The urban legend of the Candyman goes, if you say his name five times in the mirror, he’ll appear in your reflection and kill you. Jordan Peele puts that legend to the test in this latest horror film.
Peele co-wrote “Candyman” as directed by Nia DaCosta (“Little Woods”) about the cult classic with a modern twist. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris star in the movie that’s opening in theaters on June 12 from Universal Pictures and MGM.
“I am the writing on the wall, the sweet smell of blood,” a deep, dark, demonic voice spoken by the Candyman says in the trailer. “Be my victim.”
Peele frames the story of the supernatural killer with a hook for a hand named Candyman as a demon that has haunted Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood for decades. But in the present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Abdul-Mateen II) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Parris), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials.
It’s only when Anthony’s artwork of the legend unknowingly opens 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.
“Candyman” comes from Universal and MGM in association with BRON Creative, and Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld’s Monkeypaw Productions. The film is directed by DaCosta, and is produced by Ian Cooper, Rosenfeld and Peele. Peele wrote the screenplay with Rosenfeld and DaCosta.
The film is based on the 1992 film “Candyman,” written by Bernard Rose, and the short story “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker. The film’s executive producers are David Kern, Aaron L. Gilbert and Jason Cloth. Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and Colman Domingo co-star.
Watch the trailer above.