Candyman. Candyman. Candyman. Candyman- I wouldn’t finish that if I were you. The legend goes, if you say his name five times in front of a mirror he will kill you.
If you don’t already know, Candyman — Daniel Robitaille — as shown in Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995) was an enslaved black man who faced a death penalty for being romantically involved with a white woman. He was hunted down by an angry mob and when captured, they began to torture him starting by cutting his hand off. Afterwards, they slathered honey all over him. One of the kids in the crowd coined him with the name Candyman. With a crack of thunder, an unnatural swarm of bees appeared in the sky, and swarmed his body covering him in stings. Candyman swore “You will all be damned.” When his legend was born, a hook was in place of his missing hand.
Interestingly, the original short story The Forbidden by Clive Barker varies greatly from the movies. In this one article “The Candyman Might Be Based on a Short Story, but It Has Some Roots in Reality” by Stacey Nguyen, she notes the differences between the book and films. In the book, Candyman is a white male with blonde hair who wore a patchwork outfit, opposed to Tony Todd’s candyman character and “signature trench coat”. In the book, it takes place in England, whereas the film is based in “…the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini-Green in the movie.”
Moreover, Barker is also known as director and writer of Hellraiser (1987). Originally, Candyman (1992) had two sequels. As of this year, we were given the trailer for a Candyman reboot, similarly to what happened when Halloween (2018) came out. The first movie remains, but all sequels after, in the case of Candyman, are not acknowledged in the timeline just like Halloween (2018).
With the reboot being directed by Nia DeCosta and Jordan Peele involved as one of the producers, the movie has some good expectations. Especially since it is inclusive of the black community with majority cast mirroring cultural diversity.
We are also going to have a favorite familiar face from the original, that being Candyman (Tony Todd). Getting into the main character, as based off the synopsis of the official Candyman movie website, the reboot is focused on a visual artist, Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who learns of the candyman legend.
In short, since the website’s synopsis is detailed nicely, I will only point out the general details of the upcoming film. It takes place a decade after “the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down” where Anthony and his “partner, gallery director” Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris) “move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini.”
Anthony ultimately paved the way for opening the door to a past that unknowingly will take a grisly turn. He begins to realize that the danger is real, and the trailer revealed, one of his exhibits of candyman was of a mirror on display where you can chant the name if you dare.
Everyone who ritually repeated ‘Candyman’ in any mirror in the trailer died. What could be understood based on the trailer, is it seems that candyman may be wanting to use Anthony in some way. Shots of Anthony seeing himself as candyman in the mirror suggest so.
This is a movie I am certainly looking forward to since it is a classic. Many classics such as this one have a special place in the horror genre. I enjoy the simplicity of classics such as Candyman and Halloween, though of course I also enjoy plots as complex as Saw.
Unfortunately, because of the circumstances of 2020, the film date was moved twice. It is currently expected to release Aug. 27, 2021. Hopefully, this film as well as others (Spiral, Halloween Kills) that have been moved to next year will be able to release without further delay.
For further information on Candyman, here is a link to The Official Clive Barker website which has gathered information about the movie and quotes from the director, producer, and more.
If you like talking horror, feel free to find me on Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr. Feel free to also check out my previous trailer reaction on Spiral: From the Book of Saw by clicking the link for ‘Spiral’ Reaction: Chris Rock Always Wanted To Write A ‘Saw’ Movie.
If you haven’t watched the trailer for Candyman (2021) yet, take a look below!