Candyman **** (1992, Virginia Madsen, Kasi Lemmons, Xander Berkeley, DeJuan Guy, Tony Todd) – Classic Movie Review 6116

A Clive Barker story called The Forbidden is realised on screen with great vigour by screen-writer/ director Bernard Rose in this exciting, full-throttle 1992 horror movie.

Virginia Madsen stars as the spunky heroine Helen Lyle, a postgrad student studying the ancient myth of the Candyman (Tony Todd), a murderous soul with a hook for a hand, who appears when you say his name five times in front of a mirror and is blamed for the killing of a girl in the big city.

This material could hardly be better done, with bravura camerawork by cinematographer Anthony B Richmond, a dynamic, driving score by Philip Glass, and Madsen powering her way through the material, every inch the old-style movie star.

Also in the cast are Kasi Lemmons, Xander Berkeley, DeJuan Guy, Vanessa Williams, Ted Raimi and Michael Culkin.

It is produced by Steve Golin, Sigurjon Sighvatsson and Alan Poul, and designed by Allen Blaisdell, Joshua Culp and Jane Ann Stewart.

Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh followed in 1995 and Candyman: Day of the Dead in 1999.

© Derek Winnert 2017 Classic Movie Review 6116

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