‘Candyman’ Origin Story Revealed In Haunting Shadow Puppet Short

Nia DaCosta, director of the upcoming “Candyman” film inspired by the 1992 horror classic, shared a chilling short film depicting the origin story of her titular star.

Shadow puppets, manned by Manual Cinema, re-tell the gruesome scenes that form the Candyman’s lore set to Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe’s score.  “Candyman, at the intersection of white violence and black pain, is about unwilling martyrs,” DaCosta captioned the video. “The people they were, the symbols we turn them into, the monsters we are told they must have been.”

The short debuts amidst a world rising up to protest against police brutality and the systemic racism in the United States that lead to the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks.

Produced by Jordan Peele, the upcoming film follows the story of artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), the young character in the original film who was kidnapped by the Candyman (Tony Todd), who is now all grown up. Anthony, along with his girlfriend (Teyonah Parris), move into the now-gentrified Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago where the Candyman’s haunting grounds are said to take place. When Anthony encounters a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo) he exposes Anthony to the tragic backstory behind the tale of Candyman.

The horror flick was originally set to premiere on June 12, but due to the coronavirus outbreak and theaters still being closed, the date was pushed back to Sept. 25.