Candyman Is Secretly Following Halloween 2018’s Reboot Approach

Nia DaCosta’s Candyman is one of the most highly-anticipated horror movies of 2020; the “spiritual sequel” seems to potentially be employing something that worked tremendously well for David Gordon Green’s 2018 Halloween movie: a legacy connection.

Based on the trailer, Candyman is returning to Cabrini-Green, which has undergone significant changes and gentrification since Bernard Rose’s 1992 film. The original movie utilized the rough Chicago neighborhood as an eerie backdrop to explore the racial tensions of the time, as well as to strengthen the origins of the Candyman himself. The film is directed by Nia DaCosta, produced by Ian Cooper, Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld of Monkeypaw Productions, with a script written by Peele, Rosenfeld, and DaCosta. The original Candyman trilogy began in 1992 with Bernard Rose’s film of the same name, which was based off the short story, “The Forbidden” by Hellraiser creator Clive Barker.

While DaCosta’s vision for Candyman is intended to be a follow-up to the original, the whole franchise still seems inter-connected based on the first look. Though only a theory, the coincidence is too strong to overlook; star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is playing an artist, Anthony McCoy, who has returned to Cabrini-Green, a place where he shares a deep connection, to unearth the legend of the Candyman. While it might seem a bit on the nose, this type of connection has been really successful with horror franchises of late, particularly the new Halloween trilogy from Blumhouse, because it respects the original while still bringing something new to the table.

Candyman 2020 Seems To Be Using A Legacy Connection

When Blumhouse announced that it would be rebooting John Carpenter’s beloved franchise, as well as one of the most iconic franchises in horror history, fans were skeptical, but excited. The horror studio has proven time and again that it’s capable of delivering incredible movies on micro-budgets that still reflect a sleek, stylistic view and focus on delivering strong stories to their audience. Though they have their hits and misses, such as their February 2020 releases, Fantasy Island and Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man being polar opposites in terms of acclaim, overall, horror is in good hands with Blumhouse.

Carpenter signed off on the project, which added to the overall hype, but the smartest decision that was made was to continue 1978’s story directly and return to its origin: Michael Myers and Laurie Strode, forty years later. Halloween pulled the plug on the sibling storyline, which was also for the best, but its wisest decision was to focus on the root characters and how emotional trauma runs just as deep as any physical scar. DaCosta’s Candyman seems like it will likely focus on Mateen-II’s character, Anthony; he was the baby Candyman kidnapped in the original movie. His mother, Anne-Marie, also appeared in the first trailer, and a scene between the two makes it seem like Candyman brought Anthony back home for unfinished business, or perhaps to use Anthony as a catalyst to bring himself back to life.

While the Candyman movies have always had a supernatural core, it’s not unrealistic to think about there being some sort of shared psychic or even spiritual connection between Anthony and Daniel Robitaille – they technically have been connected for nearly his entire life. Audiences will have to wait until June to have all the answers, but Halloween proved that connecting to the source in a new, exciting way while still honoring its roots is the best way to reinvigorate a franchise, and Candyman seems on track to do just that.