CANDYMAN (1992 - HORROR / GHOST FLICK) **** out of ***** OR 8 out of 10
(Well, he sure sounded sweet at first...)
CAST: Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons, Vanessa L. Williams, DeJuan Guy, Marianna Elliott, Barbara Alston, Ted Raimi.
DIRECTOR: Bernard Rose
(WARNING: Some SPOILERS and too-brave-for-their-own-good grad students - straight ahead...)
IT'S LIKE THIS: Sometimes, the qualities that are admirable in real life aren't exactly feasible or desirable in "reel" life. In the real world, when someone is driven, determined, take-charge, and resourceful, they usually go far in life. However, in the "reel" world, particularly in Horror Flicks, being driven, determined, take-charge, and resourceful can sometimes get you, um, gutted like a fish.
Case in point is the heroine of our next "31 DAYS OF HALLOWEEN" review, Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen). Helen is a graduate student from the University of Chicago who is about to get a doctorate in Folklore Studies. She's writing her thesis on urban legends, and she is driven (uh-oh) and determined (oh-no) to make her dissertation really scream, er, sing. Soon, she find what she thinks is the ideal subject: "Candyman."
Ooooooooooooo-weeeeeeeeeeee-ooooooooo!
Yes, folks, our next review is titled CANDYMAN and let's just say that if you're a driven, determined, resourceful, take-charge folklore grad student who is writing your thesis on someone who has the same name as the title of the horror movie you're in, that can't be good. You see, according to native Chicagoans, Candyman is a killer ghost with a hook for a hand who haunts the local Cabrini Green projects and appears in the mirror behind you - if you turn out the lights and say his name five times.
Helen's wimpy professor husband, Trevor (Xander Berkeley), and his asshole colleague, Phillip (Michael Culkin), both poo-poo Helen's idea. Driven (geez) and determined (yikes) to prove them wrong, Helen pretty much forces her fellow grad student and best pal, Bernadette (Kasi Lemmons), to accompany her to Cabrini Green to interview folks about the infamous urban legend in their midst. Naturally, Bernie isn't exactly over the moon about this. Helen tells her that this is their chance to really explore how frightened people will attribute the awful things happening in their neighborhood to a mythical ghostly figure, given the right kind of conditions. In other words, this is Helen's chance to prove how powerful folklore is in daily life!
Well, Helen's very, very persuasive because before you know it, she and Bernie are making like Cagney and Lacey and asking all sorts of questions in Cabrini about Candyman. They meet Anne-Marie (Vanessa L. Williams), a single mom who's the only semi-friendly face on the block. She tells Helen and Bernadette that there have been a series of murders at Cabrini - and the latest victim was her neighbor, Ruthie Jean.
Ooooooooooooooo-weeeeeeeee-oooooooooo!
Intrigued, Helen returns to Cabrini alone a few days later and meets a local kid named Jake (DeJuan Guy). Jake tells Helen that another person was murdered by Candyman recently in a nearby public restroom. Helen, being all, you know, driven and determined and shit, says she doesn't scare easily and wants to see where it happened. After some hesitation, Jake takes her to the crime scene. I wish I could tell you that Helen finds Candyman there, but instead she uncovers some gang members who aren't happy that this ballsy white chick has intruded on their territory. She's lucky all she gets is a few smacks to the head with their fists.
When she regains consciousness in the local hospital, she finds out from the Chicago PD that the gangmembers who attacked her were caught - and it appears that they have been the ones behind all the murders at Cabrini Green. Apparently, they'd been using the legend of Candyman as a smokescreen. Well, you can imagine the residents' relief when they realize they don't have to worry about someone popping up behind their asses in the mirrors at night. Happy Ending, right?
Wrong. You see, unbeknownst to Helen, those gangmember chuckleheads were not responsible for all the murders at Cabrini Green. Candyman was. You see, he really does exist. And now that everyone in Cabrini Green thinks he isn't real, he needs to fix that ASAP. Because it's their belief that gives him life. If you don't believe in something, how can it bother you? I feel the same way about stop lights when I'm driving. I just plow through those bitches like they don't exist. Don't believe in them.
Anyhow, Candyman (Tony Todd) finally makes an appearance to Helen to teach her a lesson in believing. Pretty soon, she finds herself stalked by him, and suddely there's nowhere she can go that is safe. I mean, he is a ghost, after all. And last I checked they can go anywhere. What's even worse is he appears to have killed someone - and pinned it on Helen. Now, she can't even go to the police.
Will Helen be able to escape Candyman? Or will he haunt her steps forever? Will Trevor and Bernadette be safe? How can you stop something or someone that is already dead? Will our dear Helen finally believe in Candyman? And the most important question of all: how will Helen's thesis turn out?
Presumably, covered in blood.
BUT SERIOUSLY: In our review for SCREAM, we discussed how the early-to-mid-90s were a real dry spell for horror movies at the box office. That isn't to say there weren't any good ones. For some reason, there just wasn't a huge audience for them during that time. Of course, we all know that SCREAM made the Horror Genre extremely viable again with its resounding success in 1996, and audiences soon returned to horror movies in droves.
One of the few hits during the "Horror Dry Spell" of the first half of the 1990s was CANDYMAN. Like the similarly-themed A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET from 1984, CANDYMAN was a surprise hit that combined slasher and ghost elements to create an effectively eerie chiller about a hard-nosed grad student who investigates a notorious urban legend, completely disbelieving it, only to find it is horrifyingly real.
Virginia Madsen hits all the right notes of chilly efficiency, no-nonsense directness, and surprising vulnerability as Helen Lyle. Tony Todd is menacing and seductive at the same time as Candyman, giving him a sexy, dangerous air about him that almost resembles that of Dracula. Like Freddy Krueger before him in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, Candyman is scary because we rarely see him - and when we do he is largely silent. This makes him more enigmatic, and therefore more frightening. And like Freddy Krueger, Candyman is now considered a classic Horror Movie Villain.
Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons, Michael Culkin, and Vanessa Williams are all on target in their vital supporting roles. In the end, though, much like THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and HANNIBAL were a sinister dance between Clarice Starling and Hannibal Lecter, so too is CANDYMAN a dark romance between Helen Lyle, the disbelieving scholarly investigator - and the legend she discovers to be all too true. Madsen and Todd are great - and this movie is as strong as it is because of them.
Director Bernard Rose builds an effectively offbeat atmosphere of slowly-encroaching doom. The musical score by Phillip Glass is marvelously gothic in a way that almost recalls the music from Italian Gialli with its over-the-top organ and choral elements. On its own, Glass' music would seem bombastic, but coupled with the film, it produces the perfect effect.
All in all, CANDYMAN is a modern classic that is becoming increasingly popular as time goes by.
