Nia DaCosta reveals haunting & powerful Candyman short-film

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Nia DaCosta's CANDYMAN was slated to have been released in theaters last week, but as with every other movie, it was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, the story of CANDYMAN is all too relevant given recent events, and while we still have a bit of a wait ahead of us before we can see the film for ourselves, Nia DaCosta has revealed a haunting and powerful short-film using paper puppets which shines a light on the history of violence and racism. DaCosta said, "Candyman, at the intersection of white violence and black pain, is about unwilling martyrs. The people they were, the symbols we turn them into, the monsters we are told they must have been." Check it out below!

This new incarnation of CANDYMAN takes place a decade after the housing projects of Chicago's Cabrini Green were torn down, but the legend of Candyman still thrives among the residents. When visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his girlfriend Brianna Cartright (Teyonah Parris) move into a luxury loft condo in the noew gentrified Cabrini, they soon discover the true story behind horrific legend of Candyman.

The official synopsis for CANDYMAN:

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) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk), 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; HBO’s Euphoria) 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 slated for a September 25, 2020 release.