The first 'Candyman' reboot trailer is here to give you nightmares all over again

After terrifying a generation of 90s kids, the Candyman is back.

Universal Pictures has today released the first trailer for its continuation of the iconic horror series that began with 1992’s Candyman.

Starring Tony Todd as the hook-handed killer who can be summoned by saying his name five times into the mirror, the original inspired countless nightmares, and two middling sequels: Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999).

Watch the first trailer for a third sequel (and reboot of sorts) produced by Get Out’s Jordan Peele, above.

The film is a continuation of the original films, with Tony Todd rumoured to be involved in some capacity. It stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman) in the lead as an artist who moves into Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighbourhood, the former hunting ground of the Candyman, which has been gentrified beyond recognition.

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The original tale was based on a story by horror legend Clive Barker, centring on the urban legend of the Candyman, told in the housing projects of Chicago. Say his name five times in a mirror, and he would appear to murder the summoner with the hook protruding from the stump of his hand.

It's only when a graduate student begins looking into the history of the story that it is revealed that the Candyman is Daniel Robitaille, formerly a prominent artist in the post-Civil War era who is lynched after he fathers a child with a white woman.

He has his hand cut off, after which he is smeared with honey, stung to death by bees and burned on a pyre. Vengeful, he now returns as a spirit when summoned.

Synopsis: For as long as residents can remember, the housing projects of Chicago’s Cabrini Green neighbourhood were terrorised 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; HBO’s Watchmen, Us) and his girlfriend, gallery director Brianna Cartwright (Teyonah Parris; If Beale Street Could Talk, The Photograph), 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; HBO’s Euphoria, Assassination Nation) 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.

Candyman comes to UK cinemas on 12 June.