Candyman is definitely one of the most poetic, seductive, and tragic of horror slashers. His origins, the tone of his voice, how he speaks to Helen like a lover. Tony Todd is absolutely brilliant in this role, and there's no one else that could possibly wear that hook. As far as the live bees in his mouth, Tony was paid $1,000 for every time he was stung. He was stung 27 times. If you're interested in a deeper look at his lore, Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh is a pretty good follow-up, but definitely avoid the third.
Fun fact some of the extras in the building complex were actual gang members, some they paid off not to bother them, and some they asked to be in it to make it more authentic
Do you know the history of the building they used in Cabrini Green projects? If not look that up its fn scary as hell. Ppl would travel through the walls and murder tenents. Most were never caught.
This is where they got the idea of having him come through the mirror bc murderers and thieves would come through holes behind mirrors to get in ppls apts.
LOL, years ago when I was a police officer, we did training in an abandoned building on state mental hospital grounds. There was a mirror left behind and I looked into it and said "Candyman" three times and all the macho police officers got MAD at me!
I did Candyman in the bathroom at my mom's office after school in 7th grade. I ran back to the front of the building to tell the receptionist I did it (she dared me...). I didn't run into anything either way, straight shot to the front. When I got back, my leg was slashed from the back of my knee to the hem of my sock.
Don't matter how macho someone is, it's only smart to just not mess with something that you can't shoot, punch, kick or reason with in a normal everyday way if something did come of it. Do a little history and all the regimes that dabbled in black magic or whatever, it's crazy to assume there's nothing to it
I hope someone else has already mentioned this, but Virginia Madsen didn’t kill anyone. Candyman did the killing (and kidnapping) and framed her. He didn’t hypnotize or possess her, he just made her blackout and then left her in compromising positions.
Cutting off everyone around her so that it doesn't matter where she runs or how fast she runs, she'll have no one else to turn to but him, no where else to go but to his embrace.
I think it is one of the most underrated fantasy and slasher horror movies ever made. Tony Todd and Virginia Madson were great in their roles and the movie was mostly about myths and legends instead of the same old boring, predictable racism plot.
crazy fact about that scene with the bees in his mouth... THAT'S REAL! No CGI or special effects. Tony Todd literally let them put bees in his mouth under the condition he gets paid an extra $1000 for every time they sting him. I heard they gave him a mouthpiece to keep them from crawling too deep like down his throat, but a few did squeeze around anyway. He was stung somewhere between 23 - 30 TIMES (though thankfully "most" of the stings were on the chest)! 😣 If anybody deserves an Oscar, it's definitely him for his commitment to this role.
As someone who’s deathly afraid of bees and has a severe allergy towards them, I seriously can’t imagine myself in his position. Tony Todd is seriously one badass man, especially knowing that he too was afraid of bees due to his allergies, I have even greater respect to him and he’s been one of my favorite actors since I was a kid being traumatized by his performance as Daniel Robitaille/Candyman and seeing him being resourceful and brave as Ben in Night of the Living Dead (1990).
This movie scared the hell outta me when I was little but when I rewatched it as I got older, it had so many hidden messages about gentrification, systematic racism without being obvious. Also the scares seemed much more genuine and just so haunting. Also the movies back then just hit different. The acting was incredible!
The reason the social commentary works in the original movie is because there’s a key theme of Betrayal, so everybody who watches the film can relate. Helen is betrayed by her significant other, Anne-Marie opens up to Helen and then believes she kidnapped her baby, the people of Cabrini-Green feel abandoned by the rest of society, the little boy feels lied to about whether Candyman is real or not, etc. The new sequel solely focuses on race, and it victimizes its characters and makes villains out of others, and that’s not a strong way to use social commentary. The original doesn’t even glorify the projects as a misunderstood place - Bernadette is a black woman and even she says “I don’t want to be here and we should leave.” And yes, the acting is great!
PREACH! I feel your rant at the end 100%. I have the very same complaints about "black media" and "black entertainment ". Once watched a movie about a young black girl literally inventing time travel and what happens? No fun shenanigans, no ridiculous b movie fun. She tries over and over to save her brother from being unjustly shot by a cop. That's it. That's the story. And we have to witness that trauma over and over to an unsatisfying ending. I was SO FRICKEN PISSED! It has to stop
Oh yeah, the sequel barely captured ANY of the creepy, hypnotic, tense vibes from this first one! Glad you're finally checking it out - I feel like it's one of the most unique horror movies, because it deals with myths and belief as much as slashing.
agreed, I was excited. However the moment I heard Tony Todd wasn't really featured my opinion began to decline. You can't do Candyman without THE Candyman. That sequel was just bad...the other sequel Farewell to the Flesh was better.
@@GraveX1 Still gave me chills though. I liked seeing the different Candymen through the decades reflected in the windows, and then see Daniel Robataille emerge, brought back after everyone tried to get rid of him.
I felt you on the last thing you were saying. It’s crazy how you tell people you haven’t seen classic black movies and they say “I’m revoking your black card”….. like ok 😂😂
@@razycrandomgirl Suddenly I'm thinking of that scene in 'Freedom Writers' where a white teacher asks his one African American student to tell the class what she thought of the book 'the colour purple' because he thought it would be a good idea to start the conversation about the book with 'the black perspective'. Her mental response was 'one of us reads it and we all think the same thing'? That teacher was the same one who earlier in the movie had said "integration is a lie, and we can't say that or we'll get accused of being racist", no wonder he thinks it's a lie if that's his idea of integration. Speaking only as a white woman and book lover (though I've admittedly only seen the movie, I haven't gotten round to reading it yet), I just gotta say that teacher's question is one of the stupidest questions I've ever heard in my life.
I've been told that in the past and that "I'm not black enough" based on what my favorite movies are and what my favorite music is. I stopped letting that get to me, I'd rather be me and like what I'm going to like then be deemed "black enough" or have my so-called "black card"
So I actually met Tony Todd in 2000..in Pittsburgh where he is from I was visiting my boyfriend who was going to the art institute there..we were all about 20yrs old and of course we thought it would be a good idea to drop acid at like 2am.. we were walking across the Smithfield bridge and there he was! Even wearing a long black trench coat! Of course we all freaked the fuck out 😂.. but in 2006 my now ex husband and I went to a horror hound convention and I actually got to talk to Tony Todd even had him sign my VHS and DVD copy's of Candyman. 🎉 He actually remembered our interaction on the bridge and he was the coolest and sweetest man!!
Your little story at the end really hit me because all my life I’ve been told I’m a white girl disguising herself as black, that I’m against everything black, that my opinion doesn’t matter because I’m a lighter shade of black and because of my nature. No one believes me when I say I lived in the hood, I listen to rap, I watched all the black classic films. Honestly I was born in a project very similar to Cabrini Green but I was always different than everyone else, I still am. The most common thing I’m told is that I’m too polite which is very much a slap in all black peoples faces you’re basically saying I have to rude because I’m black. I get told this by old white women and young black people too, too proper, too polite, too quiet, too nice. I am a black betrayer because I dared to like Lord of the Rings, read thick novels, listen to pop and rock, have my own sense of style that wasn’t urban enough, and even where I shop and what I ate or didn’t like to eat was judged. There is no winning honestly, even if I was like they wanted me to be because I’m mixed, a fact I can’t help, I’m invalid. Because I’m light skinned I’ll never understand the plight of the black people. It’s not enough to literally be black, you have to breathe black and it has to be whatever they define as black too, which is funny because there are so many flavors of black but their ideas all come from anything Ice Cube has been in mixed with Tyler Perry. None of it is from Africa. If there is no winning then I’ll just be me and be happy with it, I’m not here to please them or anyone. This movie didn’t make me feel seen or anything, but I don’t think it should be viewed simply because it’s a black focused movie but because it is an incredible provocative movie which twists both horror and romance together and throws in not so subtle commentary. To date CandyMan is the only black character on the roster of famous cinema killers and it is a shame. In a way it also strange that he is one of the very few sympathetic and tragic villains in horror movies, you almost want him to win at times, you feel his pain. He isn’t charismatically wicked like Chucky or Tiffany, he isn’t frightening and silent like Jason or Micheal, he isn’t over the top like Freddy, but he is a new type all together, more in line with Hannibal. It is far more frightening for a villain to be in love with you than for them to want to kill you.
