Director: Bernard Rose
Starring: Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkeley, Tony Todd
My Rating: Loved It!
Budget: $8 Million (estimated)
Box Office: $25.8 Million (according to wikipedia)
I can't believe I put this movie off for so long because it's fantastic. Candyman is a twisted fairy tale from the mind of Clive Barker. The first half of the film sets up the mythology, which leads into a captivating second half of madness and horror. This film has patience. First it makes you think that the candyman is a real person, only using the myth as cover, but then, on a much scarier note, it's revealed that the candyman really is the product of one's imagination. Another intriguing idea is that the candyman only shows up when the people stop believing in him, so he needs to kill to gain his power back.
Some of the things that happen in the latter half of the film may not be too logical, but I forgave it because it's a fairy tale. Anything goes in supernatural territory. For all the horror lovers, there are a few excellent moments of gore and terror in Candyman. Specifically calling the candyman in front of the hospital shrink to prove he is real. I didn't expect what happened in that scene at all! And then, Candyman ends on such a satisfyingly gruesome note; I loved it. As far as the ones I've seen, Candyman is one of the better horror movies out of the 1990's.