Candyman
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Movie Reviews of Candyman
Movie Review: Candyman 3: The Day of the Dead (1999)
Summary: 1 Stars
Director: Turi Meyer
Cast: Tony Todd, Donna D'Errico, Alexia Robinson, Jsu Garcia, Mark Adair-Rios, Lupe Ontiveros, Elizabeth Guber, Rena Riffel, Ernie Hudson Jr.
Running Time: 93 minutes
Rated R for bloody violence and gore, sexuality and language.
The third in the series derived from a concept by Clive Barker, "Day of the Dead" (they can't even come up with their own subtitle) staggers down the well-trodden path already navigated by the "Halloween" and "Nightmare on Elm Street" movies: that is, taking a decent concept and flushing it down the toilet. The original movie was a near horror masterpiece and relied on atmosphere rather than gore, while the first sequel was bearable if completely routine. This one is just a load of rubbish. Donna D'Errico, from Baywatch (what a spectacle of credibility), stars as Caroline McKeever, the great great granddaughter of the feared Candyman (Tony Todd once again), once a normal man but now an apparition who appears to slaughter everyone around you if you dare to say his name five times in front of a mirror. Caroline says his name five times in front of a mirror and up he pops to murder her nearest and dearest. As the Candyman hacks his way through various bad actors, Caroline teams up with new pal David (Nick Corri) to find a collection of paintings knocked up by the Candyman while he was still alive, which may hold the key to stopping him.
There's not a single thing here that isn't scavenged from the first "Candyman" film and every other ropy horror movie produced since caveman days. The screenplay is so lazy it can't even be bothered to connect half the characters to the plot, the photography is bright and glossy, which is at odds with what's supposed to be a dark story, while nothing in the direction adds any atmosphere at all. Anyone could have directed this movie, so little effort has been put in to make it scary, while the ending is an outrageous cop out. No thought has gone in to developing themes or structuring the plot because no one here is talented enough to give this movie any depth beyond having D'Errico running around in a variety of tight vests. The rest of the performances are poor too, although none are quite as bad as D'Errico's pathetic attempts at screaming and breathing erratically. Surely more can be done with characters like the Candyman than the constant repetition of scenes where he appears to stick his hook through someone's stomach. The fact that the makers of this movie think Candyman is so terrifying that the very sight of him just standing there will strike fear into our hearts is a sign that they just can't be bothered even to try something a bit different. Clive Barker may not be the master of horror as every at first claimed him to be, but he's right about one thing: the sequels to his movies are garbage.
Movie Review: Horrendous
Summary: 2 Stars
Clive Barker did a good job on the original Candyman. It was truly a cut above most horror movies. The second movie was medicore at best in my opinion but this one was just horrendous. There is no suspense at all in this movie and the acting is deplorable. Donna D'Errico is soft on the eyes but too bad she talks. Lets hope this is the last sequel.Movie Review: How do you make an urban thriller?
Summary: 3 Stars
Certainly not like this! Too much weight was on the slicing end and not enough on the true chills.
Virginia Madsen and Tony Todd are excellent, as always. The story has potential, but they missed the mark somewhere. The scenes where The Candyman is haunting Madsen's character are very good, but short-lived. More attention should have been paid to these scenes and less to the blood and gore.
Much better gore-fests are out there with better developed stories.... I recommend... ANY of them.
Movie Review: Outstanding modern horror classic
Summary: 5 Stars
I find it very strange that some people reviewing this film have classified it as a failure, with not enough gore, no "hot" women and not enough Candyman on screen.
First of all, "Candyman" easily blows away all of the Freddie, Jason and Michael Myers trash that filled cinemas in the 80's and 90's. I guess there's a type of movie-goer who likes to hero-worship the villains and gets a kick out of the evil caricatures appearing in all of those films. But "Candyman" is something else altogether. This story involves an inquisitive woman named Helen (Virginia Madsen -superb) who is trying to piece together the reasons behind some strange and frightening events that may or may not have something to do with an urban legend, a run down housing estate, and her own family and background. What Helen gets subjected to during this movie is a heartbreakingly cruel catalogue of horrifc violence that no living person should ever go through.
I'm not exaggerating, but I'll confess that my opinion of this film is extremely high. Everything seems to work for me. Right away, the opening credits and music are wonderful, already doom-laden and menacing. The character of Helen is wonderfully believable, and the introduction of the Candyman legend is handled with just enough veracity to make you dread the (inevitable) invocation of something terrible. But the story is clever enough to mix in the danger that Helen finds herself in on the Cabrini Green apartment block estate along with the supernatural element. When she explores the empty sections of this buildng and finds a stinking derelict apartment that has long since gone rotten, the tension is racked sky-high. Even worse is to come when Helen is beaten up by thugs who are seemingly behind the Candyman-related violence being investigated. The truth is sadly far worse. And the violence, when it happens, is shockingly effective. I disagree with people who say the gore is tame in this film. Many scenes are brutally realistic and often come with the added punch of surprise.
I have nothing but praise for actress Virginia Madsen who fills her part with life, making a truly great heroine - plus she's beautiful, but yet in no way exploited for her looks, her only nude scene being in the uncomfortable setting of a police examination, which is particularly heartless. The film cleverly digs out every possible way to make Helen suffer, and the viewer is carried along with her right up to the cracking ending - another shocking moment that fittingly ends a film that is full of similar scenes. If only the legend had been left at this, but the inevitable sequals were trotted out, featuring far too much of Tony Todd as the title character, who was (rightly) kept in the backround in this film - probably helping to make his portrayal so effective.
Similar to Hellraiser (obviously, with the Clive Barker connection), it can be recommended to fans of that movie, but I would rate Candyman as better, as it does not dwell so much on supernatural outlandishness, and instead brings horror very much closer to everyday life. People who want more (more??) gore and topless bimbos should stick to the drive-ins - this is class, and outscares most of it's closest rivals.
Movie Review: Cerebral horror movie, but undercooked
Summary: 3 Stars
Bernard Rose's adaptation of Clive Barker's novel starts out wonderfully. University researcher Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) is investigating urban legends and finds that one of them might have a basis in reality. Numerous leads draw her to the Chicago's infamous Cabrini-Green housing complex where residents speak of a supernatural killer who appears when his victims say his name five times in front of a mirror, then disembowels them. Is it a myth? Is the Candyman some kind of serial killer associated with the drug trade? Or is he something supernatural after all? It's a great setup and the early scenes are handled masterfully, establishing the requisite tension and an engaging subtext about sexual double-standards, marital infidelity, and yuppie race anxiety - Helen discovers that her own apartment block was built as a housing project but then converted to condos when social planners realized it was too close to the white folk's suburbs. Unfortunately, the movie goes off the rails almost immediately after the Candyman himself appears. Helen is confronted in a parking station by a mysterious black man then wakes up in a blood-soaked apartment back at Cabrini-Green. She is accused of kidnapping a baby and things go from bad to worse for Helen - and for the audience - as the story lumbers from one violent confrontation to another. Is the Candyman really a supernatural force of evil empowered by those who believe in his legend, or is he a manifestation of the victim's own tortured conscience? "Candyman" admirably taps into a range of white, middle-class anxieties and delivers something certainly more cerebral than the average horror movie, but it isn't quite as successful as it should have been.