The irony is they see you as a white girl disguising themselves as a black person... But the black folks act racially white... Don't they? If God could tear your flesh off, tear everyone's flesh off, would it stop the cycle? Will it awaken the mind for once that flesh is only food for the decomposers.
I agree with you Mellow. And the movie she was talking about was losing Isaiah starting Halle Berry and the great Jessica Lange. It’s really good. In my opinion , showed Halles talent as an actress. It’s a good movie. Definitely recommend. If the acting was bad, I would not recommend it. But Halle and Jessica really bring it to life.
This film was my introduction to Tony Todd. Have loved his acting since. There is a reason why CandyMan stands among the other greats in the slasher horror genre, with Freddy, Michael, Jason, and Chucky.
I first saw Tony Todd in final destination and then i heard about this movie and i was so freaked the first few times i couldn’t even look in mirrors for awhile.
This was inspired by a true story too. An elderly woman lived alone, heard voices in her bathroom and one day was found dead in her apartment. Turns out thieves could go inside the walls and from there access any apartment in the entire building just by pushing on their bathroom mirror.
The big difference to me between this original (a classic) and the remake is that the original touches on some social and political topics while also being a scary and well-made horror. The remake just felt like it was made to be a message and they used the Candyman license in order to market it. This is one of the BEST of the 90's honestly. Tony Todd rocks.
@@razycrandomgirl I just find it interesting how a story's purpose can change over time. Int he original story it's social commentary, then it's a racial commentary but told from the perspective of a white woman, then in the new one they take what was hinted at in the original and flesh it out a bit more, telling it from another perspective. Either way they'll give me chills and made me nervous in the dark a few times.
Candyman is still one of my favorite horror movies, and Tony Todd is amazing in this. Even the sequels that muddied the lore, like Day of the Dead, Tony Todd does his best, with that amazing voice. I love how they actually got Virginia Maddsen hypnotised for that scene in the parking lot garage. While the new Candyman sequel is a bit divisive to some, I did like how they brought back elements from the first movie, like Anthony, Anne Marie, and the story of Helen, as well as there's more than one Candyman, part of an intricate hive of violent repeated history of bigotry and ignorance.
That’s 👏🏾 what 👏🏾 I’m 👏🏾 talking 👏🏾 about 👏🏾 I loved the original & greatly appreciated the new one for not remaking or rebooting the series. I liked the fact that they decided to pay tribute to the original & continue the story in a way that made everything connected without being too obvious. In the movie theater, at the end, people clapped their hands for it. I was shocked. It was a full house. I especially loved how they decided to tell the backstories with shadow puppets. That gave it a nice, creepy touch & also was a clever way to not go over budget.
Yes! The OG Candyman! Apparently for the scene with the bees in his mouth, Tony Todd negotiated an agreement where he would receive $1,000 for each bee sting, and he was stung 23x resulting in $23,000😬
FUN FACT! The gang members in Cabrini green were played by REAL gangsters. The film crew got permission from one of the gangs who runs that area to film, and the gang offered to be extras. They actually did have one or two instances of shootings on set too. It was a pretty dangerous area.
One thing to note with the Cabrini Green projects is that, after they were established, the residents (who were in there largely due to Section 8 housing) were largely left to fend for themselves - this is why Anne-Marie never moved, because she wouldn't be able to afford to. Cold Crash Pictures has a great video the delves into some of the real-world history behind the setting for the movie, and it's both enlightening and depressing as fuck. One parallel they drew directly was the fact that the building Helen was in and the ones in Cabrini Green were the exact same architectural design - the only difference was the affluence of those residing there, with the poorer people getting shunted into the less desirable property.
32:39 I fuckin swear man 😂😂😅 ESPECIALLY THIS PART 33:22 People ignore this fact. We can have our own scifi or fantasy movies. I get wanting to show black culture and some realistic black lives but at a certain point it went from Sharing our experience, to romanticizing and glamifying us. I wanna see some black directors create a new planet or sum shit. And I'm not saying they don't exist. I just want more
damn the mini "rant" you went on summed up a lot of my early life. I hate that i had to justify so much of who i was or risk being deemed "not black enough" like wth does that even mean? Had to explain to my peers that i "spoke properly" bc my mom was a writer and, after a while i got sick of it and decided if someone was going to judge me based on the fact that i prefer a compelling scifi film over a black comedy i couldnt get into then that person wasnt worthy of my time
Man this movie WAS REAL to me I saw it super young. I lived in this Apt complex that was really run down and I was terrified of it. Candyman was one of the real boogeymen to me especially because of his place of origin.
I actually liked the sequel. I thought the cinematography was beautiful. I also liked how they brought back original characters like Anne Marie, Anthony, and Tony Todd. But I'm glad you liked this one
Same. It could have been better though, preferably with more Tony Todd and more Clive Barker direction. It needed another 30 minutes, because the climax felt rushed. I really wanted more of Anthony losing it. But that's just me.
The Nia Dacosta/Jordan Peele was shit especially considering it went back to the original. On its own it's not a bad movie but in the context of it being a "Spiritual Sequel" it destroyed the lore and the way Anthony becomes Candyman is stupid. Being that the original is my All-Time fav film, I'm very protective of it. I was so excited to see it, there was so much they could've done but didn't, we got a heavy-handed piece of shit.
That scene where she wakes up in that young mother’s apartment scarred me as a kid. Her screams sound so real it’s crazy… the acting in this movie is incredible
I saw a lot of scary movies when I was little, but the one I legit had nightmares about and never forgot was Pumpkinhead. I was 6 or 7 I never forgave my friend for forcing me to watch it. She said I had to watch it to stay the night otherwise I was gonna have to walk home in the dark right then.
Me and my sister tricked my mom into renting this for us when I was 9. She thought Candyman was gonna be like Willy Wonka. 😂 We regretted it, we were scared to go to the bathroom for a long time after that.
The film is very loosely based on a true story about a woman who reported a man coming through her bathroom window at the same location as the film if I remember correctly. The story is both sad and very insane. It's worth looking into.
Ruthie May McCoy. She's mentioned in the scene with the school cleaners. The article from the Chicago Reader is still online about her story. Interesting read.
I watched this with my brother and cousin as a kid an damn tony Todd's performace is menacing, that voice too lol, the piano theme still gives me chills bro...
Fun fact the director had Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen take ballroom dancing lessons together so they would have a more romantic connection between their characters.
