Candyman
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Movie Reviews of Candyman
Movie Review: Too pretentious to be scary
Summary: 3 Stars
I got this DVD on post-Halloween clearance at Kroger's for $5, which is precisely what it's worth. The blood 'n' guts and scary moments are few and far between, replaced by Clive Barker's pretentious BS and constant dreamy close-ups of Virginia Madsen and her amazing cheekbones. Movie Review: GREAT HORROR MOVIE
Summary: 5 Stars
SO DO YOU BELIEVE IN LIFE AFTER DEATH??? IF YOU SAID NO THIS MOVIE WILL CHANGE YOUR MIND. CANDYMAN WILL LEAVE YOU SHAKING. THIS MOVIE IS NOT FOR THE EASILY SCARED. IVE LOVED THIS MOVIE SINCE I WAS A KID.
CANDYMAN IS ABOUT A MAN WHO WAS KILLED FOR ALMOST NO APPARENT REASON. MOSTLY DUE TO PREDJUDICE. HIS RIGHT HAND WAS CUT OFF WITH A RUSTY SAW WHILE HE WAS BEING STUNG TO DEATH BY 1000S OF BEES. HIS HAND WAS LATER REPLACED WITH A HOOK. THE ONE HE NOW USES TO KILL HIS "NON BELIEVERS".
SAY HIS NAME 5 TIMES IN THE MIRROR THEN TURN OFF THE LIGHTS....I DARE YA.
Movie Review: Original Horror With Style...and Flaws
Summary: 3 Stars
From the mind of Clive Barker comes a tale of ghost stories that just might be real.
The beautiful chain-smoking grad student Helen is studying an urban legend about a serial killer whose identity is threatened by her, and he begins appearing again to exact his bloody revenge. That is the concept of Candyman. There's more, but this is a review, not a Cliff's Notes book.
Certain aspects of this film showed such promise. Candyman has an intimate and powerful desire for Helen that leads you to think that this evil being has chosen her (just a normal, pretty white girl?) for something deeper than she knows. ("It was Always You, Helen"...) This piqued my curiosity but it never paid off somehow.
All in all, it's a fair horror venue with lots of blood (and bees), and an unusual music score from Philip Glass.
If you've seen all the others, here's one that you might enjoy for its story and style.
I always giggle towards the end when the girl asks for help in making the salad, and she is holding a huge knife. It looks as if she is preparing to make her way through the Congo. About as subtle as a garlic sandwich.
The ending, such as it is, left me disappointed. It was tacked-on, typical, and predictable. That's Hollywood.
Movie Review: Xenophobia anyone?
Summary: 4 Stars
Clive Barker's works frequently address issues of xenophobia. "Nightbreed" is an excellent example of the persecution of the "Other." Told from the "Other's" perspective, it allows its viewer a small window into the struggles of "minorities" (not that any film can fully convey this idea, but this is an excellent attempt at beginning a dialogue).
On the surface, "Candyman" appears to pick-up this thread. The viewer learns that Candyman was a master portrait-artist in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth century. He was commissioned to capture the likeness of a landowner's young, innocent daughter. Instead, he captured her virginity. For this "crime" he was summarily covered in bees and hanged. Fast-forward to today(ish). The viewer learns that Candyman's name has become an urban-legend in Calibrini-Green (the housing-projects which were constructed on the same grounds on which he was executed). A copycat killer stalks his victims ... but is Candyman more than just a moment in history? More than just a name? Interesting premise, right?
So here is where we encounter problems. The depiction of Calibrini-Green (a very real, notoriously violent housing project in Chicago) is "white-washed." The film does not depict the overcrowding of this area: and has encountered opposition as a result (minor stuff though, right?). Now, here is the most serious offense the film commits: this film is supposed to reveal the story of Candyman ... but inevitably, it becomes the story of Helen. She usurps the narrative ... and, thus, his power. When Helen dons the hook and ultimately replaces Candyman in the mythology (as noted in the film's conclusion), her history is being compared with his. And can we really compare the history of a white woman who lives in a condo to that of a black man who was executed without a trial? Doubtful.
The film is a bit dated. It plays upon the fears white Americans had of the exodus of middle-class blacks from the "projects" (Calbrini-Green in this case) into suburban areas. It also plays the fears white Americans had upon the destruction of housing projects and, thus, the displacement of blacks during the Regan/Bush era. (The question being, "Are we safe from 'these people'?") While this could be an enlightening film, the approach is painfully flawed. The treatment of the black community is borderline insulting.
Still, the film is certainly worth a watch if you are interested in the portrayal of the "other" in film, Clive Barker's work, or if you are simply interested in the evolution of horror film.
Suggested reading: Briefel, Aviva and Sianne Nga?. "'How Much Did You Pay for This Place?': Fear, Entitlement, and Urban Space in Bernard Rose's 'Candyman.'" Camera Obscura: A Journal of Feminism, Culture, and Media Studies 37, (1996 Jan): 71-91.
Movie Review: TWO THUMBS UP !!!
Summary: 4 Stars
AS I HAVE WRITTEN IN OTHER HORROR MOVIE REVIEWS, CANDYMAN IS A WONDERFUL CLASSIC THAT GAVE ME MY FIRST NIGHTMARE IN YEARS. IT WASNT JUST THAT I WAS FRIGHTENED, THE WHOLE CONCEPT OF THE FOLKLORE/LEGEND GOT TO ME. I WAS YOUNG, IMPRESSIONABLE, AND OF COURSE SO VERY BRAVE. AT A SLEEP OVER, SOME FRIENDS AND I HAD RENTED THE MOVIE.RIGHT AFTER WATCHING THE MOVIE, WE FELT THE NEED TO PUSH THE ENVELOPE OF OUR OWN BOREDOM AND SPK THE UNSPKABLE NAME FIVE TIMES IN THE MIRROR. OF COURSE GIGGLING TEENS THAT WE WERE IT TOOK A FEW TIMES TO BUILD UP THE INITIAL COURAGE, BUT ALAS WE DID IT...AND NOTHING. BUT STILL THAT NIGHT IT LEFT ITS LASTING IMPRESSION ON ME AND MY YOUNG MIND, PRODUCING A MOST GRUESOME NIGHTMARE. MAYBE IT WAS OWN SUBCONCIOUS OR MAYBE THE LEGENDS TRUE WHO KNOWS, I JUST KNOW THAT FROM THAT DAY FORWARD I NEVER SPK HIS NAME ( CANDYMAN ) NOR HERS (BLOODY MARY ) IN A JKING FASHION AGAIN. I JUST KNOW THAT CANDYMAN FREAKED ME OUT....AND THAT IS WHY IT DESERVES THE SHEER RESPECT OF HORROR CRITICS ALIKE***