Overview
“Candyman“ is a 1992 American supernatural horror film, written and directed by Bernard Rose and starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, Xander Berkeley, and Kasi Lemmons.
The screenplay is an adaptation of Clive Barker’s short story “The Forbidden”, which is included in his book “Books of Blood“ Volume 5 published in 1985.
Set in Cabrini-Green, a public housing in Chicago, it depicts the frightening experience of Helen Lyle, a graduate student who is possessed by “Candyman“, the ghost of an African-American artist and a hook-handed murderer, while researching urban legends.
Cinematography by Anthony B. Richmond.
Music by Philip Glass.
Production companies are PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and Propaganda Films.
Distributed by TriStar Pictures.
VistaVision. 101 minutes.
Commentary
Barker’s short story is set in Liverpool, England, while the film “Candyman” is set in Cabrini-Green’s run-down public housing that had really existed in the Near North Side of Chicago, Illinois.
The story revolves around Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen), a graduate student at the University of Illinois Chicago.
While researching urban legends, Helen has an interest in the rumors about a spirit called the Candyman. According to the rumors, Candyman’s right hand is sawn off, and he has a hook on his bloody right arm. He kills anyone that recites his name five times in front of a mirror.
Though Helen is a skeptic and she doesn’t believe that the Candyman really exists, the real Candyman (Tony Todd) appears to Helen, and he murders her friend Bernadette (Kasi Lemmons).
Helen finds that she and the Candyman share a fatal bond. She inherits Candyman’s curse, and she herself becomes an evil spirit.
“Candyman“ is a film that has elements of both supernatural horror film and slasher film.
The Candyman in the film is a supernatural being, but he is also a murderer who kills people physically, like slasher film villains.
The film can also be interpreted as a love story between Helen and the Candyman. In the latter half of the film, Helen is suggested as the reincarnation of Candyman’s lover.
The scene in which the Candyman embraces and kisses Helen (he gives her a swarm of bees from mouth to mouth) is a hideous, but enchanting love scene.
The film score by Philip Glass is solemn like sacred music. It enhances the mysterious atmosphere of the film.
The film was shot on location in Chicago in November 1991. The indoor scenes were shot in Los Angeles.
The film had its world premiere at the 1992 Toronto International Film Festival. It was released in the United States in the same year.
Virginia Madsen, who played the role of Helen in the film, won Best Actress in the 19th Saturn Awards in 1993.
The 1995 film “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” directed by Bill Condon is a sequel to this film.
The 1999 film “Candyman: Day of the Dead” directed by Turi Meyer is a direct sequel to the 1995 film.
The 2021 film “Candyman” directed by Nia DaCosta is a direct sequel to the 1992 film.
Plot (Spoiler Alert)
Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) is a semiotics graduate student at the University of Illinois Chicago. She lives with her husband Trevor (Xander Berkeley), who teaches anthropology at the same university.
While researching urban legends, Helen has an interest in the rumors about a spirit called the Candyman. According to the rumors, Candyman’s right hand is sawn off, and he has a hook on his bloody right arm. He kills anyone that recites his name five times in front of a mirror.
Helen hears that a woman named Ruthie Jean was killed by the Candyman in Cabrini-Green public housing. Though Helen is a skeptic and she doesn’t believe that the Candyman really exists, she visits Cabrini-Green with her friend Bernadette Walsh (Kasi Lemmons) and examines the murder scene.
The Cabrini-Green housing complex is occupied by gangs, and it has turned into crime-ridden ruins. The walls are covered with graffiti.
Helen discovers a room where offerings have been left for the Candyman.
Helen gets to know the victim’s neighbor, Anne-Marie McCoy (Vanessa Estelle Williams), a single mother raising her baby son Anthony.
Helen and her husband Trevor have dinner with Professor Philip Purcell, who is an expert on the Candyman legend. Purcell talks about the Candyman legend as follows:
- The legend first appeared in 1890.
- The Candyman was an African-American artist, who was born as the son of a slave.
- The Candyman fell in love with and impregnated a white woman, who is the daughter of a wealthy landowner.
- Her father made mob lynch the Candyman. The mob cut off his right hand and smeared him with honeycomb stolen from an apiary, attracting bees that stung him to death.
- His corpse was burned in a pyre on the site where the Cabrini-Green Homes were built later.
The next day, Helen revisits Cabrini-Green, where she hears from a boy named Jake that a boy was castrated and killed by the Candyman in a public bathroom.
When Helen is investigating the public bathroom,
a man calling himself the Candyman batters her with a hook.
It turns out that that man is the head of a local gang, and he is arrested by police. However, the real Candyman (Tony Todd) appears to Helen in a parking garage, hypnotizing her. Helen blacks out.
Helen awakens in Anne-Marie’s apartment, covered in blood, finding Anne-Marie’s dog decapitated and her son Anthony missing. Helen is arrested by police.
Trevor bails her out of jail.
When Helen is alone at home, the Candyman breaks into the apartment and cuts her neck, causing her to bleed and pass out. Bernadette comes to Helen’s apartment.
When Helen comes to herself, she finds that the Candyman has murdered Bernadette.
Framed for the crime, Helen is committed to a psychiatric hospital.
In the hospital, Helen says to her psychiatrist Doctor Burke that she will prove her innocence by summoning the Candyman.
She recites Candyman’s name five times in front of a mirror. Then, the Candyman appears and murders Burke.
The Candyman frees Helen from her restraints and disappears. Helen escapes from the hospital.
Helen returns to her apartment, where she finds that her husband Trevor is living with Stacey, one of his students at the university.
Helen comes to Cabrini-Green to rescue Anthony.
She finds the Candyman and Anthony in his lair, an abandoned apartment on the upper floor of the housing complex.
The Candyman embraces and kisses Helen. A swarm of bees pour out from his mouth and gain entrance to her body through her mouth.
The Candyman vanishes with Anthony. Helen awakes to discover a mural of the Candyman and his lover, who looks exactly like her.
Helen discovers Anthony crying in the pile of debris in front of the housing complex. She jumps into the pile to rescue Anthony.
The inhabitants set fire to the pile with gasoline, mistaking Helen as the Candyman.
The Candyman appears and tries to immolate both Helen and Anthony, but Helen saves Anthony from the fire.
The Candyman disappears in the blaze. Helen dies from severe burns.
Helen’s funeral is held.
Grief-stricken and guilt-ridden Trevor says Helen’s name five times in front of a mirror at home. The spirit of Helen appears and uses a hook to slash him to death.
A mural of Helen dressed in white with her hair ablaze appears in the Candyman’s lair.