Candyman: Wait, He Doesn't Actually Have Candy? Lame.

I loooove this movie and so does Bravo who rates it number 75. Clive Barker is an amazing writer/director/producer and this is a movie that often goes unnoticed. The film is based on one of Barker's short stories called "The Forbidden".

The film follows Helen who is a graduate student writing her thesis on urban legends. She begins investigating a legend called the candyman legend which you may also know as bloody mary. You stand in front of the mirror and say Candyman 5 times and he comes and kills you. Charming. Helen's research leads her to Cabrini Green, the projects in Chicago where a woman was murdered and many believe the murderer to be the Candyman himself. Upon investigating, Helen runs into the what she believes is the so called "Candyman"...only it's a guy who has dubbed himself that to scare people. He and his gang beat up Helen and she identifies him and all is well in Cabrini Green again except for the shootings and gang violence.

Of course the movie doesn't end that simply. Now the real Candyman is pissed because people stopped believing in him. He appears to Helen and calls for her to "be his victim". Helen wakes up bathed in blood and is charged with the murder of a baby boy. The Candyman starts possessing Helen every chance he can get and Helen continues to be blamed.

Part of the reason this is a great great movie is how it combines urban legends and truth. There is a part in the beginning where Helen's husband a professor is teaching about urban legends and talks about how most of them were created to address fears that we have. I guess that could be true. But who really had a fear about an alligator eating their butt on the toilet?

So the Candyman has a historical root and story which explains his bloody hook for a hand and the bees that come out of his mouth. I read that they actually put bees into Tony Todd's mouth. BEES IN THE MOUTH. That's some crazy shit.

I can just not talk about Clive Barker enough. If you are really into horror fiction read his stuff it puts Stephen King to shame. The scene below is when the real Candyman first appears to Helen in a parking garage. It's chilling and I love the music and Helen's tears and the whole entrancement thing, it's just superbly brilliant. Watch it if you've never seen it, and if you have...watch it again please.

Buy Candyman at Horror Movie Empire