Key differences between this one and the remake? Subtlety and talent. That's what's so infuriating to me about most films and shows these days, yes we have been talking about these issues for a long long time in our entertainment media, yes social commentary and political messages in movies are not new. The key is to talk about and expose these things in a way that doesn't take you out of the movie. These days everything is so on the nose and writers/actors/directors keep talking down to their audience, and so many shows and movies end up just feeling condescending instead of making you want to engage in dialogue about whatever messages they where trying to convey.
Talking about and absurd propaganda are two entirely different things. Modern trash is trash because there's zero interest in quality and only interest in token diversity and false minority propaganda.
Absolutely! People don't talk about movies like they used to, its just onto the next project. But also you're right with movies not having as strong of connections with watchers. I think the last movie I watched in theaters to really make me talk about it was 'knives out' that movie made me excited. I want another unforgettable horror like the OG pet Semetary or silence of the lambs, even something bleak like requiem for a dream. There's too much telling and not enough showing.
@@agenttheater5 There isn't a single movie in the past 15 years that hasn't actively condescended, preached, and propagandized as it's primary agenda. If you don't see that, you're a blind fool.
@@unclebounce1495 And it's different from what movies have done since they were invented because.....? ie in scripts where they sprout sexist beliefs, racial stereotypes, classist views, or have mocked the mentally challenged?
This movie is so iconic. The first time a movie like this was set in this type of area. Candyman is the original inner city boogeyman. And dont sleep on the soundtrack. For a serious composer like Phillipe Glass to do a horror flick was highly onorthodox for that time. Wich also contributed to Candymans special vibe. Btw the Ruthie Jean story happened for real altho her real name was Ruthie May Mccoy.
That's actually Tony Todd's voice, it's so iconic, that these 2 brothers who actually saw the crow recognized it in reaction before he even appeared on screen and all he said was ''boom''
Not even just looking like his love but heavily implying Helen is the reincarnation!!!! And of course baby Anthony would be their son in their afterlife/legend.
I see you noticed references to various urban legends scattered throughout the film. That bit with the kid attacked in the public bathroom was based off of another urban legend. When Clive Barker was just a kid, his granny scared the hell out of him with that legend, probably to also keep him from wandering anywhere unattended. Unfortunately the story about the woman who was ignored by the cops and killed by someone breaking in through her mirror is very true. Even her neighbors doubted her claims because she was old and senile. Very sad.
there were no practical special effects for the bee scenes, including the scene where bees flew out of Tony Todd's mouth; which is to say, the bees are all real and he only had a barrier at the back of his throat to protect inside his mouth. And despite getting lathered in a queen bee pheromone designed to ward off stinging, he was still stung multiple times (but turned this to his advantage with a contract clause which stated he'd be paid $1,000 per sting). And to top it off, Virginia Madsen was extremely allergic to bees, so the production crew had to go out of their way to make certain ambulances were on standby at all times.
I think when you say "sequel" you mean the remake. The sequel is Candyman 2: Farewell To The Flesh, from 1995, and it's actually a very good sequel. I definitely recommend you react to it.
I saw this movie was I was 11. My sister rented it from Blockbuster back in the day. I remember liking it, but also feeling like it was too much for my young mind. Every now and then, a movie will come along and be so intense, realistic, and brutal that it will mess you up a bit. That’s when horror movies are done the right way, and that’s why this one has become a classic and favorite for so many people. I was so disappointed in the sequel. I had high hopes. It didn’t capture any of the greatness in the original. It’s quite forgettable. Over time, people might not even be aware there is a sequel, and they will probably just stick to the original.
I just remember that I used to have nightmare about bees due to this movie, then as an adult I have a fear of poverty, like I actually shivers when I imagine living in such conditions, and it might be due to this movie affecting my core XD
Candyman 1 will forever be a movie i can not rewatch. a can rewatch the sequel and the remake but not the OG.... Tony Todd is forever a person i dont want to encounter in real life even though he is said to be one of the most humble people walking the earth
I watched the first half of this movie when I was 7 or so. It scared me. These days, it’s my favorite horror movie, but the opening score still makes me feel uneasy every time I hear it. I know all the sequels aren’t that great, but I still enjoy watching them due to my love of this movie.
Surprisingly it seems razor blades have only been claimed to be in candy _apples_ in real life, not chocolate or wrapped candy like this and other things have shown. Poison, nails, and pieces of glass in candy, but not razors
CandyMan scared me to death as a kid. I was 6 years old when this movie came out. Plus, This Movie is actually Gothic Horror but in an urban setting. I recommend that u watch Sweets to The Sweet. Which breaks this movie down for you. Thanks For The Reaction Mell I have been waiting for U to do this one.
21:30 This scene shows it's age because in modern times, all mental health professionals are taught to *NEVER* let the patient get between you and the door. Much less the patient + a desk full of potential weapons between you and the door. If they have a mental breakdown they can literally tear themselves from their bindings, injury be damned and injure you or themselves and you can't run away because there's a raging lunatic between you and the door.
Candyman scared the crap out of me and my cousins growing up. I can totally relate to your rant. I have a cousin that listened to country music growing up and had lots of white friends, and I loved rock and alternative music and watched lots of black and white movies growing up. We still listened to hip hop and R&B, watched black movies, and hung out w/ other black people. But some ppl treated us like we were doing something we should be ashamed of. It’s crazy looking back on it, but I’m happy more black people are exploring other cultures and content outside of our own.
This film vs its sequel shows that just having messages in your movie doesn't make it good, its about how you weave it into a story. Lot of films and shows now just think just having a message as the story is enough and it becomes more like a twitter thread turned into a movie, where they talk down to you than an actual compelling story that treats its audience with respect. I agree the sequels should have been about him and Hellen as a supernatural couple.
I agree 100% with what you said and totally understand your point. I feel the exact same way. Need to get off this gangsta, mafia, racism, hood crap constantly in the movies. The Candyman requel totally sucked in my opinion too. Way to focused on racism and police brutality. Complete disservice to Tony Todd for that final 30 second cameo appearance as well. I went to see the Original Candyman with a group of friends in high school. We all figured out quickly that he was black, but t hat wasn't the focus of the movie and neither was the minimal racism. We went for the thrills and scares and we weren't disappointed. We all loved it and it is in my collection today. There are 2 sequels after the OG Candyman. Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh and Candyman 3: Day of the Dead. Neither sequel hits close to the OG Candyman in my opinion, but they run circles around that dumpster fire of a requel! Keep expressing yourself and don't let anyone sway or shame your opinion on the topic, man!
The focus of the original movie was racism though they just didn't spell it out for you. Saying Candyman isn't all about racism is like saying Talk To Me isn't all about drug use...
Great Review and Reaction! I agree with many of the ideas you said in your review. I dont think we can really grow our expand our minds if we limit what we read or watch. Many of the great films that exist would not exist had many of these directors seen films or read books they normally would not have read. Tony Todd is also an excellent actor. I loved him in this and in Final Destination. My favorite performance of his was in one episode of X-files. I definitely recommend checking that out if you havent its a great show and i believe his performance was top notch!!!!
