Candyman' surprise ending was 'demented catharsis' says director Nia DaCosta says (spoilers!)

Spoiler alert! This story includes important plot points and the ending of "Candyman," so if you haven't seen it yet, now's your time to turn back.

Say "Candyman" five times while looking in a mirror and a murderous ghost shows up to kill you – at least that's how it's supposed to go.

But if there's anything we learned by watching director Nia DaCosta's reimagining of "Candyman" (in theaters now), it's that nothing will be as we expect it. The new take on the urban legend that had people living in fear in 1992 is back with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II as Anthony McCoy, a visual artist who also ends up taking on the titular role of the feared Candyman himself (surprise!), except this time he's not just a ruthless murderer but a hero as well.

After Anthony is kidnapped by local laundromat owner William Burke (Colman Domingo), whom we mistook for a friendly man, and is forced to face his connection to the urban myth, his girlfriend Brianna (Teyonah Parris) tries to save him. She ends up stabbing William to death as she and a bleeding Anthony await help. Help does come, kind of. White police officers show up, mistakenly shoot Anthony thinking he was dangerous (surprise), arrest Brianna and give her an ultimatum that forces her to decide between snitching on Anthony and being set free or being charged as an accomplice to Candyman's murders (neither of which seem like good options if we're being honest).

'It can get exhausting': Yahya Abdul-Mateen II on Black trauma porn and importance of Black joy

Realizing her options are less than desirable, Brianna does the unthinkable. She looks in the rearview mirror of the cop's car and says "Candyman" five times, summoning the half-dead boogeyman who is now Anthony's ghost. Now normally, Brianna would be one of Candyman's victims, but he spares her and viciously murders the police officers instead, ultimately saving his boo.

"When she called on Candyman, that's when we finally solidify that Candyman isn't just this Daniel Robitaille version, or the other versions we see, he's also, in the sense of him being a romantic hero, this force of vengeance, this source of demented catharsis," DaCosta explains.

Up until that moment, Candyman has been seen as a victim of racial violence, from Robitaille's tragic story to Sherman Fields being ruthlessly murdered by police in the beginning of the new film. The ending gives the ghosts of all those who've died at the hands of racists a chance to reclaim their trauma, Abdul-Mateen says.

More: Review: New 'Candyman' expands horror mythology, delivers sobering allegory of racial violence

"It gives us an opportunity to say that our trauma does not define us and that no one else can claim and (co-opt) our trauma. That if the trauma is ours, then it's also ours to decide what to do with it and our trauma can become power," Abdul-Mateen says.

The premise of invoking Candyman's name draws parallels to the Black Lives Matter movement's calls to say the names Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and other victims of police brutality. Anthony's return as Candyman to become the hero for Brianna makes Abdul-Mateen reflect on the lives lost to police brutality that could've also been heroes in their own ways.

"They deserve so much more out of life than what they got… They deserve to still be here," Abdul-Mateen says. "I wish I didn't know their names. I wish that I learned their names for better reasons, for their heroic deeds, not because they were murdered and slain in cold blood."

The ending moves to give those victims vindication after their death, Abdul-Mateen explains.

"That's what I get from that moment. We see Anthony come back and take some of his destiny, his fate into his own hands, and be the savior of a Black woman of someone that he loved, of someone who couldn't save him when he was alive."

More: The only thing scarier than a fictional 'Candyman' is the reality of racism

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Candyman': Nia DaCosta calls surprise ending 'demented catharsis'