Candyman

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Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony McCoy stands in front of large, abstract portrait paintings in an art studio scene from the 2021 film Candyman.

Candyman

film by DaCosta [2021]

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July 22, 2026

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Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony McCoy stands in front of large, abstract portrait paintings in an art studio scene from the 2021 film Candyman. — Candyman Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Candyman (2021), a horror film about urban legends.

The 2021 film Candyman, directed by Nia DaCosta and produced by Jordan Peele, is a spiritual sequel to the 1992 horror classic. It revisits the urban legend of Candyman, a vengeful spirit with a hook for a hand, in the gentrified Chicago neighborhood where the infamous Cabrini-Green housing project once stood.123

The film delves into the cyclical nature of violence and brutality against Black men in American history, exploring themes of martyrdom, sainthood, and sin. It is part of the "Black horror" subgenre, which uses horror to address racism, systemic oppression, and the trauma experienced by Black Americans. The movie features Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as a young artist drawn into the Candyman legend.432

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Black horror
Notable Black horror films
• Candyman (2021), a sequel to the original film, is directed by Nia DaCosta. The film tells the story of a young artist (played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who lives in a gentrified neighborhood where Cabrini-Green once stood and who finds himself drawn to the story…
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• Candyman (2021), a sequel to the original film, is directed by Nia DaCosta. The film tells the story of a young artist (played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) who lives in a gentrified neighborhood where Cabrini-Green once stood and who finds himself drawn to the story…
Read More

Jordan Peele
…2021 he produced and cowrote Candyman, which was described as the “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 cult horror classic of the same name. The following year he returned to the director’s chair with the genre-blending Nope, about a brother (Kaluuya) and sister (Keke Palmer) whose struggle to save the family…
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…2021 he produced and cowrote Candyman, which was described as the “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 cult horror classic of the same name. The following year he returned to the director’s chair with the genre-blending Nope, about a brother (Kaluuya) and sister (Keke Palmer) whose struggle to save the family…
Read More

Nia DaCosta
Candyman, The Marvels, and other projects
…the 1992 supernatural horror film Candyman. DaCosta cowrote and directed the film, while Peele cowrote and coproduced, and it starred Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris. Like the original, Candyman centers on an urban legend about a ghoulish slasher in the Cabrini-Green community in Chicago. DaCosta and Peele used the…
Read More
…the 1992 supernatural horror film Candyman. DaCosta cowrote and directed the film, while Peele cowrote and coproduced, and it starred Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Teyonah Parris. Like the original, Candyman centers on an urban legend about a ghoulish slasher in the Cabrini-Green community in Chicago. DaCosta and Peele used the…
Read More

urban legend
Media and entertainment
…series of sequels and a 2021 reboot of the original that was cowritten by Jordan Peele.
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…series of sequels and a 2021 reboot of the original that was cowritten by Jordan Peele.
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