Terrifying ‘Candyman’ Trailer Has Blood, Bees And More Blood

Someone said Candyman one too many times because the first trailer of the reimagined horror classic has arrived and it’s honey-tinged nightmare fuel.

Director Nia DaCosta is breathing new life into an iconic horror franchise with a “spiritual sequel” to the classic 1992 film of the same name about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand. “Candyman” is produced by Jordan Peele, who co-wrote the script with Win Rosenfeld and DaCosta.

Aptly set to an eerily slowed down remix of Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” ― yes, Queen Bey is on board ― the trailer opens with a group of teenagers daring to say the slasher’s name in a school bathroom until, well, he proves the urban legend right. 

The film is set in the “the now-gentrified section of Chicago” on the grounds of the Cabrini-Green housing projects where the ashes of a Black artist who was lynched for fathering a child with a white woman in the 1800s were spread. He was smeared with honey and bees attacked him, stinging him to death ― hence, in his resurrection, the name Candyman and the sickly sweet nature to his killings. 

This time around, “Watchmen” star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, a new resident hoping to reclaim the neighborhood’s troubled history, seemingly reawakens the killer by exploring the legendary murders in his artwork. That results, of course, in buckets of blood, bees and the birth of a new legend. 

“Candyman” has long been a dream project of Peele’s who credited the film for inspiring his foray into the horror genre with films like “Get Out and “Us.” 

“My connection with ‘Candyman’ is pretty simple,” Peele explained at a screening of the film’s trailer, according to Entertainment Weekly. “It was one of the few movies that explored any aspect of the Black experience in the horror genre in the ’90s, when I was growing up. It was an iconic example to me of representation in the genre and a movie that inspired me.”

Director DaCosta added that gentrification is “what helped us to reimagine the story,” adding that she wanted the film to be “audacious, fun but also be meaningful.”

The film also stars Teyonah Parris, Colman Domingo, Vanessa A. Williams and the original Candyman himself, Tony Todd. “Candyman” hits theaters on June 12.