New Candyman Featurette Goes Behind the Mirror of the Mythology

Candyman first landed on the big screen back in 1992, which brought to life Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden," but it also embraced a variety of different real-world urban legends, which the upcoming Candyman also aims to do. Rather than serving as a direct continuation of the franchise or a direct recreation of the source material, the new film manages to find fresh ways to revive the unsettling story, which you can learn more about in the featurette above. After a number of release date delays, the new film is currently expected to land in theaters on August 27th.

Oscar winner Jordan Peele unleashes a fresh take on the blood-chilling urban legend: Candyman. Filmmaker Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, next year's The Marvels) directs this contemporary incarnation of the cult classic.

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 (Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; Watchmen, Us) and his partner, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, WandaVision), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials.

With Anthony's painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini-Green old-timer (Colman Domingo; Zola, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) exposes Anthony to the horrific true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, and spurred on by his white art dealer, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh inspiration 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 original 1992 film earned two sequels, with the entire trilogy starring Tony Todd as the "Candyman," also known as Daniel Robitaille. Todd had previously mentioned that the new Candyman was initially moving forward without his involvement, though he has since confirmed that the production had reached out to him for unspecified involvement in the experience.

The new Candyman is expected to hit theaters on August 27th.

Are you looking forward to the new film? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!