ON THIS DAY IN HORROR - October 16th
"CANDYMAN" released in 1992
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When a graduate student completing a thesis on urban legends who encounters the legend of "Candyman", an artist and son of a slave who had had his hand severed and was then murdered, she has no idea she is about to enter a world where some legends are terrifyingly real, in Bernard Rose's Candyman!
Above: Do you dare say Candyman's (Tony Todd) name five time in the mirror...
Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen), a Chicago graduate student who is researching urban legends, comes across the legend of the myth of the Candyman. The legend claims that Candyman can be summoned by saying his name five times while facing a mirror, whereupon he will murder the summoner with a hook jammed in the bloody stump of his right arm.encounters two cleaning ladies who tell her about the murder of a woman named Ruthie Jean, a resident in the notorious Cabrini-Green housing project, who they claim was a victim of Candyman, and, later that evening, Helen and her friend Bernadette Walsh (Kasi Lemmons), skeptical of Candyman's existence, call Candyman's name into the mirror in Helen's bathroom; although nothing happens. Later on, while at dinner with Bernadette and her husband Tervor (Xander Berkeley), she learns from Professor Philip Purcell (Michael Culkin) that Candyman was the son of a slave who became prosperous after developing a system for mass-producing shoes during the Civil War. He grew up in polite society and became a well-known artist, sought after for his talent in producing portraits. After falling in love with and fathering a child with a white woman in 1890, Candyman was set upon by a lynch mob hired by his lover's father; they cut off his painting hand and replaced it with a hook. He was smeared with honey stolen from an apiary, prompting the locals to chant "Candyman" as hungry bees stung him to death. His corpse was burned in a pyre and his ashes were scattered across the area where Cabrini-Green now stands.
Deciding to write a thesis on how the residents of Cabrini-Green use the Candyman legend to cope with the hardships of living there, Helen and Bernadette enter the housing project to visit the scene of Ruthie Jean's murder. There, they meet Anne-Marie McCoy (Vanessa Williams), one of the residents, and a young boy named Jake (DeJuan Guy), who tells her the disturbing story of a child who was castrated in a public restroom by Candyman. While Helen explores the run-down restroom, she is attacked by a gang leader who carries a hook and has taken the Candyman moniker as his own in order to enhance his "street cred". Helen survives the assault and is able to identify her attacker to the police, who believe him to be responsible for the killings attributed to Candyman. In a parking garage, Helen is confronted by the real Candyman, who explains that since Helen has discredited his legend, he must "shed innocent blood" to perpetuate belief in himself and continue his existence. Helen blacks out and wakes up in Anne-Marie's apartment, covered in blood. Anne-Marie, whose Rottweiler has been decapitated and whose baby Anthony is missing, attacks Helen; in the midst of defending herself, the police arrest Helen. Trevor, Helen's husband, bails her out of jail, but Candyman appears to Helen again and cuts her neck, causing her to bleed to the point of unconsciousness. Bernadette appears at the apartment and is murdered by Candyman, who frames Helen for the murder. Helen is sedated and placed in a psychiatric hospital.
After a month's stay at the hospital, Helen is interviewed by a psychologist in preparation for her upcoming murder trial. While restrained, Helen attempts to prove her innocence by calling Candyman. Candyman appears, kills the psychologist, and allows Helen to escape. Realizing Candyman's plan to sacrifice the baby Anthony to fuel his legend, Helen races back to Cabrini-Green, where Candyman offers her an impossible choice; in exchange for sparing the child, Helen must become a "legend" and walk with the Candyman in the world of myth and legend forever!
Deciding to write a thesis on how the residents of Cabrini-Green use the Candyman legend to cope with the hardships of living there, Helen and Bernadette enter the housing project to visit the scene of Ruthie Jean's murder. There, they meet Anne-Marie McCoy (Vanessa Williams), one of the residents, and a young boy named Jake (DeJuan Guy), who tells her the disturbing story of a child who was castrated in a public restroom by Candyman. While Helen explores the run-down restroom, she is attacked by a gang leader who carries a hook and has taken the Candyman moniker as his own in order to enhance his "street cred". Helen survives the assault and is able to identify her attacker to the police, who believe him to be responsible for the killings attributed to Candyman. In a parking garage, Helen is confronted by the real Candyman, who explains that since Helen has discredited his legend, he must "shed innocent blood" to perpetuate belief in himself and continue his existence. Helen blacks out and wakes up in Anne-Marie's apartment, covered in blood. Anne-Marie, whose Rottweiler has been decapitated and whose baby Anthony is missing, attacks Helen; in the midst of defending herself, the police arrest Helen. Trevor, Helen's husband, bails her out of jail, but Candyman appears to Helen again and cuts her neck, causing her to bleed to the point of unconsciousness. Bernadette appears at the apartment and is murdered by Candyman, who frames Helen for the murder. Helen is sedated and placed in a psychiatric hospital.
