Candyman - A disturbing cult classic

‘Candyman’ has the ‘honour’ of being the first ’18 certificate’ film I ever saw at the cinema (when I was fifteen, incidentally).  I was excited about the whole naughtiness about my experience, yet left pretty disappointed, even falling asleep midway through.  Now, over twenty years later, I rewatch Candyman through adult’s eyes.  And I’m glad I did.

Yes, it’s probably not the sort of film you should watch when you’re a fifteen year old who doesn’t really appreciate cinema in general and just wants to watch wall-to-wall explosions and monsters sucking people’s brains out through straws.  I seem to remember appreciating the odd moment of gore in the film, but it wasn’t enough for me then and I never thought of it as a ‘horror.’

However, it is pretty horrific, just in a different way.  It’s about a woman who’s researching urban legends for her university.  She hears of one about a hook-handed ghost called ‘Candyman’ who appears and kills you if you say his name in the mirror five times.  And, yes, it does turn out to be a little more than just an urban legend.  The more she discovers and the more she starts to believe, the worse things get for her – not just because she’s found out that evil psychotic spirits are real, but she’s increasingly classed as mad by those around her, leading to a complete collapse in her personal life.

The psychological collapse is one aspect of the horror, but, like so many horror films, it’s the baddie we all come to see.  Tony Todd gives us his best performance ever (one which has cemented his place in horror villain history) as the titular spook and he is indeed creepy.  He steals the scene every time and all, despite the lead actress’ best efforts, is what people really want to see.

It’s also worth noting the general bleak atmosphere created in this world by simple shot composition with the camera picking up on the world around the characters in time with Phillip Glass’ haunting soundtrack. 

Basically, if you’re a fifteen year old who just wants ‘lowest common denominator horror’ (which I did at the time and occasionally still do) then there are plenty of films out there to fill that need.  This one makes you think a little more and dig a little deeper, plus is damn good to boot.  See it when you’re in the mood to think and squeal at the same time.  That scene with the bees is scarier than all the CGI insects Nicholas Cage has pretended to swallow in his life

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that