Thus far in his career as a horror director, Jordan Peele hasn’t gone too over-the-top when it comes to violence. Sure, there is definitely some blood spilled in both Get Out and Us, but neither movie goes big when it comes to showing that kind of stuff on screen. Because of this, some may wonder about what kind of content will be featured upcoming Candyman reimagining, given that Peele is both a co-writer and a producer of the slasher film. Here’s the thing, though: Jordan Peele isn’t directing the film; Nia DaCosta is – and as it turns out DaCosta is definitely a lover of cinematic gore.
Yesterday morning, Universal Pictures hosted a special Candyman trailer preview event for press on the studio’s lot in Los Angeles, and it was during a post-screening Q&A session with Nia DaCosta that I took the opportunity to ask about how violence will be depicted in the movie. She confirmed that what we see in the green band-approved footage is merely a taste of what fans can expect from the final film, as she is not a filmmaker who pans or cuts away when carnage begins to unfold. Said the writer/director,
Yeah, I really love gore. It was something that Jordan and I talked a lot about because what's fun about working with Jordan was our horror aesthetics are different. Jordan's really brilliant at not showing everything, and my instinct is to do the exact opposite. It's really funny actually, that question, because it's something I thought about a lot. But there's a good amount of things you don't want to see.
So when you buy your ticket to go see Candyman this summer and take your seat in the theater, you might want to do yourself a favor and shake your hands a little bit, as they may need the warm up before you start whipping them over your face to cover your eyes throughout the movie.
Of course, fans will be very happy to hear this, if not just because it seems like it will be a way in which this new film will be honoring the original Candyman – which is both an extremely serious movie, and one that is totally sick at moments. It would have been a bit strange for a fresh incarnation to take a more tame approach to the material, so it’s great to hear that’s of very little interest to Nia DaCosta.
It’s actually particularly fun to watch the trailer with this in mind. The Candyman preview features a significant number of set piece setups that look absolutely horrifying – from the high school bathroom to the art exhibit – and any fan of the genre can’t help but be excited knowing that what we’re seeing here is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to gory content:
Written by Nia DaCosta, Jordan Peele, and Win Rosenfeld, and referred to as a “reimagining” of the 1992 original, Candyman centers on conceptual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), who begins to investigate the eponymous urban legend: the story that a person saying “Candyman” five times in a mirror will summon the killer. His research proves to figuratively very much open Pandora’s Box, however, and the consequences prove far direr than he could have ever predicted.
We’ll wait and see if Candyman winds up releasing a red band trailer at some point during its marketing campaign, but if not we’ll just have to enjoy all of the raucous splatter on screen when the film hits theaters on June 12th.
