CANDYMAN
CAST
Tony Todd, Kelly
Rowan
DIRECTOR
Bernard Rose
YEAR OF
RELEASE
1992
There were
many urban legend flicks in the nineties-
this is the best of them. Of course you're
reading the review of a fan of horror that
goes beyond white teens get slashed at camp,
which leaves a lot of room in my preference
for urban legend. Candyman is well acted and
visually stimulating, even haunting. Tony
Todd plays a very believable title role, down
to the dominating voice and dark softness
quality. Basically the story is Candyman is
an urban folklore villian in Cabrini Green,
in the ghetto of Chicago. Helen Lyle is a
student who does some first hand research on
the myth. But is it a myth? There's some
great story definition that defies the horror
mold, especiall the 90's horror mold- a young
retarded boy is attacked in a bathroom. Now
this was unexpected, and therefore
terrifying. Gore is prevelant but never over
the top. People sway in both directions about
the twisty ending- I liked it a lot. They
didn't however, follow up on it in the
sequels. Too bad. Yes, there are, to date, 2
sequels, both pretty bad copies of the
original. Really not worth seeing. I liked
this movie, though. Overall 4 for
this one. It's hard not to pay attention to
the music of Phillip Glass, which is
conducted throughout the
film.
SHOCK/SUSPENSE
3
GORE
5
CAMP
0
OVERALL
4
