Director Nia DaCosta has shared a new trailer for her anticipated Candyman reboot, produced by Jordan Peele. The live-action clip touches on the film's racial origin, including that of the titular character.
The original Candyman from 1992 was adapted from a short story by Clive Barker, portraying the Candyman as the son of a slave. Prior to becoming the Candyman, he was an artist who was largely accepted by white society, until he entered into a relationship with a white women. As her father disapproved, he hired a mob to chase him, ultimately leading them to cut off his hand and cover him with honey so bees would sting him while he was burned. This is why the character is known for his hook in place of a hand and why bees follow him wherever he goes.
The new Candyman trailer highlights this story using puppets, while simultaneously reenacting real-life racist killings. The second vignette is based on the 1998 lynching of James Byrd, Jr., as we see a black man being dragged behind a pickup truck after he moved into a white neighborhood. The third story is inspired by the 1944 execution of 14-year-old George Stinney, Jr., the youngest person to go to the electric chair. Stinney wrongfully confessed to the murder of two white girls after being starved by police officers.
"CANDYMAN, at the intersection of white violence and black pain, is about unwilling martyrs," DaCosta said while sharing the new trailer. "The people they were, the symbols we turn them into, the monsters we are told they must have been."
You can watch the recently-shared trailer for Candyman below, then view the first trailer underneath. The film is due out in theaters this September.
