Filmmaker Nia DaCosta isn’t a stranger to stories about the power of vengefulness or forgiveness. Her directorial debut “Little Woods” sees its protagonist (Tessa Thompson) trying to create a life when local vengeance gets in the way, while “Candyman” sees artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) get ever closer to folklore’s Candyman, the vengeful spirit of a wrongly murdered man who can overtake your life if you whisper enough times into a mirror.
Continue reading The Marvels’ Review: Nia DaCosta’s Superhero Adventure Explores Revenge In A Successful But Naggingly Familiar Lark at The Playlist.
Continue reading The Marvels’ Review: Nia DaCosta’s Superhero Adventure Explores Revenge In A Successful But Naggingly Familiar Lark at The Playlist.
- 11/8/2023
- by Jeff Ewing
- The Playlist
Keep your warm-colored lights and green pine trees. For some of us, October is the most wonderful time of the year. You can smell it as autumnal leaves drifting across the grass; you can hear it as children laugh in their most beloved Halloween costumes; and you can see it with the cornucopia of horror movies to watch.
Aye, horror flicks are the most important part of the season to some. For 31 days, you don’t need an excuse to indulge in the wicked and the weird, and to hopefully scare yourself silly. But in an age of streaming, and when countless mounds of content is being thrown at you, how do you decide what to watch? Well, at least when it comes to Amazon Prime Video, we have a few ideas…
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
U.S. Only
It’s rare for any subgenre of horror to have...
Aye, horror flicks are the most important part of the season to some. For 31 days, you don’t need an excuse to indulge in the wicked and the weird, and to hopefully scare yourself silly. But in an age of streaming, and when countless mounds of content is being thrown at you, how do you decide what to watch? Well, at least when it comes to Amazon Prime Video, we have a few ideas…
An American Werewolf in London (1981)
U.S. Only
It’s rare for any subgenre of horror to have...
- 10/7/2022
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
In the wake of playing the wise and balanced god of the universe, Doctor Manhattan, in HBO’s Watchmen, a role which earned Yahya Abdul-Mateen II a Primetime Emmy for supporting actor in a limited series, the actor has accumulated a resume of socially philosophical protagonists including Bobby Seale in The Trial of the Chicago 7, Anthony McCoy in Candyman and now Morpheus in Warner Bros/Village Roadshow’s Matrix Resurrections.
Commenting on that momentum, Abdul-Mateen II tells us on the Hero Nation podcast, “Each of those (roles) did have a perspective to have something to say about humanity, have something to say about magic and what it is to be human or standing up for human rights, or finding the other side of this existence, and fighting for it as well.”
You can listen to our intriguing conversation with the Matrix Resurrections star here:
Abdul-Mateen II is taking his...
Commenting on that momentum, Abdul-Mateen II tells us on the Hero Nation podcast, “Each of those (roles) did have a perspective to have something to say about humanity, have something to say about magic and what it is to be human or standing up for human rights, or finding the other side of this existence, and fighting for it as well.”
You can listen to our intriguing conversation with the Matrix Resurrections star here:
Abdul-Mateen II is taking his...
- 12/18/2021
- by Anthony D'Alessandro and Dominic Patten
- Deadline Film + TV
Production designer Cara Brower had several themes to keep in mind when building the art-centric world of Nia DaCosta’s “Candyman.”
In the film, now playing in theaters, Yahya Abdul Mateen II plays artist Anthony McCoy, while his girlfriend Brianna Cartwright, played by “WandaVision” actor Teyonah Parris, is a gallery director steeped in Chicago’s art scene. Not only did Brower set out to find local Black artists in Chicago, she also wanted the sets to reflect the story of gentrification while still planting seeds of the original 1992 horror film.
Brower talked about her research, location scouting in Chicago’s Cabrini Green and delivering DaCosta’s vision.
The film goes back to the Cabrini-Green housing project, where some areas have seen new development after the original towers were torn down. What did it mean to be there?
We knew the film had to be in Chicago, and I wanted to...
In the film, now playing in theaters, Yahya Abdul Mateen II plays artist Anthony McCoy, while his girlfriend Brianna Cartwright, played by “WandaVision” actor Teyonah Parris, is a gallery director steeped in Chicago’s art scene. Not only did Brower set out to find local Black artists in Chicago, she also wanted the sets to reflect the story of gentrification while still planting seeds of the original 1992 horror film.
