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Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, Kasi Lemmons, Vanessa A. Williams ... see more see more... , DeJuan Guy , Michael Culkin , Stanley de Santis , Gilbert Lewis , Kenneth A. Brown , Sarina C. Grant , Baxter Harris , Carol Harris , Doug MacHugh , Adam Philipson , Theodore Raimi , Fred Sanders , Rusty Schwimmer , Bernard Rose , Diane Peterson , Lisa Ann Poggi , Ria Pavia , Jason LaPadura , Eric Edwards , Mika Quintard , Terrence Riggins , Mark Daniels , Philip Glass

Bernard Rose followed his moody fantasy-thriller Paperhouse (1988) with this modern horror tale, based on Clive Barker's short story "The Forbidden". Compiling a thesis on urban legends, University of... read more read more... Illinois in Chicago graduate student Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) becomes aware of the prevalent superstition surrounding the legend of "Candyman" (Tony Todd)--a hook-wielding phantom who will appear if his name is recited five times into a mirror--among the tenants of Chicago's Cabrini Green project. A senior professor, hearing of Helen's research, explains the historical basis for the legend, detailing how Candyman is believed to be the vengeful spirit of a former slave who, though initially respected in academia, was set upon and mutilated by an angry mob when accused of taking a white mistress. When the clinically-detached Helen flaunts her intellectual confidence by reciting Candyman's name five times, she sets in motion an inevitable series of supernatural events -- culminating in a series of grisly killings, after which Helen is invariably found holding the bloody murder weapon. Though she is captured by the police, it becomes evident to Helen that Candyman is guiding her fate every step of the way. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Flixster Users

58% liked it

125,404 ratings

Critics

73% liked it

37 critics

R, 1 hr. 39 min.

Directed by: Bernard Rose

Release Date: October 16, 1992

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DVD Release Date: August 7, 2001

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Stats: 3,725 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (3,725)

  • FilmFanatik
    July 5, 2011
    FilmFanatik
    A very effective fall from grace sort of horror film. That sounds strange, I know, but that's exactly what I got out of it. Virginia Madsen is good and gorgeous as always, and of course, Tony Todd is very menacing and brings another great performance to his role. I found the film... read more to be effective and stylish for the most part, but it did tend to drag in a few areas - specifically in the first hour. Overall, I found it to be quirky and original... and coming from Clive Barker, I shouldn't be surprised.
  • murphmann93
    June 23, 2011
    murphmann93
    Undoubtably creepy but the plot doesn't seem to have been very well thought out and I got bored after a while. Surprised I got to the end of the film.
  • kiriyamakazou
    June 18, 2011
    kiriyamakazou
    Candyman is one of those films I really should have seen by now. I remember the trailer on the Cinema Club trailer reel from a wide selection of videos I owned in the mid 90's. Anyway, I finally saw it and it was great horror. I forgot you could make powerful slasher movies and k... read moreeep the teens well away. The movie is all about myths and how they can spread and take control. These days myths spread world wide and at a greater rate, thanks to the internet. Candyman really allows you to feel emotions for these characters. Madsen isn't going crazy, but we can't blame people for thinking she is. Tony Todd has a very dominating screen presence, not to mention a powerful voice. The kills all seem necessary in this film, as each one has an impact on our protagonist and the world she inhabits. Finally, we have Phillip Glass' incredible score, which adds a bizarre and haunting atmosphere to the movie. Great horror at an early 90's pace.
  • ceWEBrity
    March 29, 2011
    ceWEBrity
    Very competent in its creation of an oppressive atmosphere (why won't anyone believe Virginia Madsen?! WHYYY), moderately scary, and surprisingly bereft of dumb behavior, Candyman adequately hits all the bases of a well-crafted, serious horror film. It even addresses Big Issues l... read moreike race! Aesthetically it feels quite brittle, and although the Philip Glass score is great, there's something unpleasantly garish about the lighting that's emblematic of many horror movies of the period. I guess I just prefer my horror a little more sanguine, or at least not so overexposed.

