Too much of everything

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Probably the best Barker's movie and one of the best horror thrillers I've ever seen. Movie after which the mirror in the dark will be one of the most horrible things that you might encounter. Story is intelligent, which is rarity in this genre, psychologically and sociologically well-founded, and together with fantastic Virginia Madsen in the lead role and excellent direction and music, it builds an atmosphere where explicit scenes are not necessary to maintain horror and tension at a high level. Perhaps the film would be even better without gore. Within the genre, this film is perfection and it's one of the rare films that I remember in detail for decades after watching. I just saw it again after more than twenty years and it thrilled me like the first time.9/10

To start off, it was a relatively good movie. What i didn't like: 1) kinda slow 2) not very scary as a movie overall 3) Τhe villain was not very well designed and was not so scary for a villain 4) not that many jump-scareswhat i liked: 1) Clive Barker was involved 2) Very nice and dark, yet weird,atmosphere within the movie 3) It was a fairly good production, as amovie, meaning it was well made technically speaking. 4) It had it'sfair share of blood/gore.To sum up, i did not regret watching it, but i wouldn't watch it again for many years.

Candyman is pure poetry. It is an atmospheric art film, with hooks rending flesh and pools of blood. Everything is several steps above the normal level of a Slasher (except humor, which is completely lacking—this work takes itself very seriously), particularly the acting. Madsen creates a completely believable heroine, a bit naive and weak at the beginning, trapped but stronger at the end. Todd is a standout, with his deep, fluid voice and commanding, somewhat lost expressions. When he extols the virtues of painful death, it is almost believable. The complex screenplay, based on a Clive Barker story, left me with plenty to think about and more to feel, particularly about race relations in modern culture. If you're not interested in thinking, Candyman will still entertain with plenty of gore and scares. It did frighten me, but I'm not entirely comfortable reciting "Candyman," five times.

Candyman is still one of the few horror films that scares me in the primal, flight or flight way that puts a chill down my spine. Interesting, considering that on paper the idea is more in the vein of shocker and gory slasher stuff, which is the last thing that scares me, movie wise. Threason this one triumphs over so many: atmosphere. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the most important thing in a horror flick is atmosphere. This one jumps at you with an ambient, dilapidated, forgotten ghetto aura that stays with you. It takes place is Chicago's sketchy Cabrini Green, a run down project and breeding ground for filth, poverty and despair. An urban legend circulates about the Candyman, a tortured slave who returned from the dead with a hook hand to wreak havoc, brought about by saying his name 5 times while looking into a mirror. Virginia Madsen plays a determined woman who investigates this, much to her dismay. Tony Todd is a velvet voiced, imposing, terrifying gentleman as Daniel Robitaille, the ghost of the former slave, and the titular Candyman. He bites into his role with a malevolent grace and all knowing mirth that jumps out of the screen at you, creating a horror legend and archetype that would carry on for two vastly inferior but interesting sequels. Like I said, few horror films can really frighten me, but this one has that magical eerie spark that's so hard to capture, but does the trick, causing you to leave the lights on in bed after watching it.