All language subtitles for Behind.the.Monsters.S01E02.WEBRip.x264-ION10

- "The Forbidden,"
Clive's story,

in the "Books of Blood,"

I read that and I liked that.

And that struck me as something

that was worth
making a movie about.

So I called Clive

and asked him if I
could borrow the rights.

Clive's original
conception of Candyman,

he was not an
African American man.

He was not.

- The vision of the
monster in "The Forbidden"

was completely different
from what we came up with.

He had long, long arms.

He was hairy.

He had broken fingernails.

One eyeball was hanging out.

And Bernard wanted to
turn it around and say,

what if the monster

that is frightening everybody
is a normal looking Black man?

We're a different
kind of monster.

It's not just a monster
terrorizing the suburb

and some unexplainable,
unshapeable monstrosity

that's haunting your nightmares.

This is the monster you created.

Most people know the
story of Candyman.

His father was a
famous shoemaker

and he wanted to
become an artist.

And then because of that
turn of the century racism,

he was chased down,
covered with honey,

had his hands cut off,

lynched his artistic
hand, his right hand.

- Clive's original
conception of Candyman,

I mean, I don't know if
he was influenced by this,

but to me, I always
imagined him.

I don't know if you
know a German book

called "Struwwelpeter."

There's some very
frightening characters in it.

There's also the long
legged scissor man

who comes and chops off
the thumbs of children

who suck their thumbs.

So I kind of imagined a bit
from the description in the book

that Candyman looked
like Struwwelpeter.

- I think what's scary about it

is that you bring
it on yourself.

Candyman, like you choose him.

Like he says it throughout
the entire first film.

- Be my victim.

- And I think that
like Freudian instinct

of self-destruction, I think,

is really terrifying to people.

- He's almost more like a
vampire than he is a monster.

And you have to sort of
look at the deformity,

and a bloody hook, and all that

before you start
to think, oh yeah,

this guy is actually monstrous.

- I mean, I almost don't even
think in terms of "Candyman"

as a slasher in a sense.

It's more of a monster movie.

It just feels,

you know, even though
he has the hook

and he kills people with it,

there's such a dense,
interesting backstory to him.

And the way he's dealt with
in the first film at least

that I think separates him
from the slasher characters.

- I'm scared,
scared for my child.

That he never
going to catch him.

- Who?

- Candyman.

- It was possibly one
of the finest decisions

in horror history

that Bernard Rose
had zero interest

in presenting Candyman as
depicted in the novella.

I sometimes try to imagine
what Candyman would be like

if they'd cast an actor as
described in the novella.

And I doubt we'd be
talking about him today.

- He was really a revelation

in terms of the portrayal of
Black characters at that time.

- Good.

Because you got to rob to
get rich in the Reagan era.

- You know, a lot
of it tended to be

inner city hood characters.

- Don't you ever pull a gun
on me again in your life.

- I hope I won't have to.

- Yeah, we all go down if
you do 'cause we all crew.

- So to have this
articulate artist,

I think Tony Todd came through

and presented that
as a character

that you could really relate to,

regardless of your race.

- You go through the
history of horror monsters.

There really aren't a lot
of Black horror monsters

and that's fine.

It's not like people are
sitting around saying,

God, I wish we'd have more
Black villains in movies.

No one's saying that.

But at the same time,

Candyman works because Candyman
has a reason for existing.

Candyman has been put on a
path outside of his own making.

- Candyman was stung
to death by the bees.

They burned his
body on a giant pyre

and then scattered his
ashes over Cabrini-Green.

- You understand why he's upset.

You understand his pain

and you empathize with
him in a lot of ways,

even though he is going
around killing people

in Cabrini-Green.

It's unlike any other
character because of that.

- I was talking to some
people who lived in Cabrini

and they all volunteered for
me the story of Bloody Mary.

And so I said,

well, you have to call Candyman

like Bloody Mary in the mirror.

