Candyman (1992) MOVIE REACTION! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

In a more racially-charged context, the "candy" here could be considered the sexual favors of a white woman given to a black man...definitely taboo for that time. And definitely the kind of love that could in horror terms, raise the kind of unholy curse similar to that of, say, Bloody Mary.

I think that's an interesting take on the movie and I had never quite considered the drug dealer association with Candyman. With that lens, you could imagine the possibility of how drugs can affect a community. The academics come in to do their sociological studies and are only seen as judges sitting up in their "ivory towers," detached from the true horror of what this can do to families and people. But then, when one of these sociologists herself tries to connect with her subjects (perhaps by doing the drugs herself) the horror really hits home and she becomes the very monster she set out to study. The real monster being drugs and the drug dealers who become almost supernaturally powerful in communities ravaged by poverty. I am guessing that is only one part of the social commentary that this movie is trying to impart to us though. It's pretty much an awesome film either way. Good stuff, guys!

Richie O.

Yes, if I remember correctly, he's the baby of Vanessa Williams' character who was in the first or second film. She's shown in the new trailers.

Marlon Eric

another Clive Barker story based movie and directed by him is Nightbreed

Wenona Bellmore

I think the new Candyman film is supposed to be a sequel, not a remake, if I remember correctly? Either way I remember people were really hyped for it when the first trailer dropped so hopefully it meets fans' expectations.

Alice

Are you guys only doing Candyman from the poll? I hope to see a Apocalypse Now and Citizen Kane reaction.

Also if watch closely every time Virgina Madsen is in the presence of Candyman she is acting under deep hypnosis. The director was a trained hypnotherapist and used this to create a certain performance from his leading lady. Check out her eyes in those scenes.

John Hales

It's really fascinating watching this one as a black American (I love it by the way, warts and all). The film I think has a lot to say about the demonization of black people and the removal of our humanity through language that paints us as monsters or animals. I think this film paints a lot of messy targets, and actually hits most of them. There's the objectification and exploitation of severely underprivileged communities at the hands of academia and government through a racial lens, shades of fetishization of black people--specifically of black men by black women (Helen's fascination with the legend himself carries shades of how blacks were treated as a 'forbidden fruit' for white lovers--something that remains an ingredient today in many western white/black interracial relationships at different levels of interrogation), how communities who are underserved turn to self policing and regulation (both represented in gangs earlier on in the film and later the community as a whole addressing the white woman who seemingly is terrorizing their neighborhood) and a lot more. I just watched this for the first time in 12 or 13 years, and in addition to being a fucking fright of a film, it's also got *a lot* on it's mind. I saw an earlier comment naming this film as a love story and I wanna push *hard* against that notion, but I do think that there is a lot to examine through the lens of lust. There's the affair that Helen's husband is having on the surface level (the apartment painting scene is one of my favorite and Virginia Madsen is excellent here and rock solid throughout), but there's also coming back to how Virginia lusts after the mythology of a black man who'd been wronged before long ago and in doing so doesn't see the realities of that person, or his history and the ties to the wider community that's exploited and reduced in much the same way until he becomes very real for her, molding a mythology around her in a vengefully lustful way. It's a definite head trip. I can understand why this film drew criticism for making the exploited black man of it's mythology not immediately sympathetic. Other articles have brought up that we never know whether he was a good man in his life or not--but I think the film also sort of says that we don't *need* to know that to sympathize with him, the pain is apparent that he's gone through, and it's mirrored by the pains of the community built on top of that history. In classic Barker fashion, Helen is put on the same plateau of 'monstrosity' by the end; a quiet challenge to sympathize with what brought her there, as well as possibly him. Of interesting note, the title character isn't black in the original story; he was race swapped from white when the setting was moved from Liverpool to Chicago. It seems like English directors really find their rambunctious little sibling a fertile ground for really incisive horror films between this and Ravenous (which y'all should absolutely peep).

Jabari Weathers

This makes me anxious to see how they will continue this story in Candyman (2021). Great video guys.

QueerlyBeloved

Tom over there repeating Candyman and I’m like shuuuuut up! Lmbooo I hated this movie *shivers*

Alexis Walters

This is such a great movie. Tony Todd is brilliant.

I'm so glad you like this. One of my all time favourites. The new film id not a remake but a direct sequel to this. It follows Anthony, the baby Helen rescued, now a grown man he becomes embroiled in the legend he was part of. The same actress is reprising her role as his mother Anne Marie. Can't wait for this. Avoid the sequels that followed this in the 90s. They are all terrible.

John Hales

You couldn’t have put it better! a far better review and analysis then we could have done mixed with facts about how they filmed it 😊 thank you 😊

Hey guys. I hope you are well. I enjoy yor ratings very much, even though I don't always agree. Your analyses are always very detailed and explain perfectly why you rated it as you did. Different people like different things. Could you imagine if everyone thought the same? What a dull place this world would be. Stay the way you are because people love you guys. Stay safe take care.

Kennith Steele

So this film has a lot of racial undertones but in its surface level I believe it to be a love story. Tony Todd is a gem in this film. The character candy man was crucified in slavery times for falling in love with a white women. He had his hand cut off and his body smeared in honey where he was tied down and left to die from his injuries and bee stings. The project housing (Cabrini Green) where the killings took place were a real housing commmunity where a number of gang murders and violence happened. It was torn down do to how dangerous it was and all the violence that happned there. The gang you see standing outside were actual gang member and the crew shot some of the film on location before being forced to leave due to guns being shot very close to where the filming took place. They were forced to film the rest of the movie on a set due to this. The gang members were paid for there small appearances in the film. This film saw a bit of criticism when it was released due to having a black antagonistic exploiting and white female protagonist. That however was what the film wanted to do in creating one of the first black supernatural monsters due to his oppressors. This film IMo is gorgeous in its style, storytelling and music. The fact that we don’t see the killer until almost 45 minutes in always made me love it more because he seemed so mysterious. The sequels are not good and have nothing close to the noir, mysterious style that the original has. I’m so looking forward to the remake and I hope it can live up to the original. Thanks so much for this great reaction Sean and Tom. You two are the best 🥰

PrettiNikki99

We realise that on too many occasions we rate the film, then review it and from reviewing it we realise our rating has changed. More importantly, we get a lot of comments on YouTube from people complaining about our rating of a movie and then when asked if they watched our review after to understand why, they didn't watch it. Having the ratings at the end allows everyone to understand our points before we rate it so they know where we're coming from :)

Ratings at the end??!! I don't know if i can deal with that.