Candyman
United States
1992
99 Min
English
Synopsis
Helen Lyle is writing a paper on urban legends when she hears about the Candyman, who was once an ex-slave-turned-artist name Daniel Robitaille, who had an affair his client’s daughter. Robitaille’s right hand was sawn off, he was covered in honey, and stung to death by bees. If anyone says the word “Candyman” five times in a mirror, he’ll appear behind that person, a bloody hook as a replacement for his hand, and kill him. A series of unsolved murders is happening in the Cabrini Green projects and Helen is using this to help with her paper. The residents say the Candyman is to blame, but Helen doesn’t believe it. Until she meets the man with a hook for a hand. Now, he’s begun to murder her friends and no one believes her. Can Helen clear her name and stop the Candyman from killing anyone else? —IMDb
Director
Bernard Rose
Bernard Rose (born 4 August 1960) is an English actor and film director most famous for his direction of the 1992 urban horror film Candyman and the 1994 historical romance film Immortal Beloved.
Rose was born in London, England. He began making super 8 films when he was 9. By 1975, he won an amateur movie competition hosted by BBC which led to the broadcasting of his works. He worked for Jim Henson on the last season of The Muppet Show and then again on The Dark Crystal in 1981. He attended National Film and Television School and graduated in 1982 with a Master’s in Filmmaking. After this, he moved on to directing music videos for MTV, one of which was the uncensored version of Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s hit “Relax.”
Shortly after his production of music videos, he moved on to direct British TV films such as Prospects and then finally in 1988 directed his first major full length film, Paperhouse.
Rose got his big break into American cinema with 1992’s Candyman… read more
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Johnny DuBiel
17Oct11
Robitaille is an indelible horror figure, worthy of a place in horror fans' nightmares. An eerie mood is sustained throughout due to an unusual locale (for a horror flick) and an outstanding score by Philip Glass. Rose offers up an interesting juxtaposition of time periods with Robitaille representing mid-19th century America being placed within early 1990s urban contemporary America.
Duncan Jones
13Apr11
A thematically ambitious film in want of space to do its plethora of ideas justice. The villain alone is associated with religion, race, class, sex and nature, but his impact is mostly dependent on Todd's audio/visual peculiarities. Still, it's viscerally effective, an atmosphere of persecution, the moral degradation of a well-played heroine and uncommonly repulsive violence evoking a sense of grotesque melancholia.
Viktor Pedersen and Joseph Wallace like this
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Duncan Jones
13Apr11
Wonderful score, by the way. Deliriously exquisite, like the film when it's at its best. I don't think my post expresses how much I actually liked this.
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A great lead performance emphasises the fact that the film has not much more to offer
By Henrik Schunk on January 14, 2012
Unfortunately, I think that Candyman has not aged very well. The whole film is based on the ‘Bloody Mary’ urban legend, who will haunt you once you uttered her name a few times into a mirror. The Candyman… read review
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Class Issues in Horror
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