- Candyman, Candyman,
Candyman, Candyman.

- It was 13 times
in the original

and they start reading
Candyman, Candyman, Candyman.

So everyone's falling asleep.

I'll make it five
and that was it.

- Candyman.

You chicken!

- I love that the
original "Candyman"

uses urban legend and
fear of the other.

- We've got a real
shot here, Bernadette.

An entire community
starts attributing

the daily horrors of their
lives to a mythical figure.

- Helen Lyle fucked around
and found out basically.

- If you look in the mirror

and say his name five times,

he'll appear behind you
breathing down your neck.

- I love the idea of
a monster who emerges

in order to assert
his own identity

and to keep himself in
the thought processes

of the people in Cabrini-Green.

- Your disbelief
destroyed the faith

in my congregation.

Without them, I am nothing.

So I was obliged to come.

And now, I must kill you.

- Even during the kill
scenes, we feel his pain.

And it's all sold
through his eyes.

We feel his soul in that movie.

We feel how he
got to that point,

how he became the urban
legend of Candyman.

- He needs to kill to
maintain his legacy

and to keep his spiritual
being, his essence.

- Our names be
written on 1,000 walls,

our crimes told and retold
by our faithful believers.

- It kind of lends into
the whole tradition

of African oral storytelling.

The masters didn't
allow their slaves

to learn how to read or write

for fear of they would
organize and rebel.

So traditions were
passed on by oral means.

And so I think this kind of
feeds into that sort of thing

where the power of oral stories

get passed down from
generation to generation.

- I do remember I
was in fifth grade

when I heard about Candyman
for the first time.

That's where I was dared to
say his name in the mirror.

I never did 'cause that's crazy.

- Candyman.

- There's this
challenge going on

called the Candyman challenge.

You go to in front
of your mirror

and you say Candyman
five times over and over.

- Don't be freaking
scared, don't be scared.

- Okay.
- Don't be scared.

- Candyman, Candyman.

- Candyman, Candyman.

- Candyman.

- Oh no!

- Folklore is an outlet for
connecting with other people.

It's really about
preserving culture,

about creating our own culture

from what's kind of come before.

And I think Candyman is
definitely a part of that.

- What if we go missing

and they play this on
the news the next day?

- Candyman is iconic

because of the very
real dare system

that happens in a
group of friends.

- What?

- There's somebody in there.

I saw a light go on.

- There's nobody there.

- Psych.

- That's not funny.

That was not funny.

- I was totally
scared of Candyman

and my brother knew that.

And he used to shove
me in the bathroom,

say Candyman five times,

turn off the lights, and
then hold the door closed.

Candyman was definitely one of
the scariest villains to me,

and one of the most interesting,
and one of the most sad.

- Candyman is like this
entity who comes for you,

but he looks like you.

He looks like a member
of your community,

but he's just kind of
different and warped.

- Just trying to
understand a full story

because we're a different
kind of monster.

It's not just a monster
terrorizing the suburb

and some unexplainable,
unshapeable monstrosity

that's haunting your nightmares.

This is a person
that you created.

This is the monster that
is not self-made, okay?

He's a Frankenstein
turned upside down

'cause he's created by society.

- Anyone who conjures Candyman

has to suffer the consequences.

And it's kind of a good allegory
for the legacy of racism.

Anyone today who
lives in a society

that's founded on
social inequality,

racial inequality will
deal with the consequences.

- Candyman also like,

it's an incantation that brings
this force into your life.

And think about
what kinds of things

that we bring into our
lives as a society.

Like we're in this
horrible divisive place

and how much of that
do we have a hand in?

- Sometimes, we turn
icons into what they are

because we identify
with them in some way

or we identify with the phobia
that they might represent.

And usually, they
reflect something

that's going on in
society at the time.

There's some kind of moral panic

that might be reflected
in those movies.

