Candyman

Alternate titles : None

Tagline : "Dare you say his name 5 times..."

Set in the city of Chicago, Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) is working on a University thesis about the origins of modern day myths, starting with the legend of the "Candyman". A hookhanded figure from the late 1800's, that supposedly still terrorises the residents of the Cabrini-Green housing estate to this day, and is rumoured to be responsible for a number of  unsolved murders there.

People claim that the killer can be summoned by looking into the mirror and speaking his name 5 times. But Helen doesn't believe any of this of course and exposes the Candyman as the leader of a gang of thugs on the estate, who is the real person that's been terrorising the residents.

But, she then makes the mistake of saying the name Candyman in the mirror 5 times, to prove to her friends that the myth is nonsense, which proves to be not such a good idea. As the REAL Candyman (Tony Todd), subsequently appears soon after to prove that the legends about him are all too real.

Fantasy and reality then begin to blur as the Candyman carves his way through several victims, each time implicating Helen, in order to perpetuate the myth about him. Is the Candyman real, or is it all in Helen's mind? Is it actually him doing the killings, or is Helen the murderer? The answer lies in the films chilling climax (I wont spoil it for you). There's also a neat twist in the ending, which proves that "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned".

Overall Marks : 7/10.

Terrifying Trivia

• The story "Forbidden" on which the film is based, appeared in Volume 5 of Clive Barker's 'Books of Blood' series. The original story however took place on a run down council estate in England and the Candyman was a white guy wearing bright patchwork clothes. Barker also made a short film entitled "Forbidden", but was nothing to do with his later short story on which this was based.
• The bees were specially bred for the film. They had to be a mere 12 hours old, as at that stage they looked fully grown, but their stingers hadn't fully developed.
• Tony Todd was offered the role of the Candyman after director Bernard Rose saw him in the film "The Last Elephant".
• The "Candyman" legend appears to be partly based on the urban legend of Bloody Mary, a ghostly apparition who is said to appear behind you if you call her name in the mirror 3 times. Which has also proved the inspiration for a number of other horror fillms, most notably the later "Paranormal Activity" films.
• Director Bernard Rose had previously directed the shocker "Paperhouse".
• For the scenes where the bees are shown emerging from the Candyman's mouth, actor Tony Todd actually had to have real live bees placed in his mouth. The only means of stopping them going down his throat was a mouth protecting appliance.
• The idea of the medicine cabinets in the flats being able to be removed so that people could crawl through from the next building was an idea by director Bernard Rose, who found that a series of murders had happened that way during his research for the film.
• The part of Billy, who appears during the prologue, was played by Ted Raimi, the brother of director Sam Raimi. Fans of the Xena and Hercules TV series may recognise him for his role as the idiot Joxer.
• The film was cut in the US to acheive an R-rating, which shortens the scene where the Candyman kills the psychiatrist and edits the shot of blood flying towards Hellen's face. The UK cinema and VHS releases were uncut, but all current DVD and BD releases have been struck from the cut US R-rated version.
• Virginia Madsen is highly allergic to bee stings, so an ambulance had to be on stand-by throughout the filming of the bee sequence.
• Cabrini-Green was an actual housing estate, operated by the Chicago Housing Authority and parts of the film were shot in the estate itself. The estate was very much as portrayed in the film, run down and riddled with crime and the film makers had to do a deal with several local gangs to ensure the film crew's safety during filming. The estate has since been pulled down and is currently being redeveloped.

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