Review of Candyman (1992) by Thomasena N — 18 Oct 2012

One of my very favorite horror movies of all time... I first saw it at 3 in the morning on cable, and at 15 years old I had to put on all the lights in the house until sunrise... As far as I know, the original story by Clive Barker took place in a Liverpool project, though I may be wrong about that, and that there was really no racial slant to the story. From what I know, Candyman was one of the very first black horror villains, as opposed to simply demonizing black men in film, and it was a long time in coming...

This chiller takes place in Chicago, much of it shot on location in the old Cabrini Green Projects, which in itself was a scary locale, at the time. This adds to the terror. I read that in order to safely shoot there, the movie's producers had to cast some of the gang players as extras...

This movie takes the old "Bloody Mary" mirror game to a whole new level. It is interesting, clever, and gives great insight into the disparity of race and class. I don't think there are too many horror movies that encompass all of that. It goes beyond gratuitous violence to deliver a thinking-person's nightmare of a movie.