- "Candyman" also represents
the angry Black man stereotype,

the stereotype of a Black
person who is not contained

or controlled by fear or shame.

And he's angry
for a good reason.

And I think that's
true of a lot of people

who are labeled with that
angry Black man stereotype.

We're mad, not because
we're naturally mad.

We're mad because we
are subjected to real
horror every day,

real menace and real fear.

And that's why Candyman
is both a monster

and a heroic figure
to a lot of people.

- So the monster
isn't just Candyman.

The monster in Candyman is
the so-called urban jungle.

The monster is Black masculinity

because it's not just
Candyman who's scary.

All these Black dudes are scary.

- I hear you're looking
for Candyman, bitch.

Well, you found him.

- I find Daniel Robitaille

one of the most
fascinating people

I've ever spent time with.

He was more like a
Phantom of the Opera

than a beast in the woods.

- The shine of his shoes,

that incredible
costuming he has.

He's gorgeous.

You know, that's
the bottom line.

Your first reaction is
you're kind of entranced

along with Helen.

He is a very unique
monster in that way.

- He's wearing dress
shoes, and a long coat,

and a scarf and he's elegant.

That's the whole
point about him.

- I would love to
have that coat.

I think that's a beautiful coat

and Candyman is the most
stylish horror monster,

in my opinion.

I don't think Candyman would
work if he was bad dresser.

I think he had to look cool.

And of course, there's
tons of stereotypes

about Black people
being good dressers.

And that's one I don't mind.

- He is charming,
he is handsome.

- Helen, you came to me.

- He is debonair, he's classy.

And at the same time,

he looks like he is going
to mess you up if need be.

And they were so smart to
not do anything to his face,

which is what we
did in the 1980s.

We'll put a mask on that,
we'll put a scar here.

No, no, we're going to make you
look all burned and messed up.

- Candyman did not wear a mask

and did not wear a
prosthetic makeup.

Tony Todd has such
a striking face.

It's in the eyes too.

It's interesting,

he looks like this handsome,
tall kind of powerful person.

So I think that that all
kind of comes together

and makes Candyman special.

- Tony Todd kind of proved

that you don't need
the layers of makeup.

You don't need any of that.

What you need is
someone who is intense,

and who can deliver,

and who can engage
your audience.

- There's a bunch of storyboards

that I drew before I cast Tony.

And Tony does look like the
drawings before I cast him.

It was just like this
guy, he's got it all.

He's got the elegance.

He could be intimidating
and he could be ruthless,

but that wasn't what
you took from him.

- Your death will be a
tale to frightened children

to make lovers come
closer in their rapture.

- I think that the idea

that he was this tragic
person would have been enough,

but he didn't play Candyman as
like an angry avenge person.

He played it as somebody

who you could just tell felt
sorrow for what he was doing.

There were so many levels
to Tony Todd's performance.

- Anybody can wield a weapon

and anyone can use
it to hurt someone.

The power is the way
Candyman presents himself.

I am scared of him in the
way he says Helen's name.

- Helen.

- I just need to hear him talk,

I need to hear the
grumble of his voice,

and I'm already chilled.

- He's written very poetically.

I knew his voice was deeper
than my normal voice,

so we worked on that.

Like Helen, Helen, Helen.

Helen, I came for you.

Everything that he says
has a weight to it.

You know?

And it's not just in the
sentences and each word,

you know?

As opposed to me, I'm
more of a saxophone.

Daniel was like a cello.

Helen.

The most important
thing was his stance.

The way he moves, takes
his time, there's no rush.

He never chases anybody

and he calls to people that
he wants into his realm.

Come with me and be immortal.

- He is a terrifying
figure because of his size,

because of his voice.

- You're mine now.

- Because of the
hook, and the coat,

and the bees coming out of him.

But he also has a nobility.

- He leaves an impression
on you, you know?

And he has a sort of
dignity to him as well.

He didn't feel like grotesque

in the way that Freddy or Jason

or Mike Myers felt grotesque.