I saw this movie when it came out on VHS. I was around 9 yrs old and this movie gave me nightmares for weeks and had such a hard time falling asleep for a long time. Tony Todd is terrifying in this movie and the score is super creepy. The piano score gave me nightmares also 😄😄
I do agree that this is better than the remake. I think that they are making these remakes is to see if they can do better than the old school generation
Virginia Madson was actually hypnotized for the scene when she meets Candyman, when Purcell is telling her the legend, and the scene when she goes to Candyman at the end
I remember seeing a clip of this movie when I was younger and it was enough to freak me out! Lol now I can watch it without getting scared. It's definitely an eerie (but great) movie 👍🏾 Your reactions are hilarious too 😂 Also, I felt you on the end rant. A lot of our people tend to have a limited perspective when it comes to other black people. Anything/anyone that's NOT hood, gang affiliated, dealing with struggle love or struggle in general, slavery, etc is deemed "trying to be white". Ask me how I know (a black woman that hasn't seen any (but a few) black classics, has a wide range of music taste, watches anime, and is artistic). I didn't really fit in with my peers growing up and have even been called "weird" behind my back as an adult. 🤷🏾♀️ Some of us can be very ignorant unfortunately. But it is what it is, man. I like what I like and whoever doesn't approve can kick rocks 🦶🏾🪨
🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Everything you said 100%. I'm glad my parents had us watching everything. Reading everything. More black authors are getting into Sci-Fi, horror, and fantasy now. My favorite genres. I love to see it. Love your channel. Keep doing you.
i loved this movie so much, all 3 of them and i had a big crush on him, he just recently passed away on november 6th (the death day of my dad who i lost in 1993) he was just 69 yrs old. my heart has been shattered, he was the perfect beautiful candyman.
One of the best Horror Movies ever to grace the earth. Tony Todd is a National Treasure because of this movie Fun facts: • The bees were bred specifically for this movie. They needed to make sure that the bees were only twelve hours old, so that they looked like mature bees, but their stinger wouldn't be powerful enough to do any real damage. • The Candyman's lair was designed to look like a gothic church constructed by the people who believed in him living in Cabrini Green • The Candyman in Clive Barker's original story had been described as an imposing possibly white man (he is described as having a rather unnatural shade of yellow that of course adds to his candy theme) with an unruly red beard. • Eddie Murphy was considered for the title role, but was deemed too short at 5'9". They chose Tony Todd for his height at 6'5". • The scene where Candyman's hook bursts through Helen's bathroom cabinet was set up without Virginia Madsen's knowledge, so her terror and shock are real. She ran screaming from the set. • When Helen is seen talking to Jake at Cabrini-Green you can see the shadow of the gates on her face resembling honeycombs therefore forshawdowing that her face will be covered in bees. • The rottweiler ending up gruesomely beheaded (off-screen) may been inspired by the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer once beheaded a dog and mounted its head on a stick when he was a teenager.
I first saw Child's Play Two at the age of five or six and had the unfortunate pleasure of walking in on the scene of him removing his hand and then reading it with a knife. That traumatized me for years. The second would be Pet Cemetary when doc gets his ankle cut that messed up up
Yo I just found your channel recently through other react channels watching Saw. Love the content. Your insights on movies and your vibe in general is great. Keep up the great work man!
Re the last scene: a) who puts neon lights in the kitchen? b) everyone knows that you don't cut meat when you're mad c) why the heck hasn't she closed the fridge door d) well what did you think moving in with a married man would be like? Especially if the wife just died e) you see what happens when you go cradle robbing?
Chucky was the scariest movie I saw as a kid but I was only 5 years old lol and it was an accident. And ever since I have been freaked out by dolls. Like I don't want anything to do with being left alone in a room of people shaped things. Stuffed animals I am okay with but not people shaped anything lol.
This movie scared me as a kid because of 2 reasons: 1. The similarity of saying Bloody Mary in the mirror 2. I grew up near the hoods of D.C. Abandoned buildings and gangs made me stay in school
The reason the social commentary works in the original movie is because there’s a key theme of Betrayal, so everybody who watches the film can relate. Helen is betrayed by her significant other, Anne-Marie opens up to Helen and then believes she kidnapped her baby, the people of Cabrini-Green feel abandoned by the rest of society, the little boy feels lied to about whether Candyman is real or not, etc. The new sequel solely focuses on race, and it victimizes its characters and makes villains out of others, and that’s not a strong way to use social commentary. Also, the race of the characters simply don’t matter in this movie. Bernadette hates being at Cabrini-Green, victims of Candyman are black and white, detectives are black and white, etc. No stereotypical “racist cops” getting revenge-killed, no “micro aggressions” by art collectors, and all the other simple-minded shit that the new one tried to do.
What I love about this film is that it’s a gothic romance in the truest sense of the term. Gothic romances are toxic, dark, and erotic in a way that few films are brave enough to portray, and Candyman is my go-to example for modern gothic romance. Shows like Hannibal and Interview With A Vampire follow similar beats, but this will always be a favorite of mine.
Chicago, particularly Cabrini Greene. The only part left is the houses. The apartments are all gone. It's in the near North side. If you are in downtown and go two blocks the wrong way you are there!
Candyman is definitely one of the most poetic, seductive, and tragic of horror slashers. His origins, the tone of his voice, how he speaks to Helen like a lover. Tony Todd is absolutely brilliant in this role, and there's no one else that could possibly wear that hook.
As far as the live bees in his mouth, Tony was paid $1,000 for every time he was stung. He was stung 27 times.
If you're interested in a deeper look at his lore, Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh is a pretty good follow-up, but definitely avoid the third.
Yasss agree 😎 his voice is like butter 🧈 ❤
FACT: Not a slasher! Psychological Horror.
Fun fact some of the extras in the building complex were actual gang members, some they paid off not to bother them, and some they asked to be in it to make it more authentic
Never knew that, that's interesting.
Do you know the history of the building they used in Cabrini Green projects? If not look that up its fn scary as hell. Ppl would travel through the walls and murder tenents. Most were never caught.
This is where they got the idea of having him come through the mirror bc murderers and thieves would come through holes behind mirrors to get in ppls apts.
@btnhstillfire It truly was a crazy place to be. They tore it down to gentrify the neighborhood, right? Or am I incorrect with that information
@@The-Rguy yeah i went to an amc in cabrini green not too long ago and there was nothing but white ppl everywhere
LOL, years ago when I was a police officer, we did training in an abandoned building on state mental hospital grounds. There was a mirror left behind and I looked into it and said "Candyman" three times and all the macho police officers got MAD at me!
I did Candyman in the bathroom at my mom's office after school in 7th grade. I ran back to the front of the building to tell the receptionist I did it (she dared me...). I didn't run into anything either way, straight shot to the front. When I got back, my leg was slashed from the back of my knee to the hem of my sock.
Probably because Beetlejuice is 3, Candyman is 5.
Don't matter how macho someone is, it's only smart to just not mess with something that you can't shoot, punch, kick or reason with in a normal everyday way if something did come of it. Do a little history and all the regimes that dabbled in black magic or whatever, it's crazy to assume there's nothing to it
Lol 😂 I love this movie so much but you should of said it 5 times lol
@@Mimi89_7 I thought the magic number was 3! I must have remembered it wrong, lol.
Mel doesn't even wanna call him by his name 😂😂😂 "Candy dude" 😂😂😂
The Respect 😂🎉❤
I'm nervous to talk about any of the movies when I'm near a mirror
I just said Candy man 20 times and said in the mirror "my name is Mel 😂
I hope someone else has already mentioned this, but Virginia Madsen didn’t kill anyone. Candyman did the killing (and kidnapping) and framed her. He didn’t hypnotize or possess her, he just made her blackout and then left her in compromising positions.
Fun fact, Virginia Madsen was actually hypnotized and given a trigger phrase while on set for her scenes with Candyman.
