The new Candyman is set in the American neighborhood where events began; a now-gentrified section of Chicago where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood.
The original movie — which is inspired by legendary horror author Clive Barker’s short story “The Forbidden” — follows graduate student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen), who explores the story of the Candyman for her thesis on urban legends.
The legend states that the Candyman — African American artist Daniel Robitaille, who was lynched for falling in love and fathering a child with a White woman in 1890 — is summoned after his name is said out loud five times in a mirror.
The first film was a huge success and spawned two follow-ups: Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh and Candyman: Day of the Dead.
Get Out filmmaker Peele, 41, has admitted the original movie had a huge impact on him when he was younger because it was centered around an African American character in Todd — who also starred in Tom Savini’s 1990 remake of George A. Romero’s zombie classic Night of the Living Dead — another favorite of Peele’s.
Revealing his reason for resurrecting the franchise, he said: “The original was a landmark film for Black representation in the horror genre. Alongside Night of the Living Dead, Candyman was a major inspiration for me as a filmmaker.”