Brower talked about her research, location scouting in Chicago’s Cabrini Green and delivering DaCosta’s vision.
The film goes back to the Cabrini-Green housing project, where some areas have seen new development after the original towers were torn down. What did it mean to be there?
We knew the film had to be in Chicago, and I wanted to...
- 9/4/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Nia DaCosta’s “Candyman” update required an unconventional score — and Black composer and co-sound designer Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe delivered a visceral soundscape in tune with the movie’s urban legend about racist violence perpetrated against Black men throughout history.
The horrifying legacy of Black trauma continues when artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) becomes obsessed with the legend of Candyman, who still haunts the gentrified community of Chicago’s Cabrini Green.
“The work that I created needed to live in the world of this new film, while still understanding that there was a legacy that needed to be addressed in some way [concerning Philip Glass’ iconic score to the original 1992 film],” Lowe said. He eventually carved out his own unique musical space while reimagining the Glass composition “The Music Box,” which the film uses during backstory exposition and over the end credits.
The Candyman mythology provided plenty of inspiration for Lowe, whose unconventional process consists of recording his...
The horrifying legacy of Black trauma continues when artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) becomes obsessed with the legend of Candyman, who still haunts the gentrified community of Chicago’s Cabrini Green.
“The work that I created needed to live in the world of this new film, while still understanding that there was a legacy that needed to be addressed in some way [concerning Philip Glass’ iconic score to the original 1992 film],” Lowe said. He eventually carved out his own unique musical space while reimagining the Glass composition “The Music Box,” which the film uses during backstory exposition and over the end credits.
The Candyman mythology provided plenty of inspiration for Lowe, whose unconventional process consists of recording his...
- 9/1/2021
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
This article contains Candyman spoilers.
It is an exquisite final image. Swarmed in a symphony of bees and standing triumphant over his latest victim—a police officer sprawled out in an alleyway’s gutter—Candyman looks joyful. He’s the monster who’s haunted the ruins of what was once Cabrini-Green for more than a hundred years, and the legend who frightened children and caused lovers to cling closer in their rapture, and now he’s at last returned to his flock. Only this time Candyman is saving the woman who summoned him instead of destroying her.
As Teyonah Parris’ Brianna Cartwright looks on, her salvation is a wondrous thing—both a ghost and a living ghost story—who has killed something far scarier than his legend. The truth of this is told by the bodies of corrupt police officers strewn around the scene. Moments earlier, those same cops in...
It is an exquisite final image. Swarmed in a symphony of bees and standing triumphant over his latest victim—a police officer sprawled out in an alleyway’s gutter—Candyman looks joyful. He’s the monster who’s haunted the ruins of what was once Cabrini-Green for more than a hundred years, and the legend who frightened children and caused lovers to cling closer in their rapture, and now he’s at last returned to his flock. Only this time Candyman is saving the woman who summoned him instead of destroying her.
As Teyonah Parris’ Brianna Cartwright looks on, her salvation is a wondrous thing—both a ghost and a living ghost story—who has killed something far scarier than his legend. The truth of this is told by the bodies of corrupt police officers strewn around the scene. Moments earlier, those same cops in...
- 8/30/2021
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Nia DaCosta is making history once again! Following the Aug. 27 premiere of Candyman, the 31-year-old has become the first Black woman director to debut a movie in the No. 1 weekend spot at the domestic box office, grossing $22.3 million in its opening weekend. The film is a sequel to the 1992 horror classic of the same name and is written by Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld. It follows Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as an artist named Anthony McCoy who moves in to the original movie's now-gentrified neighborhood with his girlfriend, Brianna Cartwright, played by Teyonah Parris.
Of course, DaCosta is no stranger to breaking records, as she's also the first Black woman to direct a Marvel film with the upcoming The Marvels. The Captain Marvel sequel is currently in production and stars Parris, Brie Larson, and Iman Vellani. It's set to hit theaters on Nov. 11, 2022.
Of course, DaCosta is no stranger to breaking records, as she's also the first Black woman to direct a Marvel film with the upcoming The Marvels. The Captain Marvel sequel is currently in production and stars Parris, Brie Larson, and Iman Vellani. It's set to hit theaters on Nov. 11, 2022.
- 8/30/2021
- by Monica Sisavat
- Popsugar.com
When the first trailer debuted for “Candyman” — director Nia DaCosta and producer Jordan Peele’s “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 horror classic — there was a great deal of buzz about the use of a slowed-down remix of Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” alongside the original movie’s haunting score.
