Everyone knows that trailers and teasers usually reveal too much. Heck, the Vivarium director even asked people not to watch the trailer to that movie, but when it comes to the Nia DaCosta-directed (and Jordan Peele-penned) Candyman reboot, the spoilers are not happening. That’s the case with the bone-chilling trailer and the animated teaser, so don’t be afraid to watch this teaser, either. Oh, and the end of this teaser features a voice — which ominously warns, “Tell everyone” — that’s obviously Candyman, but is it Tony Todd? Well, everyone *thinks* he will return in some form, although DaCosta is keeping that under wraps. And thank goodness for that approach because it’s a novelty to not see what feels like an entire movie before its release.
“What’s Candyman?” asks Watchmen star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s Anthony in this teaser. Well, Colman Domingo’s William has an answer for him: “Candyman ain’t a he. Candyman’s the whole damn hive. A story like that, pain like that, lasts forever,” he declares before animated footage shows a cop firing a gun: “Candyman is how we deal with the fact that these things happen. That they’re still happening.” There’s a strong dose of social commentary here, which is (sadly) always relevant but feels even more stark now, given the recent Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality.
The bee imagery is helping to set the mood, and on the Tony Todd front, he’s been tweeting like mad lately, including confirmation of the film’s release date (Sept. 25), which he suggests (with a “bamn”) will go down “by any means necessary.”
9-25-20 bamn
— Tony Todd (@TonyTodd54) June 5, 2020
Todd apparently also retweeted someone’s question about whether this movie will take the VOD route, although no conclusions should be drawn there.
From the official film synopsis:
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 and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright, 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 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.
Candyman is still due to arrive in theaters on September 25.