Line #52 Film/Candyman


1	[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/candyman_1992_poster.jpeg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:305:''Be my victim.'']]
3
4	->''"They will say that I have shed innocent blood. What's blood for, if not for shedding?"''
5
6	''Candyman'' is a 1992 supernatural horror film written and directed by Bernard Rose and based on the short story "Literature/TheForbidden" by Creator/CliveBarker, starring Creator/VirginiaMadsen, Creator/XanderBerkeley, Creator/KasiLemmons, Music/VanessaWilliams, [=DeJuan=] Guy, and Creator/TonyTodd as the titular character in what is considered by many to be his most famous role (aside from William Bludworth in ''Film/FinalDestination'').
7
8	Helen Lyle (Madsen), a Chicago graduate student, is conducting research for her thesis on {{urban legends}}. While interviewing freshmen about their superstitions, she hears about a local legend known as Candyman, the son of a slave who was brutally tortured and murdered because of a love affair he had with the daughter of a local white plantation owner.
9
10	According to the legend, anyone who looks into a mirror and chants his name five times [[SpeakOfTheDevil will summon him]], but at the cost of their own life, similar to the urban legend of Bloody Mary. Helen believes that Candyman cannot exist and jokingly calls his name in the mirror in her house. Little does she know her innocent joke will set in motion a terrifying series of events that will cause her to question what is real and what is legend...
11
12	''Candyman'' was followed by two sequels, ''Film/CandymanFarewellToTheFlesh'' (1995) and ''Film/CandymanDayOfTheDead'' (1999). A fourth installment, ''Film/{{Candyman\|2021}}'' (2021), is a direct sequel to this film.
13
14	No relation to the song "[[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory The Candy Man]]" (or the character it describes), though the Music/SammyDavisJr cover of said song would appear during the opening LogoJoke of the [[Film/Candyman2021 2021 sequel]].
15	----
16	!! Tropes. Tropes. Tropes. Tropes. Tropes.
17
18	* AdaptationalAlternateEnding: Candyman's ultimate plan is to allow himself, Helen, and a kidnapped baby to die in a bonfire so that all three can live on in legend, only for Helen to rescue the baby and abandon him. [[spoiler:Candyman wins in Barker's story.]]
19	* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: In the original story, the Candyman isn't formally introduced and namedropped until after [[spoiler: Kerry (Anthony's book counterpart) is killed by him and Helen investigates his stomping grounds again.]] In the movie, Candyman's voice is heard in the opening, first physically appears in the flashback, and shows up before the kidnapping. Due to also now being a known legend (in contrast to being only heard around the neighborhood he dwells), he's namedropped sooner as well.
20	* AdaptationalHeroism: Anne-Marie and her neighbors were much more culpable for the murder of [[spoiler:her child]] in the original short story.
21	* AdaptationalKarma: In the short story, [[spoiler: the Candyman wins in the end by successfully trapping Helen in the bonfire, preventing her from taking the child's corpse to the authorities to prove the culpability of Butt's Court's residents in his death, and strengthening his legend through their demises]]. In the movie, this is changed to Helen managing to escape his grasp, while leaving him to be burned alive in the bonfire. [[spoiler: Although Helen still dies, she becomes a legend in her own right instead of being immortalized as one of his victims.]]
22	* AdaptationalLocationChange: The original story takes place in a fictional council estate (the British equivalent of a housing project) called Butt's Court in Liverpool in the late seventies, while the movie moves the setting to nineties Chicago and the real-life Cabrini Green housing project.
23	* AdaptationalNationality: While Trevor and Helen keep their original race from the short story, due to the SettingUpdate they go from being British to American.
24	* AdaptationExpansion: The film adds the plot of Helen being framed for Candyman's murders.
25	** It also adds Candyman's backstory and [[spoiler: Helen becoming a new urban legend herself]].
