As the new trailer for Jordan Peele’s remake of Candyman begins, Anthony McCoy tells someone not in the know how this boogeyman works: “If you say his name five times while looking in the mirror, he appears in the reflection and KILLS YOU.” The reply he gets: “Who would do that?” Teens would, of course, which the very next scene proves.
1992’s Candyman combined two urban legends: Bloody Mary, who is supposed to operate very similarly to Candyman (except she takes three utterances of her name to summon), and the classic campfire story of a killer with a hook for a hand. Add some nonsensical bees for good measure and you have the Candyman. In the original movie, McCoy was a baby when the Candyman took him. He survived, he’s now grown up, and he’s going to get to the bottom of this.
Nothing much has changed about the Candyman other than the fact that he uses a more stylized hook. Young people are still dumb enough to summon him and he’s racking up a new tally of victims. Can McCoy...