Cutting off everyone around her so that it doesn't matter where she runs or how fast she runs, she'll have no one else to turn to but him, no where else to go but to his embrace.
I was hoping he’d take out Stacey’s dumb a$$
The original Candyman is just so well made, and the original Candyman himself is awesome, his voice is just WOW.
I think it is one of the most underrated fantasy and slasher horror movies ever made. Tony Todd and Virginia Madson were great in their roles and the movie was mostly about myths and legends instead of the same old boring, predictable racism plot.
crazy fact about that scene with the bees in his mouth... THAT'S REAL! No CGI or special effects. Tony Todd literally let them put bees in his mouth under the condition he gets paid an extra $1000 for every time they sting him. I heard they gave him a mouthpiece to keep them from crawling too deep like down his throat, but a few did squeeze around anyway. He was stung somewhere between 23 - 30 TIMES (though thankfully "most" of the stings were on the chest)! 😣 If anybody deserves an Oscar, it's definitely him for his commitment to this role.
As someone who’s deathly afraid of bees and has a severe allergy towards them, I seriously can’t imagine myself in his position.
Tony Todd is seriously one badass man, especially knowing that he too was afraid of bees due to his allergies, I have even greater respect to him and he’s been one of my favorite actors since I was a kid being traumatized by his performance as Daniel Robitaille/Candyman and seeing him being resourceful and brave as Ben in Night of the Living Dead (1990).
This movie scared the hell outta me when I was little but when I rewatched it as I got older, it had so many hidden messages about gentrification, systematic racism without being obvious. Also the scares seemed much more genuine and just so haunting. Also the movies back then just hit different. The acting was incredible!
The reason the social commentary works in the original movie is because there’s a key theme of Betrayal, so everybody who watches the film can relate. Helen is betrayed by her significant other, Anne-Marie opens up to Helen and then believes she kidnapped her baby, the people of Cabrini-Green feel abandoned by the rest of society, the little boy feels lied to about whether Candyman is real or not, etc.
The new sequel solely focuses on race, and it victimizes its characters and makes villains out of others, and that’s not a strong way to use social commentary.
The original doesn’t even glorify the projects as a misunderstood place - Bernadette is a black woman and even she says “I don’t want to be here and we should leave.”
And yes, the acting is great!
PREACH! I feel your rant at the end 100%. I have the very same complaints about "black media" and "black entertainment ". Once watched a movie about a young black girl literally inventing time travel and what happens? No fun shenanigans, no ridiculous b movie fun. She tries over and over to save her brother from being unjustly shot by a cop. That's it. That's the story. And we have to witness that trauma over and over to an unsatisfying ending. I was SO FRICKEN PISSED! It has to stop
Oh yeah, the sequel barely captured ANY of the creepy, hypnotic, tense vibes from this first one! Glad you're finally checking it out - I feel like it's one of the most unique horror movies, because it deals with myths and belief as much as slashing.
agreed, I was excited. However the moment I heard Tony Todd wasn't really featured my opinion began to decline. You can't do Candyman without THE Candyman. That sequel was just bad...the other sequel Farewell to the Flesh was better.
@@GraveX1 But we did meet THE Candyman - he just had to be brought back.
@@agenttheater5 it was Tony Todd for 30 seconds. I was highly disappointed.
@@GraveX1 Still gave me chills though. I liked seeing the different Candymen through the decades reflected in the windows, and then see Daniel Robataille emerge, brought back after everyone tried to get rid of him.
@@agenttheater5 I felt the candyman through the decades was a weak point
I felt you on the last thing you were saying. It’s crazy how you tell people you haven’t seen classic black movies and they say “I’m revoking your black card”….. like ok 😂😂
I do look at Black Women funny when they say they haven't seen The Color Purple lol
@@razycrandomgirl Suddenly I'm thinking of that scene in 'Freedom Writers' where a white teacher asks his one African American student to tell the class what she thought of the book 'the colour purple' because he thought it would be a good idea to start the conversation about the book with 'the black perspective'. Her mental response was 'one of us reads it and we all think the same thing'?
That teacher was the same one who earlier in the movie had said "integration is a lie, and we can't say that or we'll get accused of being racist", no wonder he thinks it's a lie if that's his idea of integration.
Speaking only as a white woman and book lover (though I've admittedly only seen the movie, I haven't gotten round to reading it yet), I just gotta say that teacher's question is one of the stupidest questions I've ever heard in my life.
I've been told that in the past and that "I'm not black enough" based on what my favorite movies are and what my favorite music is. I stopped letting that get to me, I'd rather be me and like what I'm going to like then be deemed "black enough" or have my so-called "black card"
So I actually met Tony Todd in 2000..in Pittsburgh where he is from I was visiting my boyfriend who was going to the art institute there..we were all about 20yrs old and of course we thought it would be a good idea to drop acid at like 2am.. we were walking across the Smithfield bridge and there he was! Even wearing a long black trench coat! Of course we all freaked the fuck out 😂.. but in 2006 my now ex husband and I went to a horror hound convention and I actually got to talk to Tony Todd even had him sign my VHS and DVD copy's of Candyman. 🎉 He actually remembered our interaction on the bridge and he was the coolest and sweetest man!!
Your little story at the end really hit me because all my life I’ve been told I’m a white girl disguising herself as black, that I’m against everything black, that my opinion doesn’t matter because I’m a lighter shade of black and because of my nature. No one believes me when I say I lived in the hood, I listen to rap, I watched all the black classic films. Honestly I was born in a project very similar to Cabrini Green but I was always different than everyone else, I still am. The most common thing I’m told is that I’m too polite which is very much a slap in all black peoples faces you’re basically saying I have to rude because I’m black. I get told this by old white women and young black people too, too proper, too polite, too quiet, too nice. I am a black betrayer because I dared to like Lord of the Rings, read thick novels, listen to pop and rock, have my own sense of style that wasn’t urban enough, and even where I shop and what I ate or didn’t like to eat was judged. There is no winning honestly, even if I was like they wanted me to be because I’m mixed, a fact I can’t help, I’m invalid. Because I’m light skinned I’ll never understand the plight of the black people. It’s not enough to literally be black, you have to breathe black and it has to be whatever they define as black too, which is funny because there are so many flavors of black but their ideas all come from anything Ice Cube has been in mixed with Tyler Perry. None of it is from Africa. If there is no winning then I’ll just be me and be happy with it, I’m not here to please them or anyone. This movie didn’t make me feel seen or anything, but I don’t think it should be viewed simply because it’s a black focused movie but because it is an incredible provocative movie which twists both horror and romance together and throws in not so subtle commentary. To date CandyMan is the only black character on the roster of famous cinema killers and it is a shame. In a way it also strange that he is one of the very few sympathetic and tragic villains in horror movies, you almost want him to win at times, you feel his pain. He isn’t charismatically wicked like Chucky or Tiffany, he isn’t frightening and silent like Jason or Micheal, he isn’t over the top like Freddy, but he is a new type all together, more in line with Hannibal. It is far more frightening for a villain to be in love with you than for them to want to kill you.
The irony is they see you as a white girl disguising themselves as a black person...
But the black folks act racially white... Don't they?
If God could tear your flesh off, tear everyone's flesh off, would it stop the cycle? Will it awaken the mind for once that flesh is only food for the decomposers.
