'Candyman' Trailer: Nia DaCosta And Jordan Peele Update A Horror Classic

Someone must've gone ahead and said his name five times in front of a mirror, because Candyman is back. The horror classic, based on a short story by Clive Barker and directed in 1992 by Bernard Rose, gets a modern-day update courtesy of director Nia DaCosta, and producer and co-writer Jordan Peele. This is no mere remake, but a continuation of that film that also reboots and recontextualizes the tale. Watch the first Candyman trailer below.

The original Candyman is one of the best horror movies ever made (yes, really), but that doesn't make me any less excited for this new take on the tale. What's most interesting about the new Candyman is that it comes from predominantly African American voices – specifically DaCosta and Peele – a first for this series. But what's in store for us with this new Candyman? According to producer Ian Cooper, the film is designed to appeal to both fans of the original and those who've never even seen that 1992 film.

"What we're doing with Candyman and how Jordan is crafting it on the page is going to be very exciting and rewarding to audiences that haven't seen the original film as well as people who've seen the original film," Cooper said. "In a broad sense of the word, this film will stand alone if you've never heard of a film called Candyman and will dovetail in a pretty complicated and interesting way to the original. In short, I think this will really fit in with what we're doing with Us and did with Get Out in a way that will be circuitous."

Cooper added: "I think what we're trying to do with Candyman is both be mischievous in how we address the relationship to the first film but also be very satisfying."

"The original was a landmark film for black representation in the horror genre," Jordan Peele said. "Alongside Night of the Living Dead, Candyman was a major inspiration for me as a filmmaker — and to have a bold new talent like Nia at the helm of this project is truly exciting. We are honored to bring the next chapter in the Candyman canon to life and eager to provide new audiences with an entry point to Clive Barker's legend."

Candyman features Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, and, of course, Tony Todd. Look for it in theaters on June 12, 2020. Here's a 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 (Mateen) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Parris), 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 (Domingo) 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 terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.