But upon further reflection — the needle drop was an early hint at the way DaCosta and Peele’s take would examine deeper social themes. And the call to say “Candyman” in the mirror five times ultimately mirrors the call to remember real-life victims of racial violenc.
“We shot this right up until everything started to get locked down in March of 2020, before our summer of racial reckoning,” “Candyman” star Colman Domingo told Variety. “So we were already starting to shout quietly, ‘Say her name. Say his name,’ and then it reverberated even more so in the streets.”
In the case of #SayHerName,...
But upon further reflection — the needle drop was an early hint at the way DaCosta and Peele’s take would examine deeper social themes. And the call to say “Candyman” in the mirror five times ultimately mirrors the call to remember real-life victims of racial violenc.
“We shot this right up until everything started to get locked down in March of 2020, before our summer of racial reckoning,” “Candyman” star Colman Domingo told Variety. “So we were already starting to shout quietly, ‘Say her name. Say his name,’ and then it reverberated even more so in the streets.”
In the case of #SayHerName,...
- 8/27/2021
- by Angelique Jackson
- Variety Film + TV
In 1992, I begged my father to take me to see Candyman. He had already turned me into a horror fanatic so he needed to follow through and take me. After the film was over, I was terrified for weeks. My brain would manifest Candyman in the shadows of my room while I slept.
As an adult, I don’t fancy the film as much, but I realized the allure of Candyman was that he was a terror specific to the Black community despite the circumstances of his death. I knew as a child that housing was an issue for poor people and how the main character from the first film, interloper Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen), disrupted the lives of the inhabitants in the Cabrini Green housing project. That is what scared me.
Nia DaCosta’s 2021 version of Candyman course corrects some of the problems I had with the first film...
As an adult, I don’t fancy the film as much, but I realized the allure of Candyman was that he was a terror specific to the Black community despite the circumstances of his death. I knew as a child that housing was an issue for poor people and how the main character from the first film, interloper Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen), disrupted the lives of the inhabitants in the Cabrini Green housing project. That is what scared me.
Nia DaCosta’s 2021 version of Candyman course corrects some of the problems I had with the first film...
- 8/27/2021
- by Mike Cecchini
- Den of Geek
Stars: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Tony Todd, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, Brian King, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, Rebecca Spence, Kyle Kaminsky, Vanessa Estelle Williams | Written by Nia DaCosta, Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld | Directed by Nia DaCosta
Director Nia DaCosta and producer Jordan Peele resurrect the Candyman in this part-sequel, part-reboot of the 1992 cult classic. Taking several cues from the original film, it’s an intelligent and provocative horror, though straight-up slasher fans may be a little disappointed.
Bernard Rose’s 1992 film was an adaptation of a Clive Barker short story (The Forbidden), which cleverly relocated the action from London to Chicago. It also turned Tony Todd’s titular villain into a terrifying figure of vengeful violence, who could be summoned by uttering his name five times while standing in front of a mirror.
The new film essentially treats the 1992 movie as a source of urban legend. Set in the now gentrified...
Director Nia DaCosta and producer Jordan Peele resurrect the Candyman in this part-sequel, part-reboot of the 1992 cult classic. Taking several cues from the original film, it’s an intelligent and provocative horror, though straight-up slasher fans may be a little disappointed.
Bernard Rose’s 1992 film was an adaptation of a Clive Barker short story (The Forbidden), which cleverly relocated the action from London to Chicago. It also turned Tony Todd’s titular villain into a terrifying figure of vengeful violence, who could be summoned by uttering his name five times while standing in front of a mirror.
The new film essentially treats the 1992 movie as a source of urban legend. Set in the now gentrified...
- 8/27/2021
- by Matthew Turner
- Nerdly
Content warning: The following story contains mentions of police brutality and death.
Even if you've never seen 1992's Candyman, there's a good chance you know what happens when you say the name "Candyman" in the mirror five times. For 2021's Candyman, which serves as a direct sequel to the 1992 film of the same name, director Nia DaCosta has managed to capture the anxiety and dread that come with saying his name and utilized it in a way that's fresh for today. The film, which premiered on Aug. 27, brings the story that began in 1992 full circle with an ending that feels like a punch to the gut. Read ahead as we break down the ending, including how the film connects to its predecessor.
Candyman 2021's Premise
Chicago artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is struggling to find inspiration for his latest show. When his girlfriend Brianna Cartwright's (Teyonah Parris) brother shares the story of Candyman,...