I agree with you Mellow. And the movie she was talking about was losing Isaiah starting Halle Berry and the great Jessica Lange. It’s really good. In my opinion , showed Halles talent as an actress. It’s a good movie. Definitely recommend. If the acting was bad, I would not recommend it. But Halle and Jessica really bring it to life.
This film was my introduction to Tony Todd. Have loved his acting since. There is a reason why CandyMan stands among the other greats in the slasher horror genre, with Freddy, Michael, Jason, and Chucky.
I first saw Tony Todd in final destination and then i heard about this movie and i was so freaked the first few times i couldn’t even look in mirrors for awhile.
and definitely got the best backstory out of all of them.
This was inspired by a true story too. An elderly woman lived alone, heard voices in her bathroom and one day was found dead in her apartment. Turns out thieves could go inside the walls and from there access any apartment in the entire building just by pushing on their bathroom mirror.
The big difference to me between this original (a classic) and the remake is that the original touches on some social and political topics while also being a scary and well-made horror. The remake just felt like it was made to be a message and they used the Candyman license in order to market it. This is one of the BEST of the 90's honestly. Tony Todd rocks.
plus this coming from a clive barker story probably helped. Also in the book, supposedly he's white.
@@razycrandomgirl I just find it interesting how a story's purpose can change over time. Int he original story it's social commentary, then it's a racial commentary but told from the perspective of a white woman, then in the new one they take what was hinted at in the original and flesh it out a bit more, telling it from another perspective. Either way they'll give me chills and made me nervous in the dark a few times.
Candyman is still one of my favorite horror movies, and Tony Todd is amazing in this. Even the sequels that muddied the lore, like Day of the Dead, Tony Todd does his best, with that amazing voice. I love how they actually got Virginia Maddsen hypnotised for that scene in the parking lot garage. While the new Candyman sequel is a bit divisive to some, I did like how they brought back elements from the first movie, like Anthony, Anne Marie, and the story of Helen, as well as there's more than one Candyman, part of an intricate hive of violent repeated history of bigotry and ignorance.
That’s 👏🏾 what 👏🏾 I’m 👏🏾 talking 👏🏾 about 👏🏾
I loved the original & greatly appreciated the new one for not remaking or rebooting the series. I liked the fact that they decided to pay tribute to the original & continue the story in a way that made everything connected without being too obvious.
In the movie theater, at the end, people clapped their hands for it. I was shocked. It was a full house. I especially loved how they decided to tell the backstories with shadow puppets. That gave it a nice, creepy touch & also was a clever way to not go over budget.
The I heard you’re looking for Candyman bitch will forever be the funniest part🤣😭😭😭
That’s mine too 😂😂😂😂
Yes! The OG Candyman! Apparently for the scene with the bees in his mouth, Tony Todd negotiated an agreement where he would receive $1,000 for each bee sting, and he was stung 23x resulting in $23,000😬
Tony Todd ended up being paid 23,000 additional dollars because he got paid 1,000$ for every bee sting during filming
Damn
That’s insanity
Philip Glass’ score for this is the perfect mix of haunting and beautiful! And Tony Todd is a Legend!!!!!!!!!
👏🏼
FUN FACT! The gang members in Cabrini green were played by REAL gangsters. The film crew got permission from one of the gangs who runs that area to film, and the gang offered to be extras. They actually did have one or two instances of shootings on set too. It was a pretty dangerous area.
One thing to note with the Cabrini Green projects is that, after they were established, the residents (who were in there largely due to Section 8 housing) were largely left to fend for themselves - this is why Anne-Marie never moved, because she wouldn't be able to afford to.
Cold Crash Pictures has a great video the delves into some of the real-world history behind the setting for the movie, and it's both enlightening and depressing as fuck. One parallel they drew directly was the fact that the building Helen was in and the ones in Cabrini Green were the exact same architectural design - the only difference was the affluence of those residing there, with the poorer people getting shunted into the less desirable property.
32:39 I fuckin swear man 😂😂😅
ESPECIALLY THIS PART 33:22 People ignore this fact. We can have our own scifi or fantasy movies. I get wanting to show black culture and some realistic black lives but at a certain point it went from Sharing our experience, to romanticizing and glamifying us. I wanna see some black directors create a new planet or sum shit. And I'm not saying they don't exist. I just want more
👏🏼
damn the mini "rant" you went on summed up a lot of my early life. I hate that i had to justify so much of who i was or risk being deemed "not black enough" like wth does that even mean? Had to explain to my peers that i "spoke properly" bc my mom was a writer and, after a while i got sick of it and decided if someone was going to judge me based on the fact that i prefer a compelling scifi film over a black comedy i couldnt get into then that person wasnt worthy of my time
Man this movie WAS REAL to me I saw it super young. I lived in this Apt complex that was really run down and I was terrified of it. Candyman was one of the real boogeymen to me especially because of his place of origin.
and he was out here killing Black people. Like daddy chill lol
I actually liked the sequel. I thought the cinematography was beautiful. I also liked how they brought back original characters like Anne Marie, Anthony, and Tony Todd. But I'm glad you liked this one
I love both of them. Their connected yet they're their own movies.
@@fynnthefox9078 You do need to see the first movie for the 2021 movie to be more impactful though. I think hat was the problem.
Same. It could have been better though, preferably with more Tony Todd and more Clive Barker direction. It needed another 30 minutes, because the climax felt rushed. I really wanted more of Anthony losing it. But that's just me.
I loved Candyman 2. Not so much 3.
The Nia Dacosta/Jordan Peele was shit especially considering it went back to the original. On its own it's not a bad movie but in the context of it being a "Spiritual Sequel" it destroyed the lore and the way Anthony becomes Candyman is stupid. Being that the original is my All-Time fav film, I'm very protective of it. I was so excited to see it, there was so much they could've done but didn't, we got a heavy-handed piece of shit.
That scene where she wakes up in that young mother’s apartment scarred me as a kid. Her screams sound so real it’s crazy… the acting in this movie is incredible
👏🏼 I know 😳
That’s pretty much just what Tony Todd’s voice actually sounds like, it sounds the same in the Final Destination movies that he’s in.
Thanks! Keep up the GREAT WORK. 🎥🎭✏️
Imo the atmosphere they set for this movie was top notch and unmatched. The atmosphere alone is scarier than most horror movies. 👍
I saw a lot of scary movies when I was little, but the one I legit had nightmares about and never forgot was Pumpkinhead. I was 6 or 7 I never forgave my friend for forcing me to watch it. She said I had to watch it to stay the night otherwise I was gonna have to walk home in the dark right then.
wow ... some friend lol
Me and my sister tricked my mom into renting this for us when I was 9. She thought Candyman was gonna be like Willy Wonka. 😂 We regretted it, we were scared to go to the bathroom for a long time after that.
we ought to get willy Wonka on this channel - we need more Roald Dahl on this channel.
The film is very loosely based on a true story about a woman who reported a man coming through her bathroom window at the same location as the film if I remember correctly. The story is both sad and very insane. It's worth looking into.
Mr. Ballen covers that story on his channel. It's a fascinating and tragic story.
It's the story they mentioned in the movie, it's a true and very messed up
Candyman was also a serial killer in Texas. Trippy how many young boys he killed.
Ruthie May McCoy. She's mentioned in the scene with the school cleaners. The article from the Chicago Reader is still online about her story. Interesting read.
I watched this with my brother and cousin as a kid an damn tony Todd's performace is menacing, that voice too lol, the piano theme still gives me chills bro...
