The Candyman Trailer Is Definitely Not For The Faint Of Heart

Candyman 2020 hook poster

Thus far, 2020 has been mostly a rough year for horror fans when it comes to new releases from the genre, but things seem to finally be turning around. This Friday, audiences will get the chance to witness the awesomeness that is Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man, and now we know that playing before it will be a preview of one of the most exciting scary movies set to come out in the next few months: Nia DaCosta’s Candyman.

The trailer for the reimagining of director Bernard Rose’s 1992 franchise-spawning release is now online – and while the banner in front may say that the footage is approved for all audiences, I will warn that it’s not intended for the faint of heart or horror-averse. You’ve been cautioned!

Sufficiently traumatized now? Good, because we still have a little over three months before the full film arrives in theaters, and that should be plenty of time for you to recover and then be totally re-traumatized all over again.

Based on a script by Nia DaCosta, Jordan Peele, and Win Rosenfeld, Candyman brings back the classic urban legend about the titular hook-handed villain who can be summoned by saying his name five times into a mirror… only you don’t really want to do that, because the end result is excessively bloody murder. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays Anthony McCoy, an artist who develops a fascination with the horrible myth, and sees his fascination take on new levels as he discovers that he may actually be transforming into Candyman himself.

If you haven’t watched the original Candyman recently, it’s an amazing example of pull-no-punches horror, and it would appear that Nia DaCosta has created something in a similar vein here. While we certainly hope that this trailer isn’t showing us too much, it looks like this movie is going to be filled with a number of horrific and scary set pieces, from the events that transpire in that high school bathroom, to the art exhibit, to whatever is going on in that shower at the very end.

Also starring Teyonah Parris, Colman Domingo, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Vanessa Williams, and Rebecca Spence (and possibly Tony Todd?), Candyman is going to be adding some screams to all the blockbuster thrills available on the big screen this summer, set to hit theaters on June 12th. With the release of this trailer, the movie has definitely rocketed up our “Most Anticipated of 2020” list, and we’ll definitely be following it closely between now and the time that it’s ready for consumption.

Stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest updates about the film – including stories from a Q&A with Nia DaCosta we did yesterday during a special Candyman trailer preview event – and to see what else will soon be coming to a theater near you, be sure to check out our 2020 Release Schedule.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.