Sweets For The Sweet: Jordan Peele In Talks To Produce CANDYMAN Remake
Candyman is one of the great genre examinations of racial divide in America. As I wrote in my re-visitation of the film last Halloween (celebrating its 25th birthday):
"In Clive Barker's original short story "The Forbidden", the Candyman isn't black - he's a blonde haired white man who exists in the British slums. Much of the infamous horror author's narrative structure remains the same in Bernard Rose's '92 film adaptation. A university student named Helen (played by Virginia Madsen) is researching a project on street graffiti, which leads her to the origins of the legendary boogeyman. However, when the English filmmaker brought Barker's story to America, he set it in Chicago's infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects, instantly changing the hook-handed haunt into a persecuted African-American, altering the dynamics of the story forever. "The Forbidden" was now Candyman, and it was no longer simply about the modern scary stories society authors, but also how they're interpreted between tribes."
So, naturally, when Bloody-Disgusting announced today that Jordan Peele is "in talks" to remake the movie via his Monkeypaw Productions label, my lizard brain went "well, that makes sense." Details on whether or not Peele's going to direct the picture or simply act as producer (much like he did on Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman this year) remain to be seen. The Get Out Oscar winner's plate is pretty full - with his directorial follow-up Us arriving in March, along with a Twilight Zone revival, plus Lovecraft Country and the Nazi-killer series The Hunt coming from his production company - so solid money should probably be placed on the latter.
Still, even if Peele ends up simply producing this new iteration of Candyman, it's safe to assume his fingerprints will be all over it (much like they were on the astonishingly funny Klansman). What Candyman '19 looks like is another story entirely (as the last Cabrini-Green high-rise was demolished in '11) but there are plenty of impoverished/oppressed communities in Trump's America that this urban horror show can easily be set in. Obviously, the other remaining question is: will Tony Todd be involved? His turn as the titular hook-handed ghost is one of the most chilling icons in the genre's history.
For those of you who may not be entirely familiar with the original - which is understandable, seeing how the movie is rarely available on streaming and has been relegated to a shitty "Special Edition" DVD for a while now - Scream Factory is releasing a new Blu-ray this November, and Arrow is giving it a Limited Edition deluxe treatment overseas. Now you have no excuse not to catch up on one of the finest horror pictures of all time while Peele (hopefully) develops this new take on the haunting, brutal classic.
