Review: Candyman (1992)

People in the Movie: Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd

Director: Bernard Rose

Pigeonhole: Horror / Slasher

The Basics: Helen Lyle (Madsen) is a graduate student in Chicago writing a thesis on local urban legends.  One night while interviewing an undergrad, she learns about the tale of Candyman (Todd), a killer who can supposedly be summoned by looking into a mirror and saying his name five times.  Helen finds the story almost humorous, but soon learns that a murder occurred at the Cabrini-Green housing projects and is being blamed on Candyman by the residents there.  As Helen’s research deepens, a child is kidnapped, a murder occurs, and it seems that Candyman may not just be a myth. 

Recommendation: Horror fans should really enjoy this film.  While Candyman is not to Jason Voorhees’ or Freddy Krueger’s level in the horror genre, he is a very memorable, and a scary on-screen presence created mainly by Todd’s physical stature and voice.  ‘R’ rating is for violence, gore, language, and brief nudity.

My Take:  Candyman plays out like a typical slasher flick, but what makes it worth seeing is for Madsen’s and Todd’s performances, as well as a great score done by Phillip Glass.  The scenes were shot very effectively, felt very real, and the atmosphere was creepy throughout the film.  Like many horror films the title character does not have many minutes on screen, yet Todd completely dominates the moments he is in.  It doesn’t hurt that he is 6 feet 5 inches tall, and has a very distinguished, rich voice that is absolutely unmistakable.  Candyman is based on a short story called The Forbidden by master horror writer Clive Barker.

**spoiler alert** “Look into the mirror, say his name five times, and he’ll appear behind you breathing down your neck.”  What sounds like a typical ‘dare’ heard at a sleepover party is how a person can summon Candyman – and if he does appear, he will eviscerate you with his hook for hand.  It seems that Candyman’s power comes from spoken rumor; the strength of belief and fear from a person or community is what feeds him.  It is an entertaining concept, very much in the mold of another horror film character that terrorizes people in their dreams, but Candyman has no particular killing agenda and is not seeking revenge; his only desire is to keep the power of his rumor alive and well. 

Helen does say his name five times looking into a mirror (due mostly to her own disbelief), and the proverbial plot dominos begin to fall.  Helen is soon attacked outside of the Cabrini-Green apartments by a gang leader calling himself the Candyman, and the police quickly arrest him for the assault, so everyone seems to breathe a sigh of relief with the bad guy in custody.  But the “real” Candyman – clearly upset at his power being usurped – kidnaps a baby, and Helen is implicated as she is at the scene of the crime when the police arrive.  Helen blames Candyman, but, of course, no one believes her because there no evidence to support her claims and frankly, she doesn’t even seem to believe what is happening, either.   The one other person to lay eyes on Candyman is Helen’s friend Bernie (Kasi Lemmons), who is quickly killed moments later.  Helen is blamed for Bernie’s murder, again being the only person at the scene of the crime, and is then hauled off to the psychiatric ward.  She does manage to escape the ward, with Candyman’s intervention and more bloodshed, so with seemingly no one left to help her Helen decides to confront Candyman one last time.  Helen is able to eventually rescue the baby and etch her own name into local urban legend.     

What brings Candyman to the “next level” of horror films, is that the director attempts to leave open the possibility that Helen Lyle was a person having a mental breakdown and the crimes committed could have actually been her doing, and even though the audience knows the “truth” about who the killer is, it is like being part of a fun secret.  The ending is also absolutely brilliant, and honestly could not have been any better.

Final Thoughts/ Extras/ For Fun: The Cabrini-Green scenes were actually shot at the infamous housing projects, and the local drug dealers were bribed with money and screen time so the cast and crew would not get “hurt”… Virginia Madsen states she was hypnotized for parts of the movie… There are 2 sequels to this film… Specially bred, immature bees were used for the scenes where we see them crawling all over people, and Tony Todd had a special mouth-guard in so the bees would not crawl down his throat in the scene where his face and head are covered in the bees…