Ever since master horror filmmaker Jordan Peele announced he was involved in writing and producing a new Candyman movie, audiences have speculated whether the new film will be a sequel or a reboot of the 1992 horror classic. With the release of the Candyman 2020 trailer, we can now confirm some significant connections the new movie has to the earlier storyline, with two main characters of baby Anthony and Anne-Marie McCoy from the original movie also being at the center of the new film.
In the original Candyman, Anne Marie-McCoy and Helen Lyle met in Cabrini-Green, united over their desire to explore the urban legend of the Candyman. The two investigate the claims of locals that saying the character’s name five times while looking into a mirror brought forth the murderous spirit of Candyman, a man who had once been a plantation slave, where he had been murdered for having an affair with a white woman by having his hand cut off and his body stung to death by bees.
Baby Anthony had been chosen by Candyman to act as a sacrifice to make his legend grow, and it took Helen Lyle sacrificing her own life to save him from the fire started by Candyman that ultimately consumed her.
The new Candyman movie, which sets itself up as a spiritual successor to the original, and ignores the other sequels in the movie canon, sees Anthony as an adult, who has still not escaped the shadow of the Candyman. In fact, grown-up Anthony willingly returns to Cabrini-Green to explore the legend as Helen Lyle had done before him.
But it seems the spirit of the Candyman has his own plans and appears to be psychically brainwashing Anthony throughout the film to take his place as the new Candyman.
Anne Marie-McCoy also makes an appearance, cautioning Anthony from saying Candyman‘s name five times and invoking the curse. She is familiar with the Candyman in a way few other mortals are, and is doubly aware of the spirit’s special interest in Anthony. So it would make sense that her greatest wish would be for Anthony to stay away from Cabrini-Green and the legend of the Candyman as far as possible.
For his part, Anthony has grown up to be an artist, and throughout the trailer, we see his art becoming increasingly more affected by the Candyman. At one point, he even appears to have set up a mirror as part of his art exhibit and actually encourages people to test the myth for themselves by saying the name in the mirror five times.
And so the victim of the original Candyman appears set to become the villain of the new sequel unless Anne Marie-McCoy and his other loved ones can rescue Anthony from the influence of the Candyman in time. It will be interesting to see what other subversive and unexpected elements Jordan Peele and the other makers of the film have managed to add to this fresh take on the Legend of the Candyman.