The original Candyman came from Clive Barker, the same man who brought us Hellraiser, and it shows.  It has a chilling style all its own, and the main villian is a well-written character played by Tony Todd.  The story takes place in the Chicago slum of Cabrini Green as Helen Lyle (Virgina Madsen) investigates the urban legend of the Candyman here, but as she moves through both a Candyman impersonator and a completely rundown apartment project, she stumbles upon the real Candyman after calling his name five times into the mirror.  The Candyman makes his chilling appearance and begins to slowly takeover Helen's world, forcing everyone to think she's insane, and unknowingly to her, she slowly is.  The closer Helen gets to the truth of the Candyman, the further she gets from reality.  As the body count rises, Helen is framed for the murders, and is believed to be so mentally unstable that she is committed to a mental hospital.  She wakes to find out she can't remember anything from the past few months, it's like she's been sleeping the whole time.  The further the Candyman gets into her mind, the more her world falls apart.  Helen is driven to the brink of insanity, and then, is driven over the edge by the Candyman.

I've already said too much, but I think I'm saving you some cash.  As good as it may sound, this movie is a let down.  It is chilling and shows just how frightening the Candyman is, and Tony Todd does an excellent, superb, and just beautiful job in this role.  Too bad it's the only redeeming quality of this film.  Virginia Madsen does a fine job here, and Bernard Rose does a consistent and interesting directing job.  Though, other than the Candyman, there are no really likeable, let alone intriguing characters here, and the movie just has such a dimsal and bland look to it that it's not very intriguing to look at.  The score is not to my taste, but might be more to that of others.  The theme is a little too nursey rhyme like, and doesn't offer up anything chilling or erie like the themes from Halloween, Phantasm, or A Nightmare On Elm Street.  Nor does it exude any kind of epic or omniousness like the theme from Hellbound: Hellraiser II.  It's more like classical, worldly music than that of a horror movie score.  The gore is startling here, and done very well - something that's a staple with any film involving Clive Barker.  I also commend Tony Todd with his extremely courageous moments with those bees crawling and buzzing all about his body.  Though, as I have said many, many times before - great effects alone do not a great movie make.  There was so much ground that wasn't covered in this film that it seemed like such a lost opportunity.  The Candyman is such a deeply intriguing character that you hunger to know more about him, but little is divulged about who he was before he became the Candyman.  All of this potential for exploring the backstory was achieved in the following film, and done beautifully!  Unfortunately, this first film treats the Candyman as a secondary character despite the fact that he's the most pivitol and important character in it.  The focus is not on the title character, but instead on his victim who is exceptionally dull and bland when compared to the Candyman - who has such rich depth and character to him.  I rate it a 7.5 because it had potential, but just didn't live up to it.

A little bit of trivia is that a lot of the Candyman mythos stems from urban legends of Bloody Mary and the like.  Standing in front of a mirror and calling the name of the vengeful demonic spirit until he or she appears to assault you in a gruesome fashion.  You can read all about it at the Urban Legends Reference Pages.