With everyone analyzing the Ryan Coogler’s Block Buster Hit, Sinners, I am a surprised that no one picked up on this little golden nugget. C’mon, you can’t tell me you didn’t pick up on it? You didn’t see how the Candyman was very similar to Sinners. It isn’t just because the movie ends on October 16th, 1992, and the Candyman was released on the same date. Or because both the Candyman and Vampire Remmick are two wicked souls, haunting people beyond the grave. Both movies were about victims of oppression. And both movies were about how these said victims, resulted to exploitative measures to find sustenance and power. Remmick wanted to turn every downtrodden man and woman in the Mississippi south into a vampire. And Candyman, well, he just wanted the oppressor to suffer. So, if you’re looking for hidden meanings and deep dives into cult classic horror movie like Sinners and Candyman, you are going to want to say tune for this video.
Sinners and Black Horror Plots
Black horror has come a long way. There have been many underrated gems, exploring the cruelties of slavery, segregation and black trauma. However, no movie did this better than the Skeleton Key. Sadly, I think a lot of people snub their noses because this psychological horror film, was based on vengeance and touted taboo topics such as voodoo and hoodoo. Worse, the hoodoo people weren’t the bad guys. In fact, they did a good old fashion switcheroo, stealing the souls of their oppressor and finding eternal life and wealth in a world of damnation. However, movies like the Skeleton Key, and the Candyman set the tone for black horror. Unlike in other thrasher movies, where the plot is mostly about jump scares, and the villain kills for no real rhyme or reason. The villains in black horror are strategic. Many of them are layered in pain and mystery, and their backstory resonates with oppressed people throughout history.
Sinners and Black Horror Explained
Candyman for example was a regularly guy, who went by the name of Daniel Robitaille. He was a renowned artist, traveling the country, and painting portraits of the powerful and elite. However, he made one tragic mistake. He fell in love with one of his white patrons. He was then attacked by an angry white mob, who wanted to make an example of him. They cut off his hand, unleashed an angry hives of bees to attack him, and set him on fire in front of a huge mob. In Sinners, haints are referred to as mischievous spirits, who roam the earth, wreaking havoc and despair. In many cases, they suffered horrific deaths, live in purgatory, and haunt the bodies and minds of anyone who encounters them. Candyman can be considered a haint. While Remmick would be considered a Fili in ancient Irish folklore. While the Choctaw viewed these spirits as fire-keepers. However, what no one has put together is how all of these spirits need to be summoned. The Vampire Remmick needed to be invited in and the Candyman needed his named to be said five times in a mirror. Also, people missed the fact that the characters in both movies were artists. Candyman was a portraitist, while Anthony was a struggling and tortured artist. Sammie was a talented blues magician, while Remmick was a folklorist singer and dancer. All these characters were able to open up portals to another world, worlds that bridge the gap between the living and the dead.
Sinners Vampires vs Haints
However, the most haunting element of black horror is the spirit possession. People are ghastly afraid of opening themselves up, and having their souls being snatched by a foreign entity. Afterall, the Skeleton Key is a cautionary tale, of how things can go horribly wrong, when you dibble and dabble in things that you don’t truly understand. But if you dig beneath the surface, you’ll see something that is even more terrifying, exploitation. Exploitation is a resonating theme in black horror, where a man’s spirits and soul is basically stripped away. Their culture, languages, and customs are appropriated, leaving their victims to feel like they’ve entered, the sunken place. Like in Get Out, your mind and body become machines that someone else has control over. And like the mythical beings such as the haints, Fili, and firekeepers in Sinners, they can take control of your soul. At least this was the case in Candyman, where the spirit of Daniel Robitallile mounts Shermin Fields and later Anthony McCoy. All of these men were possessed by the spirit and memory of Candyman. But Candyman is merely an amalgamation of black subconscious pain and trauma. Afterall, Candyman isn’t just a person. He is the whole damn hive.
Sinners Vampire Hive Mind Mentality
However, it is Sinners that captures the hive men mentality better than all its predecessors. Instead of entity mounting you, it needs to infect you. Worse, the pain and trauma are magnified, because you just don’t feel the pain of one or two people. You feel the pain of the whole damn hive. This is why Remmick is more of an anti-hero than a villain. He could relate to the black experience in the Jim Crow South. He too was a victim of oppression and exploitation. He experienced first-hand, the pain of losing his languages, family, and cultures to the British Empire. More importantly, he was the only person who knew how to get them back. Unlike Blacks who have lost a great deal of their indigenous cultures and languages through slavery. Remmick, understood the power of song and dance, and how it could work as a healing modality, to release people from the sunken place. More importantly, he understood the importance of fighting back. The Irish organized into deadly militias, using guerilla tactics to fight against the British empire that ravaged their people and lands. Now, you might be asking, if Remmick and the Candyman aren’t bad people? Why didn’t the characters in both movies submit? Well, that’s the reason why the Candyman’s candy had sharp razer. And the reason why Remmick preached fellowship and brotherhood. In other words, just because something taste good, sounds good, or looks good. It doesn’t necessary mean that it is good for you.
Why Sinners’ Vampires are Evil
It all goes back to that little saying that you become like the people you hate. Or in Miss Annie terms, your stay stuck in a world that is filled with hate. This means that the world devolves into complete chaos and destruction. It means that tribes of people are continually fighting against one another, ultimately resulting in the collapse of society. Annie didn’t want to become a vampire, because she understood nature’s balance, and how falling into the hands of evil, would tip the scales in the wrong direction. Just look at how Remmick transformed into from a smiling cat fat, to a hideous beast. Sammie’s father also understood this balance, preaching the importance of not submitting to evil, but overcoming it. Sammie does this, by killing Remmick, right before sunrise. Remmick dancing with flames, symbolizes how the collective pain of the oppressed will no longer infect him or his legacy. Yeah, like I said, it’s powerful and deep. This is why Sammie is able to free himself from the clutches of astute poverty, to rising blues star and legend.
Did you see the connections between Candyman and Sinners? What do you think about Remmick being the anti-hero? What do you think about the hive mind? Please sound off in the comments below.