Candyman will serve as a spiritual sequel to Bernard Rose's 1992 horror film, rebooting it for a new generation. The film's director Nia DaCosta divulged a few key things about her upcoming film, including how fast the titular character will transform.
The film will track the Candyman's full transformation in a horrifying slow burn. The film will be a "slow psychological descent into madness" for the Candyman, "marked by body horror." The first time audiences get a glimpse of the Candyman character it's through "rose-tinted" lenses as he appears to Helen fully-formed in the parking lot.
According to DaCosta, "In the original, he’s already a fully formed…I guess monster, we’ll say, because that’s definitely how he’s positioned in the original film, as a monster. And so, it’s really like a reveal of like, ‘Here’s my chest. I’m fully formed, I’m fully grotesque’ and in this one, we really wanted it to be a slow progression, and for me, I really wanted to trigger the response of like, you know when all of us have had a rash or something, and we’re like, hmm, what’s that? Maybe it’s a heat rash, and then maybe it doesn’t go away for a while and you’re like, hm, interesting. Should I go to the doctor? No, it’s probably fine. And then for a vast majority of people, it goes away. In this movie, of course, it doesn’t go away, it gets worse, and so I wanted to have that effect."
DaCosta continued, "If someone goes home after watching this movie and looks at their own rash, or bump, or mosquito bite and is a little more freaked out, then I’ve done my job. And that’s really what I wanted to do, it’s about getting inside the head of the audience and really viscerally disturbing them and tracking it psychologically with the sense of the main character."
Candyman was has shuffled release dates quite a bit in the wake of COVID-19. The film was originally slated to release on June 12 before being pushed back to September 25. The film received its third delay for October 16 before being pushed back once again. Now it is said to release in the Summer of 2021.
Directed by Nia DaCosta from a script by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld and DaCosta, Candyman stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, Vanessa A. Williams, Rebecca Spence, Cassie Kramer and Tony Todd. The film arrives in theaters on Aug. 27, 2021.
Source:Â Slashfilm