After a month's stay at the hospital, Helen is interviewed by a psychologist in preparation for her upcoming murder trial. While restrained, Helen attempts to prove her innocence by calling Candyman. Candyman appears, kills the psychologist, and allows Helen to escape. Realizing Candyman's plan to sacrifice the baby Anthony to fuel his legend, Helen races back to Cabrini-Green, where Candyman offers her an impossible choice; in exchange for sparing the child, Helen must become a "legend" and walk with the Candyman in the world of myth and legend forever!
[Candyman walks up to Helen as she remains hypnotized by him]
Candyman: You were not content with the stories, so I was obliged to come.
Top: Helen (Viriginia Madsen) and her friend Bernadette (Kasi Lemmons) put the legend to the test;
Above: Feeling his legend is being questioned, the Candyman is "obliged" to appear before Helen
The short story "The Forbidden", from Clive Barker's Books of Blood, provided the basis for the Candyman, with Barker producing and fellow English filmmaker Bernard Rose chosen to write and direct. Although an obvious inspiration was taken from the Bloody Mary urban legend, Rose actually discovered in his research that there were actually a series of murders committed with the killer able to sneak into his victims apartments using the same architecture flaw of the medicine chests, and incorporated it into the final script. Although Barker's short story is set in his native Liverpool, Rose decided "that the film would be much better done in the U.S." Assisted by members of the Illinois Film Commission, Rose scouted locations in Chicago and found Cabrini Green "an incredible arena for a horror movie because it was a place of such palpable fear."
There was some controversy that the film was depicting racism and racial stereotypes. According to Rose, "I had to go and have a whole set of meetings with the NAACP, because the producers were so worried, and what they said to me when they'd read the script was 'Why are we even having this meeting? You know, this is just good fun.' Their argument was 'Why shouldn't a black actor be a ghost? Why shouldn't a black actor play Freddy Krueger or Hannibal Lector? If you're saying that they can't be, it's really perverse. This is a horror movie...'"
Eddie Murphy was originally considered for the title role, but producers found they could not afford him, and continued auditioning other established and up-and-coming black actors. Tony Todd had previously starred in bit parts and supporting roles in Platoon (1986), Colors (1988), Bird (1988) among others before receiving the lead role in Tom Savini's 1990 remake of George A Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and remembers first meeting Rose for the role of villainous ghost Candyman - "I met with Bernard Rose, who's a brilliant mind and a great director, and I wanted to say it was a hire. But I just... - People kept telling me, 'Oh you'll never be able to shake this,' and I said, 'You know, I'm gonna do the best I can and go away from that.' I knew when I read it, and I saw the bees and the stuff, I knew things like that haven't been filmed before, so that was interesting. And I've always wanted to find my own personal Phantom of the Opera."
There was some controversy that the film was depicting racism and racial stereotypes. According to Rose, "I had to go and have a whole set of meetings with the NAACP, because the producers were so worried, and what they said to me when they'd read the script was 'Why are we even having this meeting? You know, this is just good fun.' Their argument was 'Why shouldn't a black actor be a ghost? Why shouldn't a black actor play Freddy Krueger or Hannibal Lector? If you're saying that they can't be, it's really perverse. This is a horror movie...'"
Eddie Murphy was originally considered for the title role, but producers found they could not afford him, and continued auditioning other established and up-and-coming black actors. Tony Todd had previously starred in bit parts and supporting roles in Platoon (1986), Colors (1988), Bird (1988) among others before receiving the lead role in Tom Savini's 1990 remake of George A Romero's Night of the Living Dead, and remembers first meeting Rose for the role of villainous ghost Candyman - "I met with Bernard Rose, who's a brilliant mind and a great director, and I wanted to say it was a hire. But I just... - People kept telling me, 'Oh you'll never be able to shake this,' and I said, 'You know, I'm gonna do the best I can and go away from that.' I knew when I read it, and I saw the bees and the stuff, I knew things like that haven't been filmed before, so that was interesting. And I've always wanted to find my own personal Phantom of the Opera."