It's weird.

Like Candyman wasn't
really a monster

so much as like a guy
who had a hook for a hand

who had a history of pain
that we all understood.

So I think he was like
unique in that way as well

from the other villains
that I grew up with.

- I've spoken to Tony
Todd about the fact

that Black people
who saw it as kids

will come up to him and say,

you were such a hero
to them as an antihero.

- I can't say nothing
or Candyman will get me.

- Not because he
was nice necessarily

to any of the Black
residents there,

but because he
had so much power.

He was a powerful figure

and these were kids
who were craving power.

So when you don't really
have much to choose from,

you'll take power in whatever
form you can find it.

- I was in college
when I saw Candyman

and I was studying theater,

so acting, you know,

I wanted to be
the first biracial

Teen Beat magazine centerfold.

It was this kind of forbidden
interracial love story.

As somebody who's
biracial myself,

that just really
resonated with me.

- There was almost something

very Dracula-esque
about Candyman

where it was the long lost love,

but there was all of
these great things

that were kind of
coming together in that.

- There's so many
different themes going on

within "Candyman."

You have the slavery aspect

where you have like
horrible American culture,

but you also have
like interracial love.

- I always like to
shoot without rehearsal

because you can
always do it again.

The first time is
usually the best time.

First scene I shot with Tony
was the scene in the car park

where we first meet him.

Tony walks in, but he
just had something,

and I think it was the way that
he walked towards Virginia.

You just felt that
he was in love.

It wasn't just about
killing or this,

or some story, or some fantasy.

It was romantic.

- We were like,
this is a romance.

And the things that
he says to her,

even be my victim

and what is blood
if not for shedding,

and you know, how
glorious it will be,

which it's so dark,

but he means it with this
great amount of love.

- We did horseback riding,

we did fencing together,

we did ballroom dancing.

We did that for
two or three weeks

before the actual
production started

so we had that sort of
romantic vibe going in.

- Tony would just glide.

And he was like, I'll just
hold you up and do it.

Both of us have this place in
our hearts for that sequence.

- We both embraced it because
it was like rehearsing

what we were going to
be feeling and doing

once the cameras
started rolling.

And then we could
forget about them.

No offense to camera operators,

but at the end of the day,

when you're on the set,

you want to be as
natural as possible.

- So beautiful.

Talk about a score,

a beautiful score that
offsets the horror

of what you're seeing.

- Philip Glass.
- Unbelievable.

And that absolutely makes
Candyman hit different

than any of the other big
iconic villains of this era.

- Yeah.

And that's why I enjoyed
the kiss with the bees.

- I mean, I had real
bees in my mouth.

I worked with over
a million bees.

I had a different
lawyer at the time

that negotiated $1,000
dollars per sting.

And I think we had 28 over
the course of three films.

So that was a nice little perk.

It took a little
bit of pain away.

- He's not acting like a
man with bees in his mouth.

He's acting like a man who's
about to kiss his lover,

you know?

- Allow me at least to kiss.

Just one exquisite kiss.

As soon as I read
the first scene,

I asked, we're using
practical bees, right?

We're doing practical effects.

And the answer was, yes.

I said, this will be remembered

by anybody that
had ever seen it.

- I remember seeing
"Candyman" in theaters.

Me and two of my friends
snuck in to Candyman.

And I was not expecting that.

I was definitely
as an adolescent

expecting Mike
Myers, Jason, Freddy,

a lot of the other slashers
that I had seen at this point.

"Candyman" is nothing like that.

- I was very intrigued by
the Candyman's argument

which is that since he exists,

because people believe in him,

if they debunk him, he'll die.

In other words, yes,
Virginia, there is a Candyman.

This is a little deeper than
your average horror film

and I enjoyed it a little more.

- By the time I
was in film school,

that was definitely a
conversation starter was like,

Candyman is probably one of
the best films of this decade.

