Everything
I, like a large portion of the population hate horror films. Be it based on a true story or not, the thought of supernatural forces is enough to keep me up at night but following the release of the Candyman trailer, I could be a convert. Off the back of his box office sweep with Get Out and Us, Jordan Peele has returned to cinema with a frightening new film.
Said to be a reboot and “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 supernatural horror film based on the short story The Forbidden by Clive Barker, the film returns to Cabrini-Green, the original old housing project featured in the ’90s rendition. The rumour still stands that Candyman is haunting unsuspecting victims. The synopsis reads:
“For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighbourhood were terrorised by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials.
With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; HBO’s Euphoria, Assassination Nation) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. 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.”
Co-written and produced by Peele, the film takes on a similar theme to his past projects and is praised for its use in discussing gender and race issues.
Directed by Nia DaCosta, the film stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo and Tony Todd who returns to his role as the title character.
Candyman is slated to drop into cinemas from June 12, 2020. Watch the trailer below.
