Sweets to the Sweet

The 1992 film, Candyman, is considered one of the best horror films of its time. But is the film really a “horror” film, or could it be considered something else? In my view, Candyman is more of a “fantastic” film, leaning more in the direction of the “fantastic-marvelous.” The next few paragraphs will help explain the conflict the viewer might be going through during the film.

As an introduction, the antagonist of the film is the Candyman. He is a tall, African-American man who was murdered unjustly for racial reasons. He had his right hand sawed off and a metal hook jammed into the stump to replace it. After that, he had thousands of bees sting him until his eventual death. He returns as a half-man, half-bees life form on a quest to find his true love, even if it means murdering a few innocent people with his trademark hook.

Candyman points the viewer in the direction of the supernatural, but the supernatural events could be explained in a naturalistic way. The main character, Helen is doing a thesis about urban legends and hears about the Candyman, and she does everything to try and prove that he does not exist. The story leads the viewer to believe that this urban legend of the Candyman murders people who say his name five times into their bathroom mirror. Helen investigates the apartment of one woman who was a victim of the Candyman. When Helen goes to the apartment she is attacked not by the Candyman, but by a gang member who claims to be the legend. This gang member, according to the police, most likely was the murderer of the woman that Helen went to investigate. This leads the viewer to question if the Candyman really even exists, or not.

A significant part of the film occurred at Helen’s funeral. The young boy that she was conversing with drops the hook of the Candyman onto her coffin. The supernatural explanation is that the hook was retrieved after the Candyman was burned to ashes in the same fire that killed Helen. But the natural explanation could be that the hook is just the one Helen dropped in the fire pit as she was trying to save the baby. Once more, this is another conflict between the supernatural and the natural.

The end of the film points the viewer in the direction of the supernatural, yet again. Helen returns seeking revenge and murders her adulterant husband. The way she murdered him was in the same way as the Candyman would, as if she was continuing his legacy. The husband even said her name five times into the bathroom mirror before she sliced him apart. But with husband being so distraught over the death of his wife, it could be he was hallucinating what was happening and just killed himself. Or, his mistress could have murdered him with the butcher knife she had because she knew that he was regretting cheating on his wife with her. The imagination and reasoning of the viewer is left guessing at the end.

But with the demand of Hollywood, the film ended with the main focus on the supernatural. If it didn’t, there wouldn’t have been the opportunity for a sequel.