Review of Candyman (1992) by Al M — 06 Aug 2010

While it is not quite the brutally horrific revelation that it was when I was 13, I still love Candyman's blend of urban legend, slasher, and supernatural stories as well as its twisted and dark aesthetic.

While Clive Barker did not direct the film, it still oozes with his aesthetic sensibility, and Candyman manages to effectively interrogate racial issues by tying slavery era travesties together with current urban poverty and criminality.

Indeed, the horror of the ghostly Candyman is mirrored by the equally gruesome and frightening underbelly of urban cityscapes. Candyman becomes a symbol of the darkness that breeds in marginalized and disenfranchised groups--Candyman is a figure we give birth to through our prejudice and neglect.

A powerful, haunting, and gorey piece of horror cinema that will not soon be forgotten even if it has, perhaps, become a bit dated.