And then it would just launch

into like an intellectual
conversation.

- I'm a 15-year-old
kid going to that

and feeling drawn to him.

- Also keep in mind,

and I always, always
tell people this too,

this is when urban films were
kind of coming into play.

So I think Candyman came out
at a perfect time for that.

We were getting our own horror
story with a Black character,

maybe not centralized,

but he was still the person

that drove behinds
into seats basically.

- During that period,

I think it just sort
of kept bubbling under

in its own peculiar way.

- "Candyman."

- It was because
cable was exploding

and cable, the
content was there.

So they ran "Candyman."

It was a couple of
Christmases after,

I remember I was with
my daughter at a mall

and it seemed like every
store we went into,

all of a sudden, there
were people following us.

And it hadn't happened
like that before.

And then by the time we
got to another floor,

it was like 50 people.

And my daughter was
four at the time

and she was so upset.

She just like dropped
her little bag and said,

"That's not Candyman,
that's my daddy."

Okay?

- Right after it opened,

this was a big movie
and people loved it.

- We had this mega
successful movie

with this very cool killer.

- The first one was a big enough
hit to greenlight a second.

- The second one,

I wanted to make
sure that the script

told the backstory of
Candyman completely.

That's what I pushed for.

- So "Candyman:
Farewell to the Flesh"

takes place three years
after the original film

and the original murders.

He's down in New Orleans.

A school teacher again is
a little bit apprehensive

about who he is and his lore,

but her students are a
little bit more fearful.

- That's how he gets
you, from the mirror.

- Five times.

You say his name five times,
he's supposed to come.

- You guys don't really
believe that, do you?

- She calls his name and
then chaos erupts from there.

- As far as Candyman,

it's just like, good, yeah.

Fucking kill everybody
for what you went through.

You don't fully side with him,

but you don't want to see
him fail either really.

You're in this weird position

throughout at least
the first two movies.

- What's interesting is

sometimes it takes
seeing other movies

to know how special
something is.

But if you watch Candyman
sequels, it's tough.

- If anything,

the sequels are detrimental
to the legacy of Candyman.

- Unfortunately, by the
time you get to the sequels,

they're really starting
to sink under the weight

of all of the issues

that to some people weren't
as apparent in the original

because the original was so
fresh, so exciting, so scary.

The imagery, the
art, the murals,

and then Candyman too is trying
to sort of take that baton

and run with it.

But it really did
start to become

more about Black men
as jump scares, right?

And so like every Black person

is potentially
going to hurt you.

And that's not a good look.

- It's set in New Orleans.

There are a bunch
of Black characters.

But still, it's about like him
and a white woman, you know?

- You cannot change who you are.

- Like he's still chasing
after these white ladies.

And I think a similar thing
happened in the third film.

- "Candyman:
Day of the Dead."

- Help me.

- The third one was
more of a money grab.

They meant well, but.

- The screen's
most brutal killer

is back for blood.

- It was the quickest shoot.

We had some great
Latino actors in there.

But it wasn't as fully
conceptualized as the others.

- Revenge never tasted so sweet.

- The third one definitely

was a straight to
video affair though.

It was like Donna
D'Errico from "Baywatch."

She's like the next generation

and Candyman is trying to
get her to die with him.

It's not making
sense really to me

'cause there was sort of
some seductive overtones

like he was trying to seduce

his great, great,
great granddaughter,

but also wanted her to
be part of his legacy.

- Come to me.

Do not fear me.

- I don't remember
much about the third.

There's a sense of
purpose, I guess,

that gives him more
leeway for our sympathy

and for our understanding.

- Evil breeds evil.

This man couldn't
lash out in life,

but in death, that hate,

that evil was strong
enough to bring him back

to reclaim what was taken away.

- Older generations,

when I hear them talk about

when Blaxploitation
horror came out,

they had a real
visceral reaction to it

because they were seeing people

who looked like them on screen.

