New ‘Candyman’ Clip Tells a Halloween Tale

Is the new Candyman a Halloween movie? The film is just days away from opening in theaters, and a new clip tells an interesting Halloween tale, and also references Helen Lyle, the main character of the 1992 original film played by Virginia Madsen.

The clip suggests that Lyle came looking for Candyman and found him. We are then told the story of a different Candyman, who was accused of putting razor blades in the candy of children on Halloween. This alleged Halloween Candyman was murdered by cops believing that he had handed out the candy to the children, but then more razor blades were found in more candy after his death, meaning the police had killed an innocent man.

This contemporary incarnation of the horror icon has been described as a “spiritual sequel” to the original 1992 film, which itself is based on Clive Barker’s short story The Forbidden.

Clearly this new film will have a ton of chillingly relevant social commentary threaded throughout the horror, as the original film and story do, and I personally think the timing of this release could not be better.

The official 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 (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), 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, Assassination Nation) 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. 

Genre legend Tony Todd will also appear in the new film, rumored to be reprising his role as the original hook-handed killer Candyman, also known as Daniel Robitaille. Virginia Madsen is also reprising her role from the original 1992 film as Helen Lyle. Also back from the original film, Vanessa Williams returns as Anne-Marie McCoy, whose baby was kidnapped by Candyman in 1992.

From producer and co-writer Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us) and director and co-writer Nia DaCosta (Little Woods), the new Candyman is scheduled to arrive in theaters on August 27.

You can watch the new clip and official trailer below.

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