A children's story
comes to terrifying life in this gut-wrenching thriller about a
graduate student whose research into modern folklore summons the
spirit of the dead. Helen Lyle laughs when she interviews college
freshmen about their superstitions. But when she hears about Candyman,
a slave spirit with a hook hand who is said to haunt Chicago's
notorious Cabrini-Green housing project, she thinks she has a new
twist for her thesis. Braving the gang-ridden territory to visit the
site of a brutal murder, Helen arrogantly assumes Candyman can't
really exist...until he appears, igniting a string of terrifying,
tragic slayings. But the police don't believe in monsters, and they
charge Helen with the grisly crimes. And only one person can set her
free: Candyman.
CRITIQUE
Candyman, Candyman,
Candyman, Candyman...Candyman! Where to start on the movie Candyman?
Well, first off, when I was a little kid there was this urban
legend, if you will, that if you say the words "Bloody Mary" three times
in front of the mirror, you die. When I was a preteen and was full
into Boy Scouts, I went to this one-week summer camp and during
that experience there was this urban legend that if you yell out
(forgot what exactly) someone's name in the woods you die that
night. And in recent years, emails and instant messages will come and
go saying something like, "If you don't do this in five seconds or less, you will
die."
The point is, as fictional as Candyman is,
the idea behind the film hits
real hard on the concepts of urban legends. Much like the "don't walk
under stairs" bad luck, people actually believe in these things. In Candyman,
however, the urban legends become true which makes the film even more
shocking.
One thing we've
learned from Hollywood in recent years is
blood and guts don't seem scary anymore. Because gore is used excessively
now it isn't scary anymore, although Hollywood believes the more
"guts" the more glory. Sometimes - very rarely but it does happen -
blood and guts can be scary (and creepy) if done right.
Clive
Barker has found a way to make blood and guts scary again, and not many writers can do it. With Candyman, it's everything a
cliché slasher has, plus more, such as intelligence. The movie is basically
what you get when you mix Silence of the Lambs and A
Nightmare on Elm Street together in a blender - you get something
like Candyman that provided some use of a brain, some
psychological touches, and gore added on for good measure. And what
would Candyman be without its main star, Tony Todd. Well, all
I'll say is he's a lot of fun in the movie.
Candyman is
written well and realized kind of beautifully - from the
cast to the dark setting of Chicago, and from the gore to the twist at
the end, and not to mention the tragic, flawed, political, and romantic
side of it all. I will say this, though, the first time I saw the
movie (eight years ago maybe) I got pretty freaked out. There are seldom
times when a movie freaks me out, usually it's the movies that make me think, "Is this actually possible?"
Looking back at Candyman, the movie delivers a lunch in a
disturbing way. With all the surprising gore
factor and twists, what makes the movie really freaky are the last
twenty minutes or so.
THE VIDEO
Columbia
presents Candyman in 1:85:1 anamorphic widescreen format. It was digitally
remastered the best possible way. Because this was a horror film
filmed little more then ten years ago, it doesn't have the best
quality but it is ten times better than the VHS copy or a TV
presentation of the film.
THE AUDIO
Columbia
presents Candyman in English and French Dolby Digital Surround. This is
the first time I've seen Candyman in surround sound, and the
experience was pretty good. Dialogue is clear and the score sounds
pitch perfect - actually it's best score to a horror
flick since Halloween and Psycho). The few sound effects
are also perfected nicely. The best audio quality is when Tony Todd
(Candyman) speaks in either through voice-overs or giving a nice
speech; the voice is as haunting as the voice of Darth Vader himself.
THE EXTRAS
*Filmmaker's
Commentary
*Clive Barker:
Raising Hell
*Sweerts to the
Sweet: The Candyman Mythos Featurette
*Bernard Rose
Storyboards
*Bonus Previews
I would say the
highlight (even though it's real short) is the Clive Barker featurette.
I've seen this name countless times - in books, movies, video games,
collectible toys - he is the British Stephen King, and I had no idea
who he really was. The featurette goes in some depth about the
guy's inspiration of telling a gory yet scary story - it's very interesting
to say the least. The Candyman "making of" is a nice
touch and a nice little more then 20 minutes worth of retrospective on the movie
(and or series). It's insightful but I would've expected something a little
longer.
The commentary is
pretty much pieced together from interviews, and I would much rather
have seen the
cast and crew gather around and record some kind of commentary rather
than what is presented here.
And what is really
pathetic are the bonus previews... without a Candyman trailer!!! Plus, to add insult to
injury, the bonus
previews are unrelated to horror flicks. I would've expected at least
the three-part Candyman series trailers, but nada! A grave
mistake.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This DVD does not
have enough material to sustain a "special edition" title but
nonetheless, the movie is worthy to own. Highly recommended to horror
fans. Newcomers to the film should check out the DVD - recommended.
