Believe in the Name: Candyman 1992-2021 Movie Posters & Racialized Horror

Candyman, Artist Unknown, 2021

In contemporary American horror (2000-current) Black horror has evolved to a greater extent in which both the representation of Black bodies and stories have grown far exceeding what existed before. However, despite having been around for nearly 100 years, Black Horror has had struggles in finding a definition, this was until Jordan Peele's nominal film Get Out (2017) which provided a blueprint for what Black Horror could be. His later film, written by Peele and directed by Nia DaCoste, Candyman (2021) represents a pinnacle point in the era of Black Horor representing a reclaiming of Black stories largely told by White bodies. This reworking of the story often creates a more sympathetic tone that often seeks not to evoke resentment for the original but growth and greater complexity than what was shown before. In both instances of 1990s and contemporary Black Horror, the relationship between the poster, an often overlooked medium, and the film symbolized a nature of understanding audience interpretation and pre-consumption. I will be using posters from the original Candyman 1992-99 trilogy in comparison with Get Out (2017), and Candyman (2021) to better achieve a conversation about the evolution of Black Horror from the ‘90s to contemporary. To achieve a better understanding of the poster’s depictions I will also include the history which surrounds it and inspired both the films and posters from the BLM slogan Say His Name in the Candyman (2021) poster to the implication of Afro-Pessimism in the Get Out (2017) poster. In doing so, we can get a better understanding of the posters and even some aspects sadly left out to ascertain a better idea of this genre of film posters in relation to their racial representation.