First, let me clear something up for those unfamiliar with this Clive Barker based series: this movie is NOT about that child molesting candy store owner from WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY, okay!? It's based upon the wacky Clive Barker short story, "the Forbidden", and it stars Tony Todd as our title role, that of a large African-American man with a hook for a hand who does the Bloody Mary thing and comes out of mirrors when people look into them and say "Candyman" 5 times. Once out of the mirrors, you can guess what he does with that hook. And here's a hint: he ain't going fishin'! Speaking of Candyman ripping up people's guts, that's just what he does to Lord of the Dork Ted Raimi, as he cameos as a "bad ass" teenager who witnesses first hand what the Candyman's all about! Actually, that's just part of an urban legend (always cool until you make a stupid movie about them, i.e. URBAN LEGEND) as researched by our heroine Helen: a college student who's looking into the whole legend as some kind of term paper or something. To help get more into the research, she takes a trip down to the slums, where several unresolved hook murders have been reported recently. Coincidence? Not in the movies my friend! To understand this fully, we must delve deeper into the Candyman history, so let's shall, shall we? Rewind back to 1890, where a son of a slave has grown up in the good life and has become an acclaimed artist. Now, a wealthy land owner hires him to paint the guy's daughter's portrait. Conflict arises when the painter and his subject fall madly in love (we artists always get the chicks, heh heh) and the daughter winds up the big "p". No, "pregnant" you twit, not "parasailing"! Uhm, so anyway, the rich guy hires a pack of goons ("hired goons?!") to take care of the negro. They do this in one of the most painful ways possible, as they cut the dude's hand off with a rusty handsaw, smear him in smashed honeycombs (no, not the cereal), and leave him to be stung to death by the ensuing swarm of angry bees! He was then torched and his ashes spread where the city slums now call home. FF>> back to the present day, where the sights of these currents murders have messages of "sweets to the sweet" smeared on the walls (and a toilet full of bees at one place). Helen then runs into some real trouble, when, while doing more Candyman research in the wrong part of town, she gets mugged by a gang of vandals in a men's room! Not an uncommon occurrence in the ghetto, except that this gang's leader is a punk kid carrying a meathook and calling himself Candyman! Mystery solved right? Well, as Scooby and the Gang always showed us, the answers never as clear as you think. After the little vagrant and his crew are locked up, Helen starts getting visits from the REAL Candyman! While harassing her, we learn why he kills: only by spilling fresh blood and keeping his legend circulating can he continue to exist. So, just don't believe in him and he'll go away, like the boogeyman, right? Wrong. DEAD wrong (pardon my insipid attempt at humor). After one of her visits with Candy (hmmm, without the "man" part, he doesn't sound too threatening) Helen wakes up in a strange apartment, covered in blood and near a headless dog! The cops arrive in time to arrest Helen, holding her for the killing of the dog and suspected kidnapping of a baby who disappeared form the same apartment! Guess the "Candy" in "Candyman" stands for "nose candy", because Helen doesn't remember any of this! After her unfaithful husband bails her ass out of the slammer, Candy's visits continue, this time he starts asking Helen to be his victim. If she gives herself up to him, he promises to let the kidnapped child go free and unharmed. Afterwards, when Helen's pal Bernadette shows up to comfort her, Candy slaughters her too, which, again, Helen gets the blame for since, yet again, she's found holding a bloody butcher knife. Sadly though, once again, the violence occurs off screen, depriving us of what appears to have been some pretty hellacious and gratuitous carnage! I have one good question here: for a forensics team the quality of that in the Chicago P.D., shouldn't they be able to tell the difference between a hook slashing and a butcher knife attack?! A hook is much thicker, and would TEAR open someone's soft flesh and render many a meaty organ, while a simple knife blade would slice with precision. Even a made hacking spree with a dull knife wouldn't look as blunt as a fucking meathook like Candy wields! After this second killing, Helen is locked away in a nuthouse for a month, where she's doped up on a regular basis and gets charged with first degree murder. But, just for the sake of chaos I'm guessing, Candy pops in again, slaughters a doctor, then flies out the window! Helen pursues, escaping disguised as an orderly. Sure enough, when Helen makes her way to her hubby Trevor's place, she finds, who else, but Trev's head student (called so because she gives head good, heh heh). This puts her into an emotional tailspin, adding to the already unfortunate "First Degree Murder" thing, and leads her to believe she no longer has anything to live for... hey Helen, if you lack the self esteem and personal worth, I could always use a sheath for my sword, if ya catch my drift, and I know you do! Well, in an effort to do one last good deed before she gives her life up, she returns to the Chicago slums to search out Candy and take him up on that child swapping offer. When she gives herself to him, we're treated to an odd sight, as bees begin to swarm from the dude's mouth and gaping chest wound... if it's not just some CGI effect, that Tony Todd's got balls! Candy then tells us that Helen is actually the reincarnated rich girl he fell for all those years ago... you saw that coming too right? Candy, Helen, and the child all wind up inside a giant pile of debris that the slum dwellers plan on using for a bonfire, and the trio is stuck inside when the flame is lit. Helen, thinking fast for a dying white girl, stabs our villain through the chest with a flaming piece of wood! She then grabs the baby and crawls from the pyre, leaving Candy to burn and thrash about in agony... again. She gives the child to it's mother, then lays down to die, burned to a crispy nugget. At Helen's funeral, everyone from the projects shows up to give their respects for the woman who finally rid them of the Candyman, burying the fiend's hook with her. As for her husband Trevor, he's left to mourn Helen's death, regretting leaving her for a younger, better looking model. Then, in his depression, he stares into the mirror, and, foolishly, says Helen's name 5 times... she then appears from nowhere, bald and scarred horribly, and guts the bastard, leaving the mistress holding a butcher knife! All in all this was a fairly stylish piece of work, but it had it's problems. For instance, despite being the title character, Candyman didn't get nearly enough screen time, although the time he is on screen, Tony Todd is his usual bad ass mother self! Also, what's the deal with not bringing him in until half way through the flick?! Oh, and another thing, during the whole retelling of Candy's origin, it would've helped a LOT in my opinion, if they would've given us some kind of a visual scene to go with the story. Instead, they stick us with a frame shot of Helen's face... for the ENTIRE scene! Sure, she was bordering on ultra foxy, but I don't wanna stare at her face for such a boring shot, I'd rather see some action! Oh well, I guess if Aesop were here, he'd give us a moral, so here goes: Remember children, if you start to disbelieve in stories and legends, they will come to life and kill you! So, I suggest you go dust off that "Mother Goose" storybook toot sweet!

Sequels: CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH; CANDYMAN 3: DAY OF THE DEAD

If You Liked This Flick, Check Out: LORD OF ILLUSIONS or HALLOWEEN