliantly combined horror and comedy to deliver a deliciously satisfying slasher flick. Scream spawned four sequels, the last of which is due in cinemas in 2021.
5. ‘House of 1000 Corpses’ (2003)
Director Rob Zombie’s first feature-length film was House of 1000 Corpses, a horror flick that took place predominately in one hellish location. In the movie, four friends on a cross-country trip enter across Captain Spaulding’s chicken shack and murder museum. Their vacation quickly becomes a nightmarish experience.
Zombie appeared on AMC’s documentary series, Eli Roth’s History of Horror Season 2 Episode 1, “Houses of Hell,” to talk about House of 1000 Corpses. During his interview, he explained how he approached making the slasher flick.
“House of 1000 Corpses to me seems exactly like if you took The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Rocky Horror Picture Show and threw it in a blender and spit out another movie,” explained Zombie. “I was trying to make this sort of gritty, backroads, redneck movie, which I always loved, and [added] the so over-the-top Rocky Horror vibe.”
Slasher flicks On Demand
There are plenty of slasher flicks to satiate any horror lover’s cravings for carnage until Candyman hits cinemas in 2021. The five aforementioned films and the original Candyman (1992) are available to rent or purchase on various subscription platforms, including iTunes, Amazon Prime Video, and Vudu.
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