Admit it. You did it as a kid: you looked in the mirror, turned off the lights, and attempted to summon Bloody Mary by chanting her name X amount of times, or some variation of this. How these urban legends spread from town to town throughout the ages is a subject for another time. And while we might look back on those childish rituals as somewhat goofy and hokey, there was a hint of fear in the form of “what if?” as a child. What if Bloody Mary did appear? What would we do? 1992’s Candyman imagines a frightening and violent world where similar events do in fact occur. 

Virginia Madsen plays UIC graduate student Helen Lyle. She is studying urban legends and monster myths and Candyman is the subject of her research. According to the film, he is a supernatural being who terrorizes a housing complex on the North side of Chicago. He lures people with candy and has a bloody hook for a hand. He also has a strange association with bees and some of the more frightening sequences revolve around this association.

Helen, along with her partner Bernie have a theory that myths like this never pan out, and that they have a rational explanation. As they investigate the latest incident of a Candyman-related murder, they have an increasingly difficult time explaining it away. As the film goes on, we’re not quite sure where it’s headed: is there an actual human being masquerading as a folktale? Or is he an actual boogeyman, existing on the fear of humans? The film explores the idea of belief in the supernatural in a surprisingly refreshing way. What role does belief play in urban legends? In scary stories? In our imaginations? These myths and legends stem from real fears. Fears that lurk in our parks, our schools, our bathrooms, or in this case, broken down apartment buildings in Chicago.

Jordan Peele has written a “spiritual sequel” to the film, which is set to be released in June 2020. He has been trusted to not gloss over the racial issues found in the original. And yes, Todd Taylor is returning to reprise his role as the titular Candyman. But make sure you see this so when your friends ask about the new one, you can say, “Well, in the original…”

I mostly enjoyed this film. It has a certain sense of “indie-horror” that I think works to its benefit. It also is more of a slow burn than I had anticipated. I think this screenplay with a larger budget, huge stars and studio influence would be quite different. But because the story and the names attached weren’t huge at the time, they had to be a bit more economical with what they had. If you’re in the mood for a slower (but still gory) horror film, I’d recommend it. Its brooding atmosphere will surely unsettle viewers as they discover it this Halloween.