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New images from Nia DaCosta's upcoming Candyman reveal a first look at the 2021 villain. Granted, it's only a small hint of the hook-handed baddie, but nevertheless, a sign of the terror to come.
This first image shows Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony McCoy, an artist who moves into a luxury condo that's been built on the site of the Cabrini Towers from the original Candyman.
In the background, the woman appears to be Rebecca Spence who plays a character called Finley Stephens. Not much is known about her but it's safe to say by the presence in the mirror on the right side, she probably isn't in the movie for much longer. It's Candyman! There he is!
In another picture we see Teyonah Parris as Brianna Cartwright, a gallery director and Anthony's girlfriend. These images convey a distinct aesthetic – a clean, yet eerie vibe, certainly.
Last up is Colman Domingo's William Burke, a Cabrini Green "old-timer" who tells Anthony all about the Candyman legend. In a nice nod, he's seen here reading a novel by Clive Barker, who penned the original novel.
Candyman's official synopsis adds a little more detail, for those interested: "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.”
These images arrive on the eve of Emancipation Day in the United States, a day commonly referred to as Juneteenth. DaCosta addresses how Candyman taps in decades of the Black experience in the below video:
"I was thinking a lot about the duality of the Black experience in America," DaCosta says. "At once, it's a place of this great hope, which I think is what Juneteenth represents. In one way, it'a celebration of us, of life, of freedom, of possibility. On the other side, it's incredibly difficult and there's a lot of pain. They kind of walk hand-in-hand. I think that's something about this film as well. There's still this bittersweet hope."
Caught up in the COVID schedule reshuffle like many other titles slated for theatrical release, Candyman's original October 2020 date got pushed almost an entire year to August 2021. You can catch Candyman when it arrives in US and UK theaters on August 27, 2021.
