Candyman (1992) on Netflix
Helen Lyle, an anthropology graduate student in Chicago, researches urban legends. The legend of Candyman, a spirit who appears when someone says his name five times, draws her to Cabrini-Green.
- Netflix3.2/5
- IMDb6.8/10110,516 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes79%
Trailer
Plot summary
Candyman, the legend says, is a spirit who appears when someone says his name five times before a mirror, and Cabrini-Green residents blame him for a recent murder. Helen Lyle, an anthropology graduate student at the University of Illinois Chicago, is writing a thesis on urban legends with her friend Bernadette Walsh. Skeptical, Helen and Bernadette repeat the name at Helen's bathroom mirror to no avail. Helen and Bernadette visit the site of the killing, and Helen finds a room with sweets left for Candyman.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Candyman (1992)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- For years it was said that Eddie Murphy had been the original choice for Candyman and that the filmmakers could not afford him. Director Bernard Rose flatly denied it in 2021, calling the notion not even a tiny bit true.
- Virginia Madsen was first set to play Helen's friend Bernie, with Rose's then-wife Alexandra Pigg as Helen. Madsen lost Bernie when the part was made Black American, then inherited Helen when Pigg turned out to be pregnant as shooting began; producer Alan Poul favoured Sandra Bullock if Madsen had refused.
- Tony Todd negotiated a bonus of $1,000 for every bee sting he took while making the film, and collected on 23 of them.
- More than 200,000 real honeybees were used, handled by Norman Gary, who had wrangled the bees on My Girl and Fried Green Tomatoes and calmed these with synthesised queen-bee pheromone. Most of the crew worked in bodysuits and every one of them was stung at least once.
- For the climax where Candyman sends 500 bees into Helen's face, Tony Todd held them behind a protective mouthpiece; loading them took half an hour and he remembered being tranced out as he released them. Norman Gary used freshly hatched bees that could not sting or fly because Virginia Madsen was badly allergic.
- Candyman's hook came out of a failed experiment. Effects man Bob Keen first gave Tony Todd a machine-controlled fake right arm, found its movements too stiff, and spent three hours making a hook instead; Todd's suggestion of an eyepatch was rejected.
- Worried producers sent Rose into a whole set of meetings with the NAACP over claims the film dealt in racial stereotypes. He recalled the NAACP asking why they were even meeting, arguing that a Black actor should be as free to play a ghost as to play Freddy Krueger or Hannibal Lecter.