Even if you've never seen 1992's Candyman, there's a good chance you know what happens when you say the name "Candyman" in the mirror five times. For 2021's Candyman, which serves as a direct sequel to the 1992 film of the same name, director Nia DaCosta has managed to capture the anxiety and dread that come with saying his name and utilized it in a way that's fresh for today. The film, which premiered on Aug. 27, brings the story that began in 1992 full circle with an ending that feels like a punch to the gut. Read ahead as we break down the ending, including how the film connects to its predecessor.
Candyman 2021's Premise
Chicago artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) is struggling to find inspiration for his latest show. When his girlfriend Brianna Cartwright's (Teyonah Parris) brother shares the story of Candyman,...
- 8/27/2021
- by Grayson Gilcrease
- Popsugar.com
Vanessa Estelle Williams has returned to the world of "Candyman." In filmmaker Nia DaCosta's direct sequel to the classic horror movie, Williams once again plays Anne-Marie McMoy. Williams's vital scene features a line delivery that, for good reason, is all over the marketing. Anne-Marie, again, experiences the pain of possibly losing her son, Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II).
For Williams, playing Anne-Marie almost 30 years later is not only a moment of coming full-circle. It's also a moment of fulfillment because the sequel, as she told /Film during a new interview, "makes sense for the Black aesthetic and point of...
The post Candyman Star Vanessa Estelle Williams on How the New Film Reclaims the Narrative [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
For Williams, playing Anne-Marie almost 30 years later is not only a moment of coming full-circle. It's also a moment of fulfillment because the sequel, as she told /Film during a new interview, "makes sense for the Black aesthetic and point of...
The post Candyman Star Vanessa Estelle Williams on How the New Film Reclaims the Narrative [Interview] appeared first on /Film.
- 8/27/2021
- by Jack Giroux
- Slash Film
Paintings are a window into the soul of “Candyman,” the story of a budding artist who becomes fascinated with the urban legend of a killer with a hook for a hand.
In Nia DaCosta’s update of the 1992 horror film, opening Aug. 27, the artist’s work starts to consume him and begins affecting his life. Yahya Abdul Mateen II plays artist Anthony McCoy, while his girlfriend Brianna Cartwright, played by “WandaVision” actor Teyonah Parris, is a gallery director steeped in Chicago’s art scene.
DaCosta hand-picked Black artists Cameron Spratley and Sherwin Ovid to create Anthony’s work in the film. Currently completing his Mfa at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Spratley says he hadn’t seen the 1992 version when he got the call from DaCosta. At the time, he was living in Richmond, Va., contemplating his move to the Midwest. “My introduction to Chicago was by...
In Nia DaCosta’s update of the 1992 horror film, opening Aug. 27, the artist’s work starts to consume him and begins affecting his life. Yahya Abdul Mateen II plays artist Anthony McCoy, while his girlfriend Brianna Cartwright, played by “WandaVision” actor Teyonah Parris, is a gallery director steeped in Chicago’s art scene.
DaCosta hand-picked Black artists Cameron Spratley and Sherwin Ovid to create Anthony’s work in the film. Currently completing his Mfa at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Spratley says he hadn’t seen the 1992 version when he got the call from DaCosta. At the time, he was living in Richmond, Va., contemplating his move to the Midwest. “My introduction to Chicago was by...
- 8/27/2021
- by Jazz Tangcay
- Variety Film + TV
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony McCoy in Candyman, directed by Nia DaCosta. Courtesy of Universal Studios
Urban legends are rich sources for horror films but sometimes the movies create the urban legends themselves. That is the case with Candyman, a faux urban legend created in a short story and three movies in the 1990s, which became an real urban legend. The current horror movie Candyman is a re-imagining of the tale of a deranged supernatural figure with a hook for a hand who haunts the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago. The script was co-written by Jordan Peele but the film directed by Nia DaCosta, who is one of the co-writers along with Win Rosenfeld.
This Candyman includes elements from the earlier movies, which are retold effectively and imaginatively through shadow puppets, one of the film’s best touches. While drawing on the previous films, this version of the Candyman story...
Urban legends are rich sources for horror films but sometimes the movies create the urban legends themselves. That is the case with Candyman, a faux urban legend created in a short story and three movies in the 1990s, which became an real urban legend. The current horror movie Candyman is a re-imagining of the tale of a deranged supernatural figure with a hook for a hand who haunts the Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago. The script was co-written by Jordan Peele but the film directed by Nia DaCosta, who is one of the co-writers along with Win Rosenfeld.
