Candyman

Devil's Advocates #24

by Jon Towlson

When Candyman was released in 1992, Roger Ebert gave it his thumbs up, remarking that the film was "scaring him with ideas and gore, rather than just gore." Indeed, Candyman is almost unique in 1990s horror cinema in that it tackles its sociopolitical themes head on. As critic Kirsten Moana Thompson has remarked, Candyman is "the return of the repressed as national allegory" the film's hook-handed killer of urban legend embodies a history of racism, miscegenation, lynching, and slavery, "the taboo secrets of America's past and present."

In this book, Jon Towlson considers how Candyman might be read both as a "return of the repressed" during the George H. W. Bush era, and as an example of nineties neoconservative horror. He traces the project's development from its origins as a Clive Barker short story ("The Forbidden"); discusses the importance of its gritty real-life Cabrini-Green setting; and analyzes the film's appropriation (and interrogation) of urban myth. The two official sequels (Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh [1995] and Candyman: Day of the Dead [1999]) are also considered, plus a number of other urban myth-inspired horror movies such as Bloody Mary (2006) and films in the Urban Legend franchise. The book features an in-depth interview with Candyman' s writer-director Bernard Rose.

Genres: Horror

134 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2018

About the author

Jon Towlson is a film critic and the author of 40 CULT MOVIES: FROM ALICE, SWEET ALICE TO ZOMBIES OF MORA TAU (2023), MIDNIGHT COWBOY (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023), DAWN OF THE DEAD (DEVIL'S ADVOCATES) (Auteur/ Liverpool University Press, 2022), GLOBAL HORROR CINEMA TODAY (McFarland, 2021), CANDYMAN (DEVIL'S ADVOCATES) (Auteur/Columbia University Press, 2018), THE TURN TO GRUESOMENESS IN AMERICAN HORROR FILMS, 1931-1936 (McFarland, 2016), CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (CONSTELLATIONS) (Auteur/Columbia University Press, 2016) and SUBVERSIVE HORROR CINEMA: COUNTERCULTURAL MESSAGES OF FILMS FROM FRANKENSTEIN TO THE PRESENT (McFarland, 2014). He is a regular contributor to STARBURST MAGAZINE, and has also written for the BFI, Scream, The Dark Side, Diabolique, Paracinema, Exquisite Terror, Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, Shadowland Magazine, Bright Lights Film Journal, Offscreen, Cine Excess and Digital Film-Maker Magazine. Jon has contributed extras to Blu ray releases by Arrow, Second Sight, Eureka and 101 Films. Jon has been nominated several times for a Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award 'honoring the best in classic horror research'.

Jon hosts the official STARBURST horror podcast
FRIDAY NIGHT FRIGHTS.

Reviews

[Chasqui M.G.]

read for class, pretty interesting history.

[Horror DNA · Rating 4 out of 5]

2020 sees the release of the highly anticipated reboot of Candyman and with that in mind there is perhaps no better time to make a critical revisit to the original to remind ourselves of how, in what was a fairly stagnant period for the genre, the minds of Clive Barker and Bernard Rose merged to bring us a slasher that blends social commentary with horror.

You can read Rebecca's full review at Horror DNA by clicking here.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed this horror movie upon its release in the early 90s and it hasn't lost its fascination so far. Here you'll get a synopsis, Candyman and 90s horror, transgression and transcendence, reference to a snuff movie, Barker's story The Forbidden, urban legends/myths (intriguing topic), the return of the repressed, when the legend first appeared, how Helen becomes a myth, sequels, spin-offs, the legend of Bloody Mary. Great book for everyone who grew up with movies like that. Some cool movie stills are also inside. Really recommended!

[Joseph Maddrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant analysis of the many layers that make CANDYMAN a brilliant film.

[Michael Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Goes into detail about the brilliant 1992 candyman film based on Clive barker's short story. GOAT horror film