Fun fact the director had Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen take ballroom dancing lessons together so they would have a more romantic connection between their characters.
That hook jumpscare was done with out Virginia Madsen knowing that it was going to be done, so her reaction is 100% real
Tony TODD is a legend in horror 🎃
Key differences between this one and the remake? Subtlety and talent. That's what's so infuriating to me about most films and shows these days, yes we have been talking about these issues for a long long time in our entertainment media, yes social commentary and political messages in movies are not new.
The key is to talk about and expose these things in a way that doesn't take you out of the movie.
These days everything is so on the nose and writers/actors/directors keep talking down to their audience, and so many shows and movies end up just feeling condescending instead of making you want to engage in dialogue about whatever messages they where trying to convey.
Talking about and absurd propaganda are two entirely different things. Modern trash is trash because there's zero interest in quality and only interest in token diversity and false minority propaganda.
Absolutely! People don't talk about movies like they used to, its just onto the next project. But also you're right with movies not having as strong of connections with watchers. I think the last movie I watched in theaters to really make me talk about it was 'knives out' that movie made me excited.
I want another unforgettable horror like the OG pet Semetary or silence of the lambs, even something bleak like requiem for a dream.
There's too much telling and not enough showing.
I didn't feel talked down to by the 2021 Candyman. The way I saw it was that it took issues from the original movie and expanded on them
@@agenttheater5 There isn't a single movie in the past 15 years that hasn't actively condescended, preached, and propagandized as it's primary agenda. If you don't see that, you're a blind fool.
@@unclebounce1495 And it's different from what movies have done since they were invented because.....?
ie in scripts where they sprout sexist beliefs, racial stereotypes, classist views, or have mocked the mentally challenged?
This movie is so iconic. The first time a movie like this was set in this type of area. Candyman is the original inner city boogeyman. And dont sleep on the soundtrack. For a serious composer like Phillipe Glass to do a horror flick was highly onorthodox for that time. Wich also contributed to Candymans special vibe. Btw the Ruthie Jean story happened for real altho her real name was Ruthie May Mccoy.
That's actually Tony Todd's voice, it's so iconic, that these 2 brothers who actually saw the crow recognized it in reaction before he even appeared on screen and all he said was ''boom''
Not even just looking like his love but heavily implying Helen is the reincarnation!!!! And of course baby Anthony would be their son in their afterlife/legend.
I see you noticed references to various urban legends scattered throughout the film. That bit with the kid attacked in the public bathroom was based off of another urban legend. When Clive Barker was just a kid, his granny scared the hell out of him with that legend, probably to also keep him from wandering anywhere unattended. Unfortunately the story about the woman who was ignored by the cops and killed by someone breaking in through her mirror is very true. Even her neighbors doubted her claims because she was old and senile. Very sad.
"Be my victim."
-Daniel Robitaille
Thanks for your reactions, homie. Gritos from Tejas. Keep on keeping on.
there were no practical special effects for the bee scenes, including the scene where bees flew out of Tony Todd's mouth; which is to say, the bees are all real and he only had a barrier at the back of his throat to protect inside his mouth. And despite getting lathered in a queen bee pheromone designed to ward off stinging, he was still stung multiple times (but turned this to his advantage with a contract clause which stated he'd be paid $1,000 per sting). And to top it off, Virginia Madsen was extremely allergic to bees, so the production crew had to go out of their way to make certain ambulances were on standby at all times.
I think when you say "sequel" you mean the remake. The sequel is Candyman 2: Farewell To The Flesh, from 1995, and it's actually a very good sequel. I definitely recommend you react to it.
I saw this movie was I was 11. My sister rented it from Blockbuster back in the day. I remember liking it, but also feeling like it was too much for my young mind. Every now and then, a movie will come along and be so intense, realistic, and brutal that it will mess you up a bit. That’s when horror movies are done the right way, and that’s why this one has become a classic and favorite for so many people. I was so disappointed in the sequel. I had high hopes. It didn’t capture any of the greatness in the original. It’s quite forgettable. Over time, people might not even be aware there is a sequel, and they will probably just stick to the original.
I just remember that I used to have nightmare about bees due to this movie, then as an adult I have a fear of poverty, like I actually shivers when I imagine living in such conditions, and it might be due to this movie affecting my core XD
Some people call it Hood Horror, but in this case, I like to label this film as Urban Gothic!!!
Urban Gothic is the perfect description.
Candyman 1 will forever be a movie i can not rewatch. a can rewatch the sequel and the remake but not the OG.... Tony Todd is forever a person i dont want to encounter in real life even though he is said to be one of the most humble people walking the earth
I watched the first half of this movie when I was 7 or so. It scared me. These days, it’s my favorite horror movie, but the opening score still makes me feel uneasy every time I hear it. I know all the sequels aren’t that great, but I still enjoy watching them due to my love of this movie.
Candyman (Tony Todd) voices Venom in the new Spiderman 2
You keep spitting your stuff Mell! 🙌 Love you exactly the way you are and think!
Fun fact: that was an actual gang in the '92 film the ones that yelled "head's up people 5o comin up da back door"
The bees had their stingers removed but gave him $1000 for every bee sting that gets through. He ended up with an extra $27,000
Tony Todd is in top 5 all time greatest actors
Surprisingly it seems razor blades have only been claimed to be in candy _apples_ in real life, not chocolate or wrapped candy like this and other things have shown. Poison, nails, and pieces of glass in candy, but not razors
CandyMan scared me to death as a kid. I was 6 years old when this movie came out. Plus, This Movie is actually Gothic Horror but in an urban setting. I recommend that u watch Sweets to The Sweet. Which breaks this movie down for you. Thanks For The Reaction Mell I have been waiting for U to do this one.
Great review and reaction. I really liked what you had to say. Thank you for all you do Mello💜
21:30 This scene shows it's age because in modern times, all mental health professionals are taught to *NEVER* let the patient get between you and the door. Much less the patient + a desk full of potential weapons between you and the door.
If they have a mental breakdown they can literally tear themselves from their bindings, injury be damned and injure you or themselves and you can't run away because there's a raging lunatic between you and the door.
Candyman scared the crap out of me and my cousins growing up. I can totally relate to your rant. I have a cousin that listened to country music growing up and had lots of white friends, and I loved rock and alternative music and watched lots of black and white movies growing up. We still listened to hip hop and R&B, watched black movies, and hung out w/ other black people. But some ppl treated us like we were doing something we should be ashamed of. It’s crazy looking back on it, but I’m happy more black people are exploring other cultures and content outside of our own.
This film vs its sequel shows that just having messages in your movie doesn't make it good, its about how you weave it into a story. Lot of films and shows now just think just having a message as the story is enough and it becomes more like a twitter thread turned into a movie, where they talk down to you than an actual compelling story that treats its audience with respect. I agree the sequels should have been about him and Hellen as a supernatural couple.
I agree 100% with what you said and totally understand your point. I feel the exact same way. Need to get off this gangsta, mafia, racism, hood crap constantly in the movies. The Candyman requel totally sucked in my opinion too. Way to focused on racism and police brutality. Complete disservice to Tony Todd for that final 30 second cameo appearance as well. I went to see the Original Candyman with a group of friends in high school. We all figured out quickly that he was black, but t hat wasn't the focus of the movie and neither was the minimal racism. We went for the thrills and scares and we weren't disappointed. We all loved it and it is in my collection today. There are 2 sequels after the OG Candyman. Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh and Candyman 3: Day of the Dead. Neither sequel hits close to the OG Candyman in my opinion, but they run circles around that dumpster fire of a requel! Keep expressing yourself and don't let anyone sway or shame your opinion on the topic, man!
The focus of the original movie was racism though they just didn't spell it out for you. Saying Candyman isn't all about racism is like saying Talk To Me isn't all about drug use...
Tony Todd worked with real bees and was payed extra for every time he got stung
Great Review and Reaction! I agree with many of the ideas you said in your review. I dont think we can really grow our expand our minds if we limit what we read or watch. Many of the great films that exist would not exist had many of these directors seen films or read books they normally would not have read.
Tony Todd is also an excellent actor. I loved him in this and in Final Destination. My favorite performance of his was in one episode of X-files. I definitely recommend checking that out if you havent its a great show and i believe his performance was top notch!!!!
movie that scared me as a child was The Bone Collector. a truly terrifying movie
I saw this movie when it came out on VHS. I was around 9 yrs old and this movie gave me nightmares for weeks and had such a hard time falling asleep for a long time. Tony Todd is terrifying in this movie and the score is super creepy. The piano score gave me nightmares also 😄😄
I do agree that this is better than the remake. I think that they are making these remakes is to see if they can do better than the old school generation
Virginia Madson was actually hypnotized for the scene when she meets Candyman, when Purcell is telling her the legend, and the scene when she goes to Candyman at the end
This is way better and scarier than 2021 Candyman.
A Chicago Classic 💯
This version is so much better than the remake. It's more seductive, his origin story, all of it still kind of scares me to this day.
Saw this on Showtime with my older sister and scared the hell out of me! I was 4-5 years old and it freaked me out!
I remember seeing a clip of this movie when I was younger and it was enough to freak me out! Lol now I can watch it without getting scared. It's definitely an eerie (but great) movie 👍🏾
Your reactions are hilarious too 😂
Also, I felt you on the end rant. A lot of our people tend to have a limited perspective when it comes to other black people. Anything/anyone that's NOT hood, gang affiliated, dealing with struggle love or struggle in general, slavery, etc is deemed "trying to be white". Ask me how I know (a black woman that hasn't seen any (but a few) black classics, has a wide range of music taste, watches anime, and is artistic). I didn't really fit in with my peers growing up and have even been called "weird" behind my back as an adult. 🤷🏾♀️ Some of us can be very ignorant unfortunately. But it is what it is, man. I like what I like and whoever doesn't approve can kick rocks 🦶🏾🪨
🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Everything you said 100%. I'm glad my parents had us watching everything. Reading everything. More black authors are getting into Sci-Fi, horror, and fantasy now. My favorite genres. I love to see it. Love your channel. Keep doing you.
I was thinking about watching candy man for the past couple days and omg you posted this, such a coincidence lol
i loved this movie so much, all 3 of them and i had a big crush on him, he just recently passed away on november 6th (the death day of my dad who i lost in 1993) he was just 69 yrs old. my heart has been shattered, he was the perfect beautiful candyman.
The scariest movie I saw when I was a little kid was The Sentinel. Prob not really that scary, but I was little.
Candyman came out of the Drs. Azz 😂🎉
One of the best Horror Movies ever to grace the earth. Tony Todd is a National Treasure because of this movie
Fun facts:
• The bees were bred specifically for this movie. They needed to make sure that the bees were only twelve hours old, so that they looked like mature bees, but their stinger wouldn't be powerful enough to do any real damage.
• The Candyman's lair was designed to look like a gothic church constructed by the people who believed in him living in Cabrini Green
• The Candyman in Clive Barker's original story had been described as an imposing possibly white man (he is described as having a rather unnatural shade of yellow that of course adds to his candy theme) with an unruly red beard.
• Eddie Murphy was considered for the title role, but was deemed too short at 5'9". They chose Tony Todd for his height at 6'5".
• The scene where Candyman's hook bursts through Helen's bathroom cabinet was set up without Virginia Madsen's knowledge, so her terror and shock are real. She ran screaming from the set.
• When Helen is seen talking to Jake at Cabrini-Green you can see the shadow of the gates on her face resembling honeycombs therefore forshawdowing that her face will be covered in bees.
• The rottweiler ending up gruesomely beheaded (off-screen) may been inspired by the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer once beheaded a dog and mounted its head on a stick when he was a teenager.
I first saw Child's Play Two at the age of five or six and had the unfortunate pleasure of walking in on the scene of him removing his hand and then reading it with a knife. That traumatized me for years. The second would be Pet Cemetary when doc gets his ankle cut that messed up up
Yo I just found your channel recently through other react channels watching Saw. Love the content. Your insights on movies and your vibe in general is great. Keep up the great work man!
Saw this in the theater back in the day. It's SO good. The remake does not exist in my world.
Mel is gonna ❤️❤️ Helen! Virginia Madsen is such a classic beauty! What a great movie, and the soundtrack?!
The fact that they were going to include Helen's character in the sequel but decided to not to was a mistake.
R.I.P. Tony Todd... 🐝
This joint based in the Chicago projects
Kasi Lemmons played Bernadette. She's a director and directed "Harriet" and "Eve's Bayou".
i love your video mellverse
This movie scared the shit out of me growing up
Re the last scene:
a) who puts neon lights in the kitchen?
b) everyone knows that you don't cut meat when you're mad
c) why the heck hasn't she closed the fridge door
d) well what did you think moving in with a married man would be like? Especially if the wife just died
e) you see what happens when you go cradle robbing?
100% agree ,We’re all human ,Life would be boring as hell to be stuck in a bubble .
Chucky was the scariest movie I saw as a kid but I was only 5 years old lol and it was an accident. And ever since I have been freaked out by dolls. Like I don't want anything to do with being left alone in a room of people shaped things. Stuffed animals I am okay with but not people shaped anything lol.
This movie scared me as a kid because of 2 reasons:
1. The similarity of saying Bloody Mary in the mirror
2. I grew up near the hoods of D.C. Abandoned buildings and gangs made me stay in school
The reason the social commentary works in the original movie is because there’s a key theme of Betrayal, so everybody who watches the film can relate. Helen is betrayed by her significant other, Anne-Marie opens up to Helen and then believes she kidnapped her baby, the people of Cabrini-Green feel abandoned by the rest of society, the little boy feels lied to about whether Candyman is real or not, etc.
The new sequel solely focuses on race, and it victimizes its characters and makes villains out of others, and that’s not a strong way to use social commentary.
Also, the race of the characters simply don’t matter in this movie. Bernadette hates being at Cabrini-Green, victims of Candyman are black and white, detectives are black and white, etc. No stereotypical “racist cops” getting revenge-killed, no “micro aggressions” by art collectors, and all the other simple-minded shit that the new one tried to do.
Yesss!!! This is one of my favorite horror Movies. Tony Todd is a horror icon.
What I love about this film is that it’s a gothic romance in the truest sense of the term. Gothic romances are toxic, dark, and erotic in a way that few films are brave enough to portray, and Candyman is my go-to example for modern gothic romance. Shows like Hannibal and Interview With A Vampire follow similar beats, but this will always be a favorite of mine.
Chicago, particularly Cabrini Greene. The only part left is the houses. The apartments are all gone. It's in the near North side. If you are in downtown and go two blocks the wrong way you are there!
Candyman was the definition of "No trouble if you keep my name out your mouth."