[first lines]
Candyman: [Candyman narrating over the swarm of bees] They will say that I have shed innocent blood. What's blood for if not for shedding? With my hook for a hand, I'll split you from your groin to your gullet. I came for you.
Top: Helen is framed for the murder of Bernadette;
Above: The citizens of Cabrini-Green, Jake (DeJuan Guy) and Anne-Marie (Vanessa Williams), fear the legend of the Candyman the most
Rose also auditioned numerous actors for the role Helen Lyle, eventually casting Virginia Madsen over the then-unknown actress Sandra Bullock. Interestingly enough, Madsen is extremely allergic to bees, so an ambulance was always on set while filming the bee sequence. The bees in question were actually specifically bred for the movie, the handlers making sure that the bees were only 12 years old at most when used for filming. This meant that they were large enough to portray real mature bees, but their stinger wouldn't be powerful enough to do any real damage (however, Todd himself would be stung over 23 times during the course of filming the entire Candyman trilogy). These real "stunt" bees were actually put in Todd's mouth while they where shooting the climax, his only protection was a mouth guard that kept him from having the bees go down his throat.
Some exterior, hallway and stairway scenes were actually filmed for a few days in the infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago, though the producers had to make a deal with the ruling gang members to put them in the movie as extras to ensure the cast and crew's safety during filming. Even with this arrangement, a sniper put a bullet through the production van on the last day of filming, though no one was injured. The remaining scenes were shot at the University of Illinois, and 1360 North Sandburg Terrace (which stood in for Helen's apartment building), before returning to Los Angeles to film the remaining interior scenes at Occidental Studios. Production wrapped on 28 December, 1991.
Some exterior, hallway and stairway scenes were actually filmed for a few days in the infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects in Chicago, though the producers had to make a deal with the ruling gang members to put them in the movie as extras to ensure the cast and crew's safety during filming. Even with this arrangement, a sniper put a bullet through the production van on the last day of filming, though no one was injured. The remaining scenes were shot at the University of Illinois, and 1360 North Sandburg Terrace (which stood in for Helen's apartment building), before returning to Los Angeles to film the remaining interior scenes at Occidental Studios. Production wrapped on 28 December, 1991.
[Clara asks Billy if he's ever heard of Candyman]
Clara: Have you ever heard of Candyman?
Billy: No.
Clara: Well, his right hand is sawn off, and he has a hook jammed in the bloody stump. And if you look in the mirror... and you say his name five times... he'll appear behind you, breathing down your neck... You want to try it?
Top: Viriginia Madsen on set of the Candyman in 1991;
Above: With his portrayal of the Candyman, Tony Todd has joined the ranks of other actors to play iconic horror figures, Robert Englund (Freddy Kruger) and Kane Hodder (Jason Vorhess) - here they are seen together on the set of Wishmaster (1997)
Candyman had its world premiere at the 1992 Toronto Film Festival, playing as part of its Midnight Madness line-up, and was released in theaters the same month to mostly positive reviews. Allmovie praised the film, calling it "haunting, intelligent and poetic" and "the finest Barker adaptation ever committed to film". Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times wrote, "Elements of the plot may not hold up in the clear light of day, but that didn't bother me much. What I liked was a horror movie that was scaring me with ideas and gore, instead of simply with gore." Janet Maslin of The New York Times compared it to "an elaborate campfire story" with an "unusually high interest in social issues". Variety called it "an upper-register horror item that delivers the requisite shocks and gore but doesn't cheat or cop out."
In subsequent years, Candyman has become an iconic figure in horror cinema, with the character Candyman coming in at number 8 on Bloody Disgusting's "The Top 13 Slashers in Horror Movie History" in 2009, and in 2001, the American Film Institute nominated this film for AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills. Tony Todd also made #53 on Retrocrush's "The 100 Greatest Horror Movie Performances" for his portrayal of the villianous Candyman. Candyman also spawned two sequels, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), and Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999), although neither of which performed critically and commercially as well as Candyman.
In subsequent years, Candyman has become an iconic figure in horror cinema, with the character Candyman coming in at number 8 on Bloody Disgusting's "The Top 13 Slashers in Horror Movie History" in 2009, and in 2001, the American Film Institute nominated this film for AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills. Tony Todd also made #53 on Retrocrush's "The 100 Greatest Horror Movie Performances" for his portrayal of the villianous Candyman. Candyman also spawned two sequels, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), and Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999), although neither of which performed critically and commercially as well as Candyman.
ROTTEN TOMATOES SCORE: 71%
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