While we continue waiting for Nia DaCosta’s Candyman, currently set for theatrical release on August 27, 2021, we’ve learned that a Candyman documentary is also on the way.
Written and directed by Bryn Hammond, the documentary will explore the Tony Todd-starring movie franchise that was born out of Clive Barker‘s original story, “The Forbidden.”
The press release explains, “The Complete History of Candyman begins with a modest overview of the heyday of the horror genre and its sharp decline, solely down to the responsibility of the decay of the slasher sub-genre, when all of Hollywood, from the sleaziest independent backstreet butcher to the highest-paid studio executive, was greenlighting any film that featured a masked psychopath, scores of 30 + something teenagers with a half decent set of lungs, an ample array of ways to die and, in the best of both worlds, all three.
“It’s succinct view tours through Hollywood’s changing landscape and horror’s renaissance, during which the horror genre returned to producing critically and commercially successful horror films, much as it did during the era known as the Golden Age of slashers, which peaked between 1978 and 1984.
“Candyman History comes full circle by analyzing the symbiotic relationship between the horror genre and the African-American experience, and how Spike Lee’s masterpiece, Do the Right Thing, became the bracing model for how the studio system packaged contemporary racial issues in a manner that startlingly respects the ability of viewers to think for themselves, leading to the birth of Bernard Rose’s Candyman (the two are inextricably linked) and its sequels.
“The Complete History of Candyman delves into the original trilogy that ran from 1992 to 1999, based on the short story The Forbidden by Clive Barker, that by turns utilized the embodiment of fearmongering seen in Do the Right Thing, but by turning it into a literal bogeyman in the deprived Cabrini-Green area of Chicago. It uses elements of social criticism and the great rot of social housing, while posing the question “Does God exist?”, all through the eyes of the film’s protagonist, which allows the viewers a bizarre tour de force of the harsh reality that results when stereotypes applied to black people are believed en masse.
“The Complete History of Candyman presents an in-depth investigation into the series, the author and the up-and-coming Jordan Peele reboot from brand new and archival interviews from scholars and creators, from the voices who survived the genre’s past trends to those shaping its future.”
The plan is to release the documentary this coming Spring/Summer.
While you wait, you can watch the official trailer below.