So I think the same thing
happened with "Candyman."

And I think that's how certain
people in my generation

really felt about it.

- You have to build up the icon.

The same way we build
it up in our mind,

you have to build it up
in the movies itself.

You can't come out of the
gate saying it's an icon.

We decide that.

And "Candyman" is probably
the last of that true era

that has made that
mark, I think.

Not that there haven't been
great horror villains since,

but they just don't seem to
permeate the way that they did.

- One day, I was doing a con.

It was down in,

it was either
Florida or Georgia.

And this whole family, I spotted
them from across the way,

literally out of casting
central Beverly hillbillies.

And so I'm waiting.

He says, "We like your movies."

And I go, why is that?

He said, "We like the
way you kill."

And I realized at that moment,

me and them may have never
crossed paths in life.

But because of this
unified moment,

even though my character
was a victim of slavery,

and a victim of lynching,

and a victim of
physical indignity,

these people wanted
to give me their props

from their side of the world.

And that was one of
the defining moments

when I realized that culture

and pop iconery can reach
and touch many, many people.

- There was a Black
American cultural boom.

And we weren't seeing ourselves
as a monolith necessarily.

There was more stories
and ideas coming out.

And "Candyman" was
just a part of that,

which I think was what makes
him special even more so.

Fans become
filmmakers sometimes.

And the support and
cultivation amongst each other,

amongst ourselves is
what makes us desire

and motivated to make a film.

- What's Candyman?

- Candyman ain't a he.

Candyman is the whole damn hive.

A story like that,

pain like that lasts forever.

- There's something about

just to kind of
resurrecting him today

in the wake of movies
like "Get Out" and "Us"

that just makes total sense.

- I think Jordan Peele has
really changed the landscape

with the movies that he's made.

And I was thinking in
the back of my head,

like he's mentioned
it so many times.

I wonder if he's going to
come in and bring it back.

- I heard that Nia
DaCosta was directing.

I thought these are the right
people to take this material

and do something really fresh
and interesting with it.

- "Candyman" is
malleable enough,

just as a legend
is malleable enough

to where you can reclaim it.

You can make it your own

to tell the stories
that need to be told

that white people can't tell.

They just can't,
not in a good way.

- I think the
thing that happened

was a really unique
filmmaker, Bernard Rose,

like made this really
special, unique film

without really digging into
what makes Candyman as a person,

you know, the person behind
"Candyman" so interesting

and worth telling a story about.

- The story of Candyman.

He walk around

handing out candy to
the neighborhood kids.

One day, the police come around.

That's when I saw the
true face of fear.

- Get on your knees.

- Any horror fan
knows that Candyman

is pretty much like
the quintessential
Black icon of horror.

We wanted to reinvent
that for today.

We wanted to make sure
that it was something more

than just another
horror villain.

We wanted to give him
depth and meaning.

Nia DaCosta brings
the authenticity

because it's just who she is.

I think it's really, really
refreshing to see that.

- I was like humanity.

This should actually
be about the moment

that we're in right now.

This is not about a monster.

This is about a person.

And it's something
that I was safeguarding

and being very particular about

throughout the entire
process of directing it.

The very first draft that
I read of the script,

Helen was the villain.

And it was sort of like
the answer to the promise

at the end of the first film

where her ex-husband says her
name five times in the mirror,

which is one of the
funniest scenes in cinema,

him being like, "Helen,
Helen," you know?

And which I love,

but again was completely
besides the point

and the wrong point of view.

- At the end of the day,

I think our core responsibility

was to make it Candyman's story

and show that it's society

that makes him the
monster he himself is not.

- I feel really connected
to this neighborhood.

- In the new film,

art is such an important
part of who he is

and why he's there.

He's drawn to that.

Sometimes, great
artists can do things

that conjures up images

that they have no control of.

In the new version,

I think art is the
principal weapon

as opposed to the original

where unrequited love was
the motivating factor.