26	** Also applies to Bernadette's character. In the original story, she's only a minor character who is Trevor's assistant and has a small conversation with Helen at the dinner party. In the movie, she's upgraded to Helen's best friend and a supporting character [[spoiler: as well as one of Candyman's victims.]]
27	** The nameless estate boy that leads Helen to Anne-Marie's house in the short story is expanded into the character of Jake, who becomes a prominent side character and [[spoiler: even rallies the people of Cabrini Green to destroy the Candyman when he mistakes her for being him (but it ironically works due to him pursuing Helen and ending up trapped).]]
28	** [[spoiler:Trevor's infidelity was just a throwaway line in the short story, but in the movie it becomes a subplot where he's having an affair with one of his students and when Helen is sent to the mental ward he allows her to move in, with the strong implication he was going abandon his wife and start a new life with her.]]
29	* AdaptationNameChange: In "The Forbidden", Helen's last name is Buchanan as opposed to Lyle in the movie. Anne-Marie's last name is changed from Latimer to [=McCoy=] in the movie, as well as her baby's name from Kerry to Anthony.
30	* AdaptationRelationshipOverhaul: In the short story, Bernadette was Trevor's assistant who showed up to the dinner party and had a small conversation with Helen, but no indication she was personally close with her. In the movie, she is made into her best friend and [[spoiler: is even made a victim of Candyman]].
31	* AdaptationTitleChange: ''Candyman'' is based on the short story "The Forbidden".
32	* AdaptedOut: Despite the original story being very short, there are some characters that were omitted in the movie.
33	** Two guests from the dinner party, Archie and Daniel, are cut from the movie.
34	** The [[GossipyHens middle-aged, gossipy women]] from Ruskin Court, Josie and Maureen, don't appear at all and their role of recounting the bathroom castration incident (which involved a disabled man in the original) goes to Jake.
35	** The man whose eyes were gorged out in the short story is replaced by Ruthie Jean as the first victim Helen hears about.
36	* AGodAmI: Thanks to his nature ([[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve requiring belief to continue existing]]), it is hinted that Candyman has this attitude about his "congregation."
37	* AgeLift: While Kerry in "Forbidden" was toddler age, Anthony in the movie is still an infant.
38	** The mentally disabled victim of Candyman's castration goes from a twenty-year-old man in the book to a [[WouldHurtAChild child in the movie]].
39	* AllTherapistsAreMuggles: Helen is committed to a mental hospital after the spirit of Candyman possesses her body to frame her for several murders. She runs into this problem when she tries to prove the existence of Candyman to her psychiatrist without appearing insane... [[spoiler:only for the psychiatrist to be promptly murdered in front of her by the summoned Candyman so he can frame her '''again'''!]]
40	* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: [[spoiler: By the end of the film, Helen's trials and tribulations turn her into a murderous urban legend just like Candyman]].
41	* AnimalMotifs: Bees.
42	* AntagonistTitle: And his name is a plot point in the story.
43	* ApartmentComplexOfHorrors: Cabrini Green is a decrepit housing project where gangs run amok and terrify residents, as well as being the site of Candyman's torture and death and where he prefers to hole up in between killing people.
44	* ArcWords:
45	** "Sweets for the sweet."
46	** "Be my victim."
47	** Less evidently, but there's a pattern of people reciting an urban legend and then saying they "read it in the papers."
48	* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:Trevor. Not only was he cheating on Helen with a student, but it is implied that he was going to let her rot in the asylum while he would set off for a new life with his lover. He is shown grieving for Helen after she dies, but by then it is too late for him.]]
49	* BadassBoast: Candyman has plenty, but this one is the most well-known.
50	--> '''Candyman:''' I am the writing on the wall. The whisper in the classroom. Without these things I am nothing, so I must shed innocent blood.
51	* BadassLongcoat: Candyman's attire, [[spoiler:which is used to cover his bee-infested ribcage.]]
