Nia DaCosta has shared a chilling Candyman teaser video. The timely animated short traces the origins of the fictional killer and pairs it with the history of systemic racism in America. Black Lives Matter protests are still occurring on a daily basis all over the world, stemming from the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. DaCosta shared the video earlier this morning and had this to say about 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. pic.twitter.com/MEwwr8umdI
— Nia DaCosta (@NiaDaCosta) June 17, 2020
The new Candyman video shows different acts of racial injustice throughout American history, even going on to seemingly recreate the 1944 arrest and execution of George Stinney. Stinney was fourteen-years old and is the youngest American sentenced to death in history. The video, which is just under three minutes long, goes on and shows other chilling pieces of American history, that are also tied into the movie. It’s a heavy thing to watch, so consider yourself warned, though it’s no worse than turning on the news these days.
Nia DaCosta’s Candyman is set 30 years after the original 1992 classic. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Anthony McCoy, who was an infant abducted by the Candyman in the first movie. He is now an artist and has moved into a new condo with his wife, which just happens to be where the Candyman‘s haunting grounds used to be. As we’ve seen in the trailer, things only take off from there.
Candyman focuses on Anthony’s painting career, which is 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 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 terrifying wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny. The paintings are hinted at in the trailer and also in the new video Nia DaCosta shared today.
Candyman was already supposed to be in theaters, but it was delayed until September 25th. Movie theaters are still closed in North America, though they plan on reopening next month for Christopher Nolan’s Tenet and Disney’s live-action remake of Mulan. Original Candyman star Tony Todd has hinted that the new movie will be released on VOD the same day that it hits theaters. This has yet to be officially confirmed, but one could see that easily happening at this point in time. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with the movie theaters and the upcoming release dates. You can check out the Candyman origin video above, thanks to Nia DaCosta’s Twitter account.
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