    There's a lot going on in Candyman - infidelity, the dissatisfaction of the lower class, the pressures of academia, urban legends, bees. I think it's a double edged sword in that though it makes the movie uncomfortably busy at times, it also gives it a lot of directions to move in. No one would ever accuse this of being a boring movie, that much is certain. It's trim, so the busyness doesn't necessarily detract from the film's focus, but I think it's just a matter of finding a consistent thematic bridge. At the end of it all, I feel like the movie wants to say something, but doesn't actually do it. Don't be racist? Don't cheat on your wife? Believe in urban legends? Not too important, I guess, but it would have given it that little extra oomph that it needed to forgive its dated look. In this form, it's solid entertainment, but unimportant and bound to be forgotten.
  • TheDudeLebowski65
    January 20, 2011
    TheDudeLebowski65
    Candyman has got to be the best Horror film of the 1990's, hands down. The film is scary, Thrilling and original. Based on the Clive Barker short story, The Forbidden, and directed by Bernard Rose, Candyman is a horror film that delivers top notch scares. The film works as a supe... read morernatural horror film, and boy does it work. Using Urban Legends as a subtext, Bernard Rose crafts a terrifying blood curdling ghost story with plenty of blood and guts. Producing the film is the author of the story, Clive Barker. Barker's touch for the film is an integral part of this terrifying story. Candyman, unlike horror films after 1996, Candyman is a work of terrifying genius. Candyman is a true horror picture with style, wit and imagination. Also one of the main reasons that this film works terrifyingly well is the fact that Clive Barker himself produces this masterpiece of terror.Candyman is a boogeyman type figure of which if you say his name five times in the mirror, he'll come and kill you. Helen Lyle is working on a research project about Candyman and how he haunts the Cabrini Green housing projects. Candyman has some of the blood chilling moments of any horror film. Watching this film again and again still makes me have a hard time falling asleep at night, and thats a good thing. Candyman is a modern classic of modern horror and delivers the best scares since The Exorcist.
  • harrycaul
    October 4, 2010
    harrycaul
    Though silliness creeps in eventually and possibly the only thing that will have you screaming in the second half is the hapless Virginia Madsen's propensity for self incrimination, I would say that the first fifty or so minutes of Candyman represent the high-water mark of... read more Nineties mainstream US horror, better even than the first quarter of an hour of Wes Craven's Scream. Madsen is superb as the graduate student researching urban legends who stumbles upon a hook-handed bogeyman terrorising the projects of Chicago, and director Bernard Rose creates a terrifically oppressive atmosphere. Yes, it's easy enough to pick holes in the plot - who, for instance, do the police imagine was looking after the missing baby during the month that Madsen was heavily sedated in the mental hospital? - but this is still one of the smartest and most original horror movies of its era. If the more conventional second half disappoints slightly, it's only because the first half is so good the movie couldn't possibly get any better.
  • cosmo313
    August 21, 2010
    cosmo313
    Hardly the most remarkable or original film, but it works quite well nonetheless. I remember so many kids daring each other to look in the mirror and say "candyman" after this came out...and that was back when I was in elementary school, so that just shows you what kind of messed... read more up environment I come from.

    Tony Todd is creepy and gives a very effective performances. I also like Madsen, but I think I'm a fan of her brother more. Still though, she's very likeable and does a good job given the material. I think the atmosphere and mood are what really make this film succeed.
  • bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    July 23, 2010
    bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    B+
  • ythelastman89
    November 18, 2009
    ythelastman89
    Great Clive Barker story. Only he would come up with an urban legend that stems from the projects. Virginia Madsen was great, she made the movie way more enjoyable and classy. It's got the style of Barker's other films without actually being directed by him. A great original horr... read moreor movie, even though it's slightly similar to Bloody Mary. It was well made and definitely had a creepy feel to it, which must've been hard to pull off with the subject matter being sorta wacky.
  • SirPant
    September 29, 2009
    SirPant
    Good horror film, the bit with the bees is great! With a voice like that, Todd was always going to be a good horror villain!