52	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Subverted. [[spoiler:Helen rescues a child from beneath a raging bonfire and gets horribly burned, later dying from her injuries. While her face is left intact, her scalp becomes a charred mess with only bits of hair left. When we see Helen in her coffin and then as a Candywoman, it's clear the mortuary wax didn't begin to hide what happened to her.]]
53	** Also averted earlier than that. When the gang leader smacks her with a hook, it gives her a huge and ''nasty''-looking black eye.
54	* BeeBeeGun: [[spoiler:When Candyman opens his coat he's revealed from the neck down to be little more than a skeleton wreathed in the many thousands of bees that killed him. And yes, he weaponizes them.]]
55	* BelatedLoveEpiphany: Implied. [[spoiler: Trevor leaves Helen for one of his students, but after her death he's shown genuinely mourning her and longing for the relationship they once had.]]
56	* BetterManhandleTheMurderWeapon: After her first encounter with Candyman, Helen wakes up in a room covered in blood, with bloodstains everywhere and a dog's severed head in not far away. For some reason, she picks it up, which means when [[spoiler:the police show up she's framed for kidnapping Anne-Marie's baby. This starts a long gaslighting campaign by Candyman targeting Helen to break her sanity, and it almost works.]]
57	* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Helen manages to save Anne-Marie's baby from the fire and defeat Candyman, only to die from the burns and become a murderous urban legend herself.]]
58	* BrokenPedestal: After Helen becomes a murder suspect, the attitude of Det. Frank Valento, who initially acted as an ally to Helen to help her investigate the murders and aided her after her assault, [[TookALevelInJerkass turns cold and hostile towards her]]. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] given that the cops found Helen carrying a meat cleaver at a bloody crime scene, was seemingly attacking Anne-Marie when she was found, and has seemingly murdered an infant and brutally killed a dog (which really was killed in-universe, just not by her). Everyone eventually sees her as a RebuiltPedestal when [[spoiler: she ultimately sacrifices herself to destroy Candyman and save the still-alive infant, with the citizens of Cabrini Greene led by Anne-Marie showing up to pay their respects at her funeral.]]
59	* BugsHeraldEvil: Bees are a significant part of the urban legend surrounding Candyman, so when they show up, he's on his way.
60	* TheCameo: Creator/TedRaimi as the boyfriend in the opening scene.
61	* CanAlwaysSpotACop: Played with. The two female leads are graduate students researching urban legends. When they have to visit a high-crime area as part of their investigation, they deliberately dress in a manner that suggests that they are cops in order to not be harassed. It works, as soon as they arrive and get out of their car, several locals hanging out immediately start calling out that they are cops while keeping their distance.
62	* TheCanKickedHim: Why summon the Candyman from a bathroom mirror? Because bathrooms are scary.
63	* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: The Candyman is powered by people's belief in him. If people do not believe, he cannot continue to exist. This is the true meaning of his BadassBoast above, hence why he starts targeting Helen.
64	* CrapsackWorld: Cabrini Green, a RealLife housing project that in its day was infamous even outside Chicago for its crime problems.
65	* CreepyChild: A young boy Helen meets at Cabrini Greene gives off this vibe, though in the long run he's not evil.
66	* DatingWhatDaddyHates: Played very, ''very'' seriously - the original Candyman was killed by a lynch mob, led by a white guy who was furious that Candyman had [[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt impregnated his daughter.]]
67	%%* DeathByAdaptation: [[spoiler:Trevor and Bernadette.]]
68	* DeityOfHumanOrigin: Candyman styles himself like this. He's an immortal spirit with supernatural powers that cannot be truly killed. He subsists on the faith of those who believe in him, sleeps on a concrete bed resembling an altar, and his lair resembles a rotting, dilapidated old church. The graffiti on the windows and paintings on the walls and ceiling give it the air of a horrifying chapel. [[spoiler: But while he can't die he can be beaten. Just as Helen destroys him in the climax.]]
69	* DeceptivelySillyTitle: Our ghost is called the "Candyman" but he is the most dangerous being in the setting.