But they're both relevant

because they're
both the same thing.

Love is art.

- Candyman.

- Anthony.

- Candyman.

- Anthony, no.

- Candyman.
- Stop.

Stop it.
- Candyman.

- Stop it!

- "Candyman" is about
an artist named Anthony

and his search for inspiration.

- I think I made a mistake.

- In his work and his
search for identity

in the place he lives,

which is a Cabrini-Green
in Chicago.

And in that search,

he stumbles upon an urban
legend called Candyman.

- I saw him!

- Candyman isn't real, Anthony.

- Developing that was
just really digging into

what does it mean to
be Daniel Robitaille,

a man whose proximity to
whiteness did not save him.

- He made a good living
touring the country,

painting portraits
for wealthy families,

but you know how it goes.

They love what we
make, but not us.

- How do you juggle
the legacy of Candyman,

what's legitimately scary
about the first one.

People traumatized for life,

afraid to say Candyman
five times in a mirror,

keep all that.

So I love the way the new
movie leans into everything

that worked about
the previous one.

- The way the film starts

with the drone shot
was like amazing.

But now, every movie
has drone shots.

So I wanted to kind
of, no pun intended,

flip it on its head,

signifying to the audience
like, yes, this is "Candyman,"

but this is from a whole
different perspective.

It's going to be the
city that you know,

that you've seen,

Chicago, a beautiful city,

but turned upside
down a bit, you know?

Like it's another perspective,
another point of view.

- We wanted to
reinvent that for today

and we wanted to reclaim it.

We wanted to make sure
that it was something more

than just another
horror villain.

- I am the writing on the wall.

- I would call it Reclamation.

It's a reclamation
of the mythology.

It's a reclamation of the
Black vision for the story.

- I'm hoping to spread the
story all about Candyman.

The mirror invites
you to summon him.

- We have a Black protagonist

and we have a Black sensibility.

- Be my victim.

- This is not real,
it's not real.

- Candyman exists because
we believe in Candyman.

- Believe.

- Because we afraid of Candyman.

If we stopped caring about him,

he would go away.

And that is kind of, I think,

how we as a society
feel about racism

is if we don't think
about it, it will go away.

Well, it will never go away

and Candyman can never go away

because Candyman is
that representation

of our collective shame.

- Now, do you see what
was taken from me?

- Horror can lean
into that quite a bit.

They can reflect the
nasty bits of society.

And we're seeing it in
living color right now,

but the movies can make
it even more monstrous

and even more apparent to
those who need to see it.

- For me, the stakes
are much higher

than like a horror villain
that everyone seems to like.

The stakes are Black lives.

- Candyman
is how we deal with the fact

that these things happen,

that they're still happening.

- Everybody in
America has a story.

You may have taken away my arm,

you may have
technically killed me,

but you can't silence me.

And Candyman will
be listened to.

- Tell everyone.

- Boy, do I hate bees.

And I was watching
"Candyman" at a sleepover.

We get to the scene
where he opens his chest

and it's full of bees.

And you know,

the bees are pouring
out of his mouth

and I start getting
sweaty and nervous

'cause I keep thinking
about the sensation of bees

like crawling all over me.

And the more I keep
thinking about bees

and the more I can't let go
of these intrusive thoughts,

that they're just
circling in my head,

I like work myself up
into an anxious panic,

and they turn the lights
on after the sleepover

and I am covered
like neck to chest,

arm to elbow,

just covered in hives,
covered in hives.

I worked myself into them.

I can't stop itching.

All of the girls
at the sleepover

thought like something
horrible happened to me

and I'm next.

Or like, I'm just
weird and sick.

And I'm just sitting
there itching.

Like, I don't know.

I kept thinking about the bees

and now this is
what's happening.

So yeah, the first
time I saw "Candyman,"

I worked myself up into
giving myself hives.

Put it on the poster.

It made me itchy.