Candyman is a contemporary incarnation of the 1992 cult classic horror film by the same name. 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 (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials. With Candyman, Nia DaCosta has become the first Black female director with a #1 film at the box office. Candyman is also a NYT Critic’s Pick.
“Director Nia DaCosta doesn’t merely write or whisper, she paints a large canvas encompassing generations of trauma, and then proceeds to shout the name from the rooftops: Candyman. Candyman. Candyman. Candyman. Candyman. And through those acts, Candyman looms larger than he ever has before, casting a shadow over the past and present.” — Richard Newby, Hollywood Reporter
“Candyman is a work held together by thoughtful choices, and it has a lot to say.” — Stephanie Zacharek, Time Magazine
Nia DaCosta
Jordan Peele & Win Rosenfeld and Nia DaCosta
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo