The first Candyman trailer in over a year is here. What's shown in this newest tease, the "spiritual sequel" to the 1992 original from Jordan Peele's Monkeypaw Studios, promises to pack in all the trademarks of the slasher franchise.
Official word from Universal dubs this the movie a "contemporary incarnation of the cult classic" a nod to both Bernard Rose's original movie and Clive Barker's short story The Forbidden.
The Nia DaCosta-directed movie picks up decades after the first, skipping two lesser sequels to pick up with Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), an artist who returns to the now-gentrified Cabrini Green having lived there as a child. Saved from the Candyman as a youngster by Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen), he hopes the killer myth might cure his artist's block.
As the official plot description continues: "Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.”
Destiny eh? So, while it's without doubt a sequel, based on the number of characters choosing to repeat the titular killer's name in the trailer you'd think it a fresh reboot. This trailer harks back to the hallmarks of the first film, lots of blood and mouths packed with bees, imbuing them with the modern horror aesthetic found in Monkeypaw's other productions like Us and Get Out.
Much like the initial teaser from February 2020, which used shadow puppets, this one also embraces that device to tell a creepy story about a man accused of killing children. We've caught glimpses of the hook trying to burst through the mirror before, but watching it unfurl on the screen, is plain creepy.
Candyman is hot on the horror community's radar. A must-see for summer 2021, it's at long last hitting the big screen having suffered a slew of COVID-related delays. You can catch Candyman when it arrives in US and UK theaters on August 27, 2021.
