A new video for Candyman sees star Colman Domingo and a roundtable discussing the origins of Tony Todd's character and the impact of Black horror. Todd first brought the character of Candyman to life in 1992 with the eponymous film which centered on a Chicago graduate student who discovers the legend of the murderous spirit in the housing project of Cabrini-Green. The film and character hail from the short story "The Forbidden" from Clive Barker in his Books of Blood collection.
The new Candyman will act as a direct sequel to the original and center on Anthony McCoy, now an adult artist after being saved by Helen Lyle in the first film, as he moves back to Cabrini-Green, which has become a gentrified condo complex. Looking to revitalize his art, Anthony learns of the legend of the Candyman from a local and begins centering his work around the spirit, which threatens to reveal dark secrets from their pasts, unravel his sanity and unleash an evil long thought to have gone dormant. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II leads the cast as Anthony alongside Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Domingo and the returns of Vanessa Estelle Williams and reportedly Todd as the Candyman.
With less than a week remaining until the film's release, Universal Pictures has unveiled a new video to promote Candyman. The new video features star Colman Domingo, UCLA Professor of Black Horror & Afrofuturism Tananarive Due, trauma psychotherapist Dr. Wendy Ashley, Black Emotional and Mental Health Collective (BEAM) founder Yolo Akili Robinson and The Confess Project founder Lorenzo Lewis discussing the importance and impact of black horror and the origins of the titular spirit. Check out the video below:
Barker's original short story lacked a number of specific details regarding Candyman, most notably his race, backstory and motivations. During development of the 1992 film, director Bernard Rose gave Todd and co-star Virginia Madsen the option to flesh out their characters and the former elected to give the titular spirit a history of a forbidden love affair with a white woman and a desire to kill for both revenge and to sustain his legacy. Though the new film is seemingly changing the origin of Candyman's story, this evolution is to update it to reflect the racial justice issues and police brutality still rampant today.
The new video for Candyman not only features an intriguing clip of Domingo establishing the terror that is the titular spirit but also a compelling discussion between he and the experts about the deeper layers to his character and very real horrors connected to him. With her debut Little Woods, writer/director Nia DaCosta established her ability to tackle some weighty and timely subjects while co-writer/producer Jordan Peele's works in the horror genre have shown a strong grasp on blending similar timely themes with the thrills of the genre, making them the perfect pairing to bring the Chicago urban legend back to life. The wait is almost over for the return of Candyman as it hits theaters on Friday.
Source: Universal Pictures
