Candyman Film Review

By: Ayana Coleman-Dixon

Candyman is the story centers around an investigative journalist named Helen, who is trying to solve a case that takes place in the projects of Chicago. After a murder and a kidnapping of a woman’s baby in the housing projects, there have been many urban myths about the area. Along with it is a story of a man whose name is Daniel Robitaille, otherwise known as Candyman. There are a lot of strange sightings and events that take place in this project housing facility, which sends Helen on a goose chase to find the urban legend himself, Candyman. But, there are many moments in the film where she comes face to face with him. When she uncovers more information on finding the missing baby, she ends up being haunted by the urban legend. The movie takes place in the late 1980s to early 1990s in Chicago, based on the environment and the way the characters have been styled. Candyman was released in October 1992 and the budget for the film was approximately $6,000,000 with an estimated gross of $25,792,310 in the US. It’s an interesting twist of raising awareness of social/economic status, racism, and sexism but also telling a mystical tale of an urban myth.

Bernard Rose is the director and writer for this film. He has done a lot of impressively rated and critically acclaimed movies such as Frankenstein (2015), Paperhouse (1989), Boxing Day (2012) etc. Honestly, it’s very surprising that the author is not of color because of how relatable and raw the storyline is about topics such as race. It’s very refreshing to see people who are not of color tell a story of another community so beautifully. The direction was superb and the storyline didn’t feel too long or too rushed, which is something that isn’t valued so much with recent films in general. For the aesthetic and mood of his films, it seems he uses a combination of cool and warm tones. Candyman specifically had moments where the viewers can feel a dark entity take over certain scenes, which seems like a genius way of misleading the audience at certain points.

The movie starts with a beautiful piano piece playing in the background, this personally gave me chills because you don’t know what is going to happen. So, we’re introduced to the main character, Helen, who has been reading and hearing about a recent murder that took place in Cabrini Green. A woman claimed that Candyman killed them and that all the people in Cabrini Green believe so too. At first, Helen believes the people living in Cabrini Green are simply not owning up to the fact that they have gang and violence issues and they’re blaming it on this urban myth. So, she doesn’t buy it and she convinces her friend Bernadette to help her investigate. Helen wants to get evidence to write her paper based around the urban myth to prove her point, but before she leaves she says Candyman in the mirror five times. This event is supposed to be a summoning ritual for the Candyman, but nothing happens when she says it, at least not yet.

So, Helen interviews a woman living in the complex with her baby and she confirms her belief in the Candyman. Helen goes back to the complex by herself to investigate and take more pictures, but she is met by a gang leader and his members. They beat her pretty bad, but they end up going to jail and she in return had good material for her paper. But then, Candyman shows up in the parking lot where Helen is, which makes her change her perspective on the whole case. She now believes in Candyman and is now aware that he just might be doing the mysterious killings after all.

Eventually, she gets news that the woman who lived in Cabrini Green had lost her baby. Who exactly took it? You guessed it, the Candyman. Helen is on a goose chase to find this missing baby by collecting the clues about where Candyman has hidden him. This goes on for the rest of the movie until she uncovers the story behind Candyman and what is his real motives. When she finds out the information about him, it’s shocking and quite sad. Candyman was born in a time where slavery was still prevalent. He was an educated black man, which was very rare for the area where he grew up. He was intelligent as well as a very talented painter and artist. Candyman fell in love with a white woman and because of the word that got around about their relationship, he was targeted. The townspeople gathered and dragged his body in honey and had bees that stung him all over. They took it a step further by cutting off his right arm, which is his painting arm, so he won’t do the thing he loved and was gifted in anymore. This event is the reason why he has the infamous hook on his right arm in place of a hand.

There’s an iconic scene also where Candyman has a bunch of bees coming from his body as he opens his jacket. They are literally coming out of his mouth and it’s honestly a very disgusting sight to see. However, this clearly shows how much influence and symbolism bees have on him. Bees are essentially known to be highly creative, they’ve made honeycombs from wax and honey itself. So maybe the bees are a homage to his creativeness and how the bees have connected with him and are now using his corpse as a “hive.”

The reason the storyline behind Candyman is so important, especially for a horror movie such as this one, is because the story isn’t something one could make up. As an audience member, there is some truth to the story that is personally very sad to me. And I’m sure the director intended for this to be the case for most of his audience members. Because without that insight into Candyman and his background, people wouldn’t feel so conflicted about how they feel about this villain. Also, his reason for killing isn’t how horror movies normally operate due to there being little to no reason for his victim’s death. That is because there was little to no reasoning behind his own death, other than racism and envy. As a viewer, you notice he’s only killed two people in the whole film and the main character in some way kills herself. It's kind of funny in a sick and twisted way because initially he is killed because of a white woman, yet another white woman is dead because of him at the end of the film.

I don’t want to bring too many other spoilers to the film, but watching this movie has given me better insight into some of the messages it was trying to send to its audience members. It’s more than just the genre of horror, it’s happening in society mirroring the one we currently live in today. Societal horror is real and alive more than ever whether we realize it or not. There has been this norm of discriminating, segregating, and violating against people who look different, more specifically Black people. It’s been taught in our schools as if it is over and done with or that it happened a long time ago when there are people killing others because of their skin color to this day. I don’t think the director hoped that this movie would still be relevant today but sadly that is the case. The film also shows how even important figures in society can and do have a racist or discriminatory mindset.

The ending of the movie is one of the most memorable parts of the movie, and it is also some of the visual effects of Candy Man himself. This is definitely a horrible but psychological movie that allows the audience to piece together the story, and the ending makes the audience rethink what happened at the beginning. It’s a very interesting way of feeding the audience the storyline and keeping them on their toes for the whole 100 minutes of its screening. It’s also a very artistic way of uncovering an urban myth and pit soo much more depth in their background and story of how they came to be. The movie again is a very sad tale that leaves viewers with powerful emotions towards the end. I wouldn't say this film was strictly horror and has grown over time to be a stand-out genre all on its own.