When you hear the name Candyman, you might think of Willy Wonka, or someone harmless. However, instead of handing out sweet’s, he uses his rusty hook for a hand to punish anyone who would dare say his name.

The film Candyman, based on the graphic novel “The forbidden” written by Clive Barker, tells the story of Helen Lyle, a journalism student in Chicago pursuing a story for her thesis. Along the way, she becomes entangled with the Candyman, a vengeful spirit who ends up destroying not only her reputation, but ultimately her life. The film tackles and hints at many racial and societal issues we still face to this day.

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The most intriguing thing about this film is the Candyman himself. While he is a vengeful spirit, he kills the “innocent.” Whoever calls his name 5 times in a mirror dies by his hook for a hand. He does not discriminate who he kills, whoever calls his name dies. Perhaps calling his name in the first place was the crime, or an excuse for him to kill in order for his legend to remain eternal.

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The main ideas brought in the film are omnipresence, race, and class. Omnipresence is seen through the way the movie is shot. The film begins with an arial shot of the city of Chicago, making the cars, the people, the buildings look small and insignificant. One may interpret this as the Candyman looking down on the world, being able to see everything and everyone. Whenever someone calls his name, he hears them, and he appears, almost as if he was already there, waiting. Race is a prevalent theme in this film. The people of the Cabrini Green housing project serve as Candyman’s “congregation”, in other words, his believers, while the white people in the film scoff at the idea that there is some spirit in the world. This plays on the idea that people of color tend to be superstitious, seeing as almost everyone in Cabrini Green not only believes that the Candyman is real, but they fear him and his wrath. The final aspect, class, is one that not many notice. Helen Lyle is a well-off white woman believes that by going to Cabrini Green and researching the Candyman legend, she is helping the residents. Although she means well, she is undoubtably exploiting the people and their story for her thesis. Throughout the film, the main word that is repeated, of course, is Candyman, seeing as the way to summon him is by repeating his name 5 times into a mirror. There are a few strands throughout the film.

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A contrast that not many people recognize is that the Candyman is still doing what the idea of the Candyman’s hook. Before he was unjustly killed, Daniel Robitaille was a painter, a skilled one at that. He was the son of a slave who became rich after creating a machine to mass produce shoes. With this fortune, his father was able to raise Daniel in high society. Daniel would go around painting portraits for the upper class. One day, he is commissioned to paint a portrait of a wealthy slave owners’ daughter. However, during the process, the daughter and Daniel fall in love, leading to pregnancy. When her father discovered this, he sent a lynch mob on Daniel, cutting off his painting hand, and replacing with the hook. They cover his body in honey and let the bees sting him while calling him “Candyman.” The Candyman now kills anyone who calls his name 5 times. The thing is, the Candyman is still doing what he loves, creating art. When he was alive, he used his paint brush to paint on the canvas, now he uses his hook to spill blood, the people he kills are now his canvas.

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The biggest implicit idea is whether or not the Candyman is real. Throughout the film, there are only a handful of deaths, most of which happen off screen. For example, halfway through the film, the Candyman appears in Helen’s apartment, puts her in a trance state and kills her best friend, but the kill happens off screen, and the first thing Helen’s fiancé sees when he enters is Helen holding a knife. Later on, when she is taken to a psychiatric ward, the Candyman appears above her bed tormenting her, but later surveillance footage shows nobody was there but Helen. Not too long after, when a doctor is speaking to Helen, the Candyman commits the only on screen kill in the entire film. This begs the question, is the Candyman real or is he simply a figment of Helen’s imagination.

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The film Candyman remains one of the most iconic horror films of the 90’s to this day. The film breaks many of the quote on quote “Rules” that most horror films follow, and it manages to stand out amongst the pantheon of horror villains. This film displays that you don’t need constant kills, constant action, or gallons of blood to make and effective horror movie, once again, this film has about 4 deaths total. Overall, through the films score, acting, pacing, and cinematography, it remains as my favorite horror movie of all time.