Grad student Helen Lyle’s (Virginia Madsen) investigations into urban legends for her final thesis leads her to the notorious Chicago housing project of Cabrini-Green and the urban folktale of The Candyman (Tony Todd), a hook-handed boogeyman said to stalk the run-down apartment buildings. Like any good sociologist, Helen is skeptical of the actual provenance of the mythical figure, but when she repeats his name five times while standing in front of a mirror, she finds that the legend is all too real — and she is now, irrevocably, a part of it.
We’re going to be getting a long-delayed same title sequel to Candyman next year, lord willing and the pandemic doesn’t rise, courtesy of freshly minted horror impresario Jordan Peele, Get Out (2017), and director Nia DaCosta, Little Woods (2018), and that is almost certainly going to be worth a look at, but for now let’s set our attention on British director Bernard Rose’s 1992 original, a chilly, bloody, romantic, and intelligent slice of horror that stands as a modern classic of the genre.
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