Candyman Reboot Teaser Video Is Incredibly Stylish And Powerful

The much-anticipated reboot of the '90s horror classic Candyman is one of many movies that has been delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The movie was set to be released this month, but will instead arrive in September. Ahead of that, director Nia DaCosta has revealed an amazing new promo video.

Unlike the Candyman trailer that was released in February, this new teaser works as a stylish short film prologue in its own right. It's performed entirely with shadow puppets, and tells the tragic backstory of the titular character, a former slave who is murdered and returns as a vengeful hook-handed spirit. It's incredibly powerful and beautifully made--check it out below:

The new Candyman is actually a sequel to Bernard Rose's 1992 original, which was based on a Clive Barker story. It stars Aquaman's Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a man who returns to the former Chicago housing project of Cabrini Green, where the legend of Candyman still persists. The movie also stars Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, and Colman Domingo. The return of Tony Todd to the role as Candyman has never been officially confirmed, but his voice can be heard in February's trailer.

Like the first movie, the new Candyman will tackle social themes as well as scaring the audience. It's produced by Jordan Peele, and in a recent interview, DaCosta spoke about how this is one of Peele's main concerns when working in the horror genre.

"What was useful about working with Jordan is that he's so good at bringing the social issues to the forefront in genre, especially horror," she said, via io9. "So that was already something that I knew was gonna happen. But the original Candyman also does that really well. What we were able to do, because 30 years has passed and because there's been so much change [in the] neighborhood, in particular, gentrification, was really dig into the themes that were already there."

For more, check out Gamespot's guide to the biggest upcoming horror movies of 2020 and beyond.