Candyman is a 2021 supernatural slasher film directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, and DaCosta. The film is a direct sequel to the 1992 film of the same name and the fourth film in the Candyman film series, based on the short story "The Forbidden" by Clive Barker. The film stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, and Kyle Kaminsky. Vanessa Williams, Virginia Madsen, and Tony Todd also reprise their roles from the original film.

Plans for another Candyman film began in the early 2000s, with original director Bernard Rose wanting to make a prequel film about Candyman and Helen s love. However, the studio turned it down and the project entered development hell. By 2018, Peele signed on as producer for a new film using his company, Monkeypaw Productions and later, in November that same year, it was confirmed that Peele would produce the film with Universal Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and partnered with Rosenfeld to co-produce the film while DaCosta signed on as director. Principal photography for the film began in August 2019 and wrapped in September 2019 in Chicago, Illinois.

Candyman was theatrically released in the United States on August 27, 2021, by Universal Pictures. Its release date was delayed three times from an original June 2020 date due to concerns regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, who praised DaCosta s direction and the blend of social commentary with horror,[6] and has grossed $62 million worldwide against a $25 million budget.

Candyman was originally scheduled to be released on June 12, 2020, by Universal Pictures, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was pushed to September 25, 2020,and then again to October 16, 2020, taking the previous release date of Halloween Kills.The film was then delayed to August 27, 2021.

Candyman will be released on-demand on September 17, 2021.

𝐓𝐎𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐋𝐎𝐀𝐑𝐃

𝐃𝐈𝐑𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐃𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐋𝐎𝐀𝐑𝐃

In 2019, twenty-seven years after the events of the first film, visual artist Anthony McCoy lives in Chicago with his girlfriend, art gallery director Brianna Cartwright. Brianna s brother Troy shares the urban legend of Helen Lyle, a graduate student who went on a killing spree in the early 1990s. Her rampage culminated in a bonfire outside the Cabrini-Green housing project when she attempted to sacrifice a baby. The residents were able to rescue the child before Helen perished in the fire in an apparent act of self-immolation.

Desperate for a creative spark to turn his career around, Anthony roams around Cabrini-Green for inspiration. He eventually meets William Burke, a laundromat owner who introduces him to the story of the Candyman. When Burke was a child in 1977, he had a frightening encounter with Sherman Fields, a hook-handed man whom the police believed was responsible for putting a razor blade in a piece of candy that ended up in the hands of a white girl. Burke inadvertently alerted the police to Sherman s presence inside the walls of one of the tower blocks, leading them to beat Sherman to death. When children continued to receive candy with razor blades inside, Sherman was exonerated and the legend implies that if somebody says "Candyman" five times to a mirror, Sherman s spirit will appear and kill the summoner.

Inspired, Anthony develops an art exhibit based on the Candyman s legend and showcases it at Brianna s art gallery. He is dismayed when it does not get a positive reaction from audiences. That night, one of Brianna s co-workers and his girlfriend are slaughtered by the Candyman after saying his name five times in front of a piece of Anthony s exhibit consisting of a mirror. The legend spreads and more people are killed after repeating the Candyman s name including an art critic and a group of teenage girls bullying an African-American girl in a bathroom.

Anthony begins to undergo a physical transformation, stemming from a bee sting he received on his hand which develops into a huge scab that starts spreading across his entire body. He goes to a hospital where he learns that his mother Anne-Marie lied about where he was born and when he confronts her, she reluctantly reveals that he was the baby Helen “rescued” from the fire the night she died. Though Helen saved him from Daniel Robitaille, the first Candyman, who abducted him and planned to sacrifice him in the fire, Anne-Marie never told him about it because she wanted Anthony to have a normal life. The community had vowed never to repeat the Candyman s legend after that night and she fears what will happen now that someone has broken the pact. Anthony leaves, resigned to his fate, and wanders through the Cabrini-Green row houses.

Worried about Anthony, Brianna realizes that Burke first told him about the Candyman and goes to Cabrini-Green to find them. At the laundromat, she is attacked and subdued by Burke who takes her to an abandoned church where Anthony, his body continuing to deteriorate, is waiting. Anthony enters into a fugue state and tries to save her as Burke reveals that he not only witnessed Sherman s death, he also saw Sherman s spirit returning as the Candyman and witnessed him murdering his older sister and her friend who summoned him. Burke plans to have the police gun Anthony down to create a new legend with the Candyman as an instrument of vengeance rather than a symbol of Black pain and suffering. To complete Anthony s transformation into the Candyman, Burke saws off his right hand and replaces it with a hook.

Brianna manages to escape the church and is chased through Cabrini-Green by Burke, whom she viciously stabs to death. Anthony appears and collapses into her arms as the police, lured to the scene by Burke, show up and shoot Anthony dead. Brianna is arrested and handcuffed. An officer attempts to intimidate her into agreeing that Anthony provoked the police into shooting him, but Brianna uses the police car s rear-view mirror to summon the Candyman. He appears, now in Anthony s guise, and massacres the police. As more police arrive at the scene, Anthony takes on the appearance of Robitaille and instructs Brianna to "tell everyone".