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Director Nia DaCosta Talks About the Body Horror of Her ‘Candyman’

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Described as a “spiritual sequel” to Bernard Rose’s Candyman (itself an adaptation of a Clive Barker tale), Nia DaCosta‘s Candyman looks to be giving life to a whole new Candyman, this time around played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. The trailer seems to suggest that his Anthony McCoy will literally become the legend, giving the story a body horror makeover.

Speaking about the upcoming movie during the recent Nightstream Film Festival – transcribed by Slash Film – DaCosta touched upon those fresh elements being brought to the table.

“In the original, he’s already a fully formed…I guess monster, we’ll say, because that’s definitely how he’s positioned in the original film, as a monster,” DaCosta explained. “In this one, we really wanted it to be a slow progression, and for me, I really wanted to trigger the response of like, you know when all of us have had a rash or something, and we’re like, hmm, what’s that? Maybe it’s a heat rash, and then maybe it doesn’t go away for a while and you’re like, hm, interesting. Should I go to the doctor? No, it’s probably fine. And then for a vast majority of people, it goes away. In this movie, of course, it doesn’t go away, it gets worse, and so I wanted to have that effect.”

She continued, “If someone goes home after watching this movie and looks at their own rash, or bump, or mosquito bite and is a little more freaked out, then I’ve done my job. And that’s really what I wanted to do. It’s about getting inside the head of the audience and really viscerally disturbing them and tracking it psychologically with the sense of the main character.”

DaCosta also noted that she wanted everyone on the team to watch Cronenberg’s The Fly because of its body horror elements, citing the film as an inspiration on Candyman.

Be sure to head over to Slash Film for more from DaCosta’s Nightstream chat.

Candyman comes from producer Jordan Peele, who co-wrote the film with Win Rosenfeld. Universal will be releasing the film into theaters on August 27, 2021.

“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.”

Writer in the horror community since 2008. Editor in Chief of Bloody Disgusting. Owns Eli Roth's prop corpse from Piranha 3D. Has four awesome cats. Still plays with toys.

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‘Sting’ – Bloody Disgusting Presents Sneak Screenings of Spine-Tingling Spider Horror

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Well Go USA will unleash arachnophobia-inducing terror this spring with Sting, which crawls into theaters April 12, 2024.

But Bloody Disgusting wants YOU to see the movie a bit earlier than that. We’re presenting sneak preview screenings of Sting in select theaters on Wednesday, April 10th!

There are eight special sneak screenings across the US, each of them presented by Bloody Disgusting. All screenings start at 7 PM local. However, it should be noted the Los Angeles screening takes place on Tuesday, April 9th and will feature a live episode with our very own The Boo Crew.

Locations include…

  • Atlanta – AMC Barrett Commons
  • Boston – AMC Boston Common
  • Chicago – AMC River East
  • Dallas – Cinemark West Plano 20 XD
  • Houston – Cinemark 290 XD
  • Los Angeles – Landmark Westwood Theater
  • Philadelphia – AMC Fashion District
  • San Diego – AMC Mission Valley

RSVP NOW! Entry is based on first come, first served. Each attendee must RSVP separately.

Writer/Director Kiah Roache-Turner ensures that your fear of spiders is about to grow to monstrous levels with practical spider effects from 5-time Academy Award® Winner Weta Workshop, led by Creative Director Richard Taylor (Blade Runner 2049, King Kong, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy).

The film stars Ryan Corr (House of the Dragon, The Water Diviner), Alyla Browne (Three Thousand Years of Longing, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga), Penelope Mitchell (Hellboy), Robyn Nevin (Relic, “Wolf Like Me), Noni Hazlehurst (The End) and Jermaine Fowler (The Blackening).

In Sting, “One cold, stormy night in New York City, a mysterious object falls from the sky and smashes through the window of a rundown apartment building. It is an egg, and from this egg emerges a strange little spider…

“The creature is discovered by Charlotte, a rebellious 12-year-old girl obsessed with comic books. Despite her stepfather Ethan’s best efforts to connect with her through their comic book co-creationFang Girl, Charlotte feels isolated. Her mother and Ethan are distracted by their new baby and are struggling to cope, leaving Charlotte to bond with the spider. Keeping it as a secret pet, she names it Sting.

“As Charlotte’s fascination with Sting increases, so does its size. Growing at a monstrous rate, Sting’s appetite for blood becomes insatiable. Neighbours’ pets start to go missing, and then the neighbours themselves. Soon Charlotte’s family and the eccentric characters of the building realize that they areall trapped, hunted by a ravenous supersized arachnid with a taste for human flesh… and Charlotte is the only one who knows how to stop it.”

The film stemmed from Kiah Roache-Turner’s own extreme fear of spiders; his previous films include post-apocalyptic zombie thriller Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead (which premiered at Fantastic Fest), comedy sci-fi/horror Nekrotronic, starring Monica Bellucci (which premiered at the TIFF in 2018), and action/horror sequel Wyrmwood: Apocalypse (winner of the Audience Award at the 2021 Sydney Film Festival) starring Luke McKenzie.

Sting poster

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