“I am the writing on the wall, the whisper in the classroom. Without these things, I am nothing. So now, I must shed innocent blood.”
Have you ever wondered how a 90s horror movie would look like with a pinch of advanced effects, a scoop of fresh faces, and modern-ess on the top? That’s what director Nia DaCosta is doing with the 1992 horror motion picture Candyman. With the slowdown of the industry and lack of working people, Hollywood is definitely in the mood to remake and bring back the oldies, breaking them down to the ground and building them all over again.
When is the movie going to be released?
The upcoming American supernatural film is written by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, and DaCosta and ranks number four in the franchise. Candyman is scheduled to be released in the United States on September 25, 2020, by Universal Pictures, if everything goes right till then.
What is the story going to be?
According to Universal Pictures, Candyman will re-tell the tale of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood.
“For as long as the residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood were terrorized 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 the present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, a visual artist named Anthony McCoy and his girlfriend, a gallery director named Brianna Cartwright, moved into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by the upwardly mobile millennials. With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind the 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.”
Backstory!
Fun fact, the movie was initially planned to get released in the month of June, but “all Hail COVID!”. Things are quite unpredictable right now. But till then enjoy the trailer, or maybe just re-watch the previous parts.
In September 2018, it was announced that Jordan Peele was in talks to produce a sequel of the 1992 film through his Monkeypaw Productions. After 2 months, it was confirmed that Peele would produce the film with Universal and MGM and will partner with Win Rosenfeld to co-produce the film while Nia DaCosta signed on as director.
Candyman is Jordan Peele’s first horror project, and the first time is always a special time. In an interview, he shared some words regarding his upcoming project.
“My connection to Candyman is pretty simple. It’s one of the few movies that explored any aspect of the black experience in the horror genre in the 90s when I was growing up. So it was a really perfect example, an iconic example to me, of representation in the genre. It inspired a reimagining of this story that I’m very excited about.”
This project is special for each and every member attached to it since Candyman had been a part of their childhood and a major nostalgia and remaking it with subtle care is crucial. The original Candyman was set within the real-life Cabrini–Green housing projects in Chicago and DaCosta noted that when it came time to make their version of Candyman, gentrification was a key theme, explaining, “Gentrification in the film is what helped us to reimagine the story because Cabrini-Green is gone.”
Who is going to be a part of the film?
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will be playing Anthony McCoy, Teyonah Parris as Brianna Cartwright, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett as Troy Cartwright, Colman Domingo as William Burke, Tony Todd as Daniel Robitaille / Candyman, Vanessa Estelle Williams as Anne-Marie McCoy, Rebecca Spence as Finley Stephens, Cassie Kramer as Helen Lyle and many more.
Going back to the 90s
The franchise took inspirations from the 1985 short story The Forbidden of the collection Books of Blood by Clive Barker. The 90s version was directed by Bernard Rose. Even though the movie didn’t get the “blockbuster” tag, but is considered a significant feature film in the scientific-horror genre, and stands high as the epitome of a cult classic. In 1995 and 1999, sequels subtitled Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh and Candyman: Day of the Dead were released. But, do you know that Candyman also gave birth to a board game? By now you should call Candyman as an “influencer”.
Director Nia DaCosta shared a clip of Candyman on her Twitter platform during the clash between Blacks and Whites, where a shadow puppetry act is portraying an incident, which might be a reference to the real-life 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr., who was beaten by three white men in Texas, along with the historical cases of George Stinney Jr. Candyman might be a fictional character, but it is the story of everyone. Every Black person out there suffered some way or other like Candyman, the extent is different.
The remake promises a strong grip on the emotions and mindset of the audience. The original might have faded along the way, but the 2020 movie might give rise to controversies since some say that the movie is political and digs up old stories. But time will only ascertain the results.