Presented in the form of shadow puppet short, the latest promo for Nia DaCosta's upcoming horror movie highlights the racial history of the classic slasher film.
- Jun 18, 2020
AceShowbiz - A new teaser for Nia DaCosta's "Candyman" is here for viewing pleasure to tide fans over its upcoming release. Unveiled aptly during the fight for social justice for black community in the U.S., the latest sneak peek tackles racial history of the horror classic.
The haunting teaser reveals the origin story of the title character which is presented in the form of shadow puppet short. It recounts stories of black people being persecuted and prosecuted, which is so familiar to everyone right now.
In the original 1992 film, Daniel Robitaille, a black artist in the late 1800s, falls in love with the white woman whose portrait he is hired to paint. This enrages the woman's father and others, who brutally murder Daniel, cutting his hand off before throwing him into a flame.
Sharing the teaser on her Twitter page, DaCosta wrote along with it, "CANDYMAN, at the intersection of white violence and black pain, is about unwilling martyrs. The people they were, the symbols we turn them into, the monsters we are told they must have been."
The upcoming movie will follow Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who finds himself entangled in a series of horrific murders. The previously released trailer suggests that Anthony is possessed by the spirit of Candyman, who was played by Tony Todd in the original film.
According to the official synopsis, "For as long as 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 present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris), 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) 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."
The new "Candyman" movie was originally slated to open on June 12, but is now pushed back to September 25 due to the coronavirus outbreak.
