— New York Times
After Images discussion: Wednesday, Sept. 22 at 7:30pm
Aly W. Corey, Associate Director of Inclusive Learning Environments at Williams’ Davis Center, will lead a post-screening discussion about the film and its themes. Admission for this show of Candyman will be free, courtesy of the Davis Center.
For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighborhood were terrorized by a word-of-mouth ghost story about a supernatural killer with a hook for a hand, easily summoned by those daring to repeat his name five times into a mirror. In present day, a decade after the last of the Cabrini towers were torn down, visual artist Anthony McCoy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris), move into a luxury loft condo in Cabrini, now gentrified beyond recognition and inhabited by upwardly mobile millennials. With Anthony’s painting career on the brink of stalling, a chance encounter with a Cabrini Green old-timer (Colman Domingo) exposes Anthony to the tragically horrific nature of the true story behind Candyman. Anxious to maintain his status in the Chicago art world, Anthony begins to explore these macabre details in his studio as fresh grist for paintings, unknowingly opening a door to a complex past that unravels his own sanity and unleashes a terrifyingly viral wave of violence that puts him on a collision course with destiny.
Starring: Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Colman Domingo, Tony Todd
Director: Nia DaCosta
Rating: Rated R
Runtime: 91 minutes
Genre: Horror, POC, Woman Directed
Year: 2021
Country: United States