Sunday, April 24, 2011

The Candyman can....

Recently revisited one of my favorite horror films of the 90s yesterday. Candyman stars Virginia Madsen as a Chicago grad student doing a thesis on urban legends, who gets more than she bargained for when she looks into the story of a hook-handed killer called the Candyman, who appears to be terrorizing the residents of the Cabrini Green housing project. Based on Clive Barker's story "The Forbidden" this 1992 film, written & directed by Bernard Rose, co-stars Xander Berkeley as Madsen's husband and Kasi Lemmons a fellow grad student.

The film is well directed and while it has some predictable elements, is genuinely eerie and unsettling. Madsen effectively conveys the the growing confusion & fear of her character. Tony Todd gives a memorably creepy performance in the title role (which he reprised in two inferior sequels). It's well worth a look of you're a fan of Clive Barker (Hellraiser, Nightbreed) or like intelligent horror. One caveat: it is a bit gory, though it's not gratuitous. And remember, don't look in a mirror and say his name 5 times....:) You can find the DVD here: http://www.amazon.com/Candyman-Special-Virginia-Madsen/dp/B0002C4JJ4.

Source for this post:
Internet Movie Database: www.imdb.com

Movie Quote of the Day: "A man's got to know his limitations." Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry in Magnum Force (1973).

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