Candyman (1992)

Film: Candyman (1992)

Stars: Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Vanessa E. Williams, Kasi Lemmons

Director: Bernard Rose

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

All October long, The Many Rantings of John is running a marathon dedicated to the Horror classics of the 1960's-90's that I'm seeing for the first time this month.  If you want to take a look at past titles from previous horror marathons (both this and other seasons) check out the links at the bottom of this article.

Of all of the films we're watching this year, no movie scared me more to watch than Candyman.  This was actually on the original list last year, but I was too chicken and at the last minute I picked something a little bit easier.  This year, though, we're braving our fears (also, after watching all of these horror movies, I'm now at a point where I can be scared by a movie, but it takes quite a bit of work to get there).  The film was made in 1992, a time when horror movies were becoming, well, kind of tired.  After a decade of Jason, Freddy, & Michael Myers, the films had not yet had the jolt that the Scream franchise would bring, and the best horror films of this era were more psychological or prestige (like Misery or The Silence of the Lambs) than the slasher flicks that would populate the shelves in the back of your local Hollywood Video.  Candyman was a modest hit in 1992, one that received critical praise, but in the years since seems to have grown in stature, with a critically-acclaimed remake in 2021.  Here, though, we're going to go back to the original, a horror film that is bloody, but also focused on atmospheric chills in a way you have to go back to Halloween to really find in the slasher genre.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie focuses on grad student Helen Lyle (Madsen), who along with her friend Bernadette (Lemmons) is researching urban legends, to the slight chagrin of her husband Trevor (Berkeley), who is clearly sleeping with one of his students.  Helen's focus starts to be on Candyman, and the idea that there are actual crimes that were supposedly committed in his name.  The legend goes that if you say "Candyman" in the mirror five times, you will summon the killer, who walks with one-hook and will kill whomever summons him.  Helen does this, and, of course, he shows up.  But Candyman doesn't kill Helen-he kills people around him, first a dog (and kidnapping a baby), and then her friend Bernadette.  Candyman offers Helen a choice-she can give up her own life to save the baby's life, a deal she takes when it's clear that her life is ruined (she's committed to a mental hospital, her husband leaves her, and everyone assumes she's a murderer).  But when Candyman reneges on their deal, she puts matters into her own hands, attacking him, saving the baby, and then dying...with her vengeful spirit coming back to fight her cheating husband one last time, as she is now the hook-handed "urban legend" in the mirror.

Like I said, I am a big scaredy cat about things like this.  Candyman, Bloody Mary...when kids in my middle school would discuss these, and how they'd get scared saying them into a mirror, I would carry that fear as an adult (I still won't do it, and I'm almost 40).  That said, the film itself isn't as scary as I suspected, with a lot of the horror making way for social commentary.  The film is one of the rare movies of this time period to have a Black villain (almost every other supervillain of this horror era was white), and the film doesn't shy away from these overtones.  This isn't just in his backstory (as a slave that was tortured for having an affair with the plantation owner's daughter), but also in the actual plot of the film, where we see Helen & Bernadette going to some of the most crime-ridden parts of early 1990's Chicago.  The conversations about the "otherness" of this film are fascinating to me, and the fact that Helen (an attractive white woman) is the only time they seem to care about the Candyman murders is not lost on the audience, or Helen herself.

The film is not perfect.  I wanted more about the Candyman legend, since it was established, to seep into the actual plot, and I think it felt like the backstory was either underbaked or completely unnecessary based on where we went.  However, this is really well-constructed for a film that was made on the cheap in 1992.  The editing is solid, the sound mix is terrific, but the best part is the score.  The film was written by experimental composer Philip Glass, and it is breathtaking, totally upping the film without feeling out-of-place.  Glass's scores are such characters onto themselves that I don't always subscribe to them in the movie, but this one works perfectly with the big pushes the plot is bringing to Candyman & Helen.

Past Horror Month Reviews

1920's: The Golem, The Phantom of the Opera

1930's: The Black Cat, The Bride of Frankenstein, Dracula, Dracula's Daughter, Frankenstein, Freaks, The Invisible Man, Mad Love, The Mummy, The Old Dark House, The Raven, Son of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London

1940's: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Cat People, Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man, House of Dracula, The House of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man Returns, The Invisible Man's Revenge, The Invisible Woman, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Invisible Agent, The Mummy's Curse, The Mummy's Ghost, The Mummy's Hand, The Mummy's Tomb, Phantom of the Opera, She-Wolf of London, Son of Dracula, The Uninvited, The Wolf Man

1950's: Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man, Abbott & Costello Meet the Mummy, Attack of the 50-Foot Woman, The Blob, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Creature Walks Among Us, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, It Came from Outer Space, Revenge of the Creature

1960's: The Devil Rides Out, The Innocents, The Masque of the Red Death, Night of the Living Dead,Village of the Damned

1970's: The Amityville Horror, Black Christmas, Carrie, Dawn of the Dead, Don't Look Now, Halloween, The Hills Have Eyes, The Omen, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, When a Stranger Calls, The Wicker Man

1980's: Child's Play, The Evil Dead, The Fly, Friday the 13th, Gremlins, Hellraiser, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Poltergeist, The Thing

1990's-Present: Arachnophobia, The Blair Witch Project, Scream