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Critic Reviews

Variety Staff
September 17, 2008
Variety Staff, Variety

Candyman is an uppper-register horror item that delivers the requisite shocks and gore but doesn't cheat or cop out. Full Review

Jonathan Rosenbaum
September 17, 2008
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Like so many post-Val Lewton horror films, this 1992 feature starts out promisingly while the plot is mainly a matter of suggestion, but gradually turns gross and obvious as the meanings become litera... Full Review

Janet Maslin
May 20, 2003
Janet Maslin, New York Times

The film's spooky atmosphere is accentuated by Anthony B. Richmond's cinematography and Philip Glass's score. Full Review

Richard Harrington
January 1, 2000
Richard Harrington, Washington Post

Madsen is a much better actress than is usually found in such a role. However, if you don't like splashes of blood or bees swarming out of bodies, you may want to think twice about this one. Full Review

Roger Ebert
January 1, 2000
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

What I liked was a horror movie that was scaring me with ideas and gore, instead of simply with gore. Full Review

September 17, 2008
Film4

Candyman is atmospheric and visually stimulating enough to satisfy gore-hounds as well as being an intelligent social commentary. Full Review

September 17, 2008
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Serious, straightforward cinematic terror is always hard to come by, but this literate shocker ranks among the best horror movies of the '90s. Full Review

June 24, 2006
Time Out

One of the best sustained horror movies for some years. Full Review

Rob Gonsalves
January 31, 2005
Rob Gonsalves, eFilmCritic.com

Reheats old material and serves it as if it were bold and original. Full Review

Cynthia Fuchs
December 19, 2004
Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters

The enduring resonance of Candyman, adapted and directed by Bernard Rose, has to do with its respect for and investment in specific and real events. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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Facts

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    • Candyman: Be my victim.
    • Jake: Candyman's in there? My friend Charlie says so. A boy got killed there.
    • Helen Lyle: Who was he?
    • Jake: Ain't sure. Charlie, tell me he was weird.
    • Helen Lyle: He was crazy?
    • Jake: No, a retard. His mom was in the store. And the boy needed to go to the bathroom. His mom was taking' her time, choosing' this, looking' at that. So the boy started moaning'. His mom get mad at him; sent him across the street. His mom's at the checkout. She hears her boy screaming, 'Mommy! Mommy!' There's a big tough guy. He runs over to check it out. Come out of there shaking and crying'. He only been in there five seconds. Come out of there and his hair turned white. I mean, it turned white, just like that.
    • Helen Lyle: Was the boy murdered?
    • Jake: Worse. He's lying' on the floor in a pool of blood, holding' himself. They found it floating in a toilet. Can't fix that. Better off dead.
    • Candyman: I am the writing on the wall, the whisper in the classroom! Without these things, I am nothing. So now, I must shed innocent blood. COME WITH ME!
    • Helen Lyle: You don't believe all that nonsense, do you?
    • Bernadette Walsh: I don't. Do you?
    • Helen Lyle: No, all right. (they both look into the mirror) - Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman, Candyman.
    • Gang Leader: (to Helen) - I hear you're looking for Candyman, bitch. Well, you found him!
    • Candyman: (to Helen) - You are not content with the stories, so I was obliged to come.
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Candyman Trivia

  • What movie series is this quote heard in? "Sweets to the Sweet."  Answer »
  • How many times do you have to say the name Candyman while looking in a mirror in order to get the killer to appear behind you? (based on the 1992 movie, Candyman)  Answer »
  • "Sweets to the Sweet" which is written on the walls in two areas from the 1992 movie Candyman, is actually a line from which Shakespeare play?   Answer »
  • How many times did you have to say candyman in candyman for him to get you?  Answer »
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