This Candyman includes elements from the earlier movies, which are retold effectively and imaginatively through shadow puppets, one of the film’s best touches. While drawing on the previous films, this version of the Candyman story...
- 8/27/2021
- by Cate Marquis
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
Less of a remake and more a reimagining of the 1992 film, director Nia DaCosta’s new incarnation of Candyman proves to be a wildly entertaining film steeped in the hallmarks of classic horror that proves to be one of the best films of the summer.
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in “Candyman.” © 2021 Universal Pictures
The legend of the Candyman, a supernatural killer brandishing a hook for a hand, was a well-known one to the residents of the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood. According to the stories, he can be summoned if you say his name five times while looking into a mirror. Over the years there have been many killings attributed to this particular boogeyman in the area. Now, a decade after the Cabrini towers were torn down and the area was gentrified, and the area repopulated by upwardly mobile millennials, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) turns...
Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in “Candyman.” © 2021 Universal Pictures
The legend of the Candyman, a supernatural killer brandishing a hook for a hand, was a well-known one to the residents of the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood. According to the stories, he can be summoned if you say his name five times while looking into a mirror. Over the years there have been many killings attributed to this particular boogeyman in the area. Now, a decade after the Cabrini towers were torn down and the area was gentrified, and the area repopulated by upwardly mobile millennials, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) turns...
- 8/27/2021
- by Mike Tyrkus
- CinemaNerdz
“Candyman,” the 1992 slasher movie starring Tony Todd as a vengeful specter in a floor-length fur-lined coat, with a hook for a left hand and a devoted swarm of killer bees, was an urban-legend horror film that was ahead of its time but also, just maybe, a little too much of its time. Todd’s scowling ripper started off as an enslaved person’s son, Daniel Robitaille, who in the late 1800s was a successful artist. But then he had a relationship (and fathered a child) with a wealthy white ingenue whose portrait he’d been commissioned to paint. Her father hired a lynch mob to go after him. The mob tore off his hand and covered him in honey, and a swarm of bees stung him to death. Candyman is the violent ghost he became.
That’s a potentially incendiary premise, but in 1992, amid a swarm of boilerplate sequels featuring Freddy Krueger,...
That’s a potentially incendiary premise, but in 1992, amid a swarm of boilerplate sequels featuring Freddy Krueger,...
- 8/25/2021
- by Owen Gleiberman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive Poster Reveal for The Lincoln: "A woman is forced to drive a Lincoln to do errands that will save her and her loved ones."
Directed by: Stephanie Paris
Story by: Lony Ruhmann
Written by: Staci Layne Wilson
Executive Producer: Lony Ruhmann
Produced by: Jennifer Blanc-Biehn & Noah Pillsbury
Music by: Mike St. Clair
Starring: Noel Gugliemi, Emma Julia Jacobs, Erik Aude, Nick W. Nicholson, Jennimay Walker, Nikita Black, Tony DeBenedetto, Alex Urbom, Richard Cardinal
The Lincoln is coming soon and stay tuned to Daily Dead for more details and a release announcement.
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'Candyman Is' Featurette: "Oscar® winner Jordan Peele unleashes a fresh take on the blood-chilling urban legend: Candyman. Filmmaker Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, next year’s The Marvels) directs this contemporary incarnation of the cult classic.
For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini-Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost...
Directed by: Stephanie Paris
Story by: Lony Ruhmann
Written by: Staci Layne Wilson
Executive Producer: Lony Ruhmann
Produced by: Jennifer Blanc-Biehn & Noah Pillsbury
Music by: Mike St. Clair
Starring: Noel Gugliemi, Emma Julia Jacobs, Erik Aude, Nick W. Nicholson, Jennimay Walker, Nikita Black, Tony DeBenedetto, Alex Urbom, Richard Cardinal
The Lincoln is coming soon and stay tuned to Daily Dead for more details and a release announcement.
----------
'Candyman Is' Featurette: "Oscar® winner Jordan Peele unleashes a fresh take on the blood-chilling urban legend: Candyman. Filmmaker Nia DaCosta (Little Woods, next year’s The Marvels) directs this contemporary incarnation of the cult classic.
For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini-Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost...
- 8/24/2021
- by Jonathan James
- DailyDead
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