70	* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation: [[spoiler: In both the story and movie, [[TheHeroDies Helen dies]]. However, in contrast with how in the former she died in the bonfire as the Candyman held her down, she manages to escape but dies from the flame wounds as she was rescuing Anthony and herself in the latter ([[AndThenJohnWasAZombie then later comes back as a vengeful spirit like Candyman]])]].
71	* DisappearedDad: Unlike the short story, Anthony's father is never brought up.
72	* DisgustingPublicToilet: Not only is the men's room in Cabrini Green a [[TheCanKickedHim great place to get attacked]], but it's also filthy, smelly, and broken-down.
73	* EvilIsBigger: Casting the 5'5 and very petite Virginia Madsen as a naive graduate student against the 6'5, [[EvilSoundsDeep graveyard-voiced]] Tony Todd as a malevolent ghost makes for one hell of a visual power differential between the hero and the villain.
74	* EvilSoundsDeep: Being played by Creator/TonyTodd means Candyman has a very deep voice. This is an aversion from the original short story where even his voice sounds sugary sweet.
75	* {{Expy}}: Candyman combines elements of two real urban legends: Bloody Mary (a ghost who appears by chanting her name in a mirror) and the Hook (a killer with a hook for a hand who attacks a couple in a parked car).
76	* FanDisservice: Helen is arrested and stripped by the police. The fact that the beautiful Virginia Madsen is naked is quite overshadowed by the fact that she is also crying and covered in blood. Ten minutes after this scene, however, there's a scene of her taking a bath that is so blatantly {{Fanservice}} that it seems like an apology.
77	* FantasticNoir: The first film plays out partially like FilmNoir. It figures, considering its director had directed the FilmNoir film ''Chicago Joe and the Showgirl'' a couple of years prior to the release of this film.
78	* FinalGirl: Subverted in the first film, but played completely straight in the second and third.
79	* {{Foreshadowing}}: A few bits.
80	** Early on after his lecture, Trevor and an attractive female student share a LongingLook while Helen's back is turned. Said student is also the last one to leave. [[spoiler:He's having an affair with that exact student. If you look closely, Trevor also brushes his hand against the student's breast, with no reaction from either.]]
81	** Relating to that, in the beginning of the movie, Helen is told a story about how a girl was cheating on her boyfriend and is soon killed by Candyman in the bathroom which traumatized the guy she was cheating with. In the final act, we learn [[spoiler:Helen's husband, Trevor, is cheating on her with one of his students (Stacey) and at the very end, Helen's ghost appears before him in the bathroom and kills him with Candyman's hook which horrifies Stacey]].
82	** Towards the beginning, Helen lectures Trevor on how he shouldn't have shared the topic of urban legends before her essay. [[spoiler: Although they're able to sweep it under the rug by talking it out, this hints that this won't be the last time Trevor does something underhanded towards Helen.]]
83	** Candyman's opening creepy monologue ends with him saying the line "I came for you..." while we get a good shot of Helen's face.
84	** Helen and Bernadette, before they unwittingly summon Candyman, make a joke about how someone's lurking behind a bathroom mirror. [[spoiler:In the second act of the movie Candyman himself later smashes through the mirror to get at Helen.]]
85	* GodsNeedPrayerBadly: The biggest threat to Candyman's existence in the movie is that people will stop believing in him, and the situation's quasi-religious nature is played to the hilt. Interestingly though, what Candyman wants is for his ''legend'' to spread and not the ''truth'' about who he actually was. In fact, he seems to target Helen because she wrote about the latter.
86	* GothicHorror: A typical aspect considering it's the brainchild of Creator/CliveBarker after all. Though, while most of Barker's well-known horror films are stylistically modeled after the works of director Creator/KenRussell, this film in contrast is modeled after Creator/StanleyKubrick's take on this trope, ''Film/TheShining'' to name a few.
87	* GroinAttack: [[KickTheDog A very disturbing example]] happens to a mentally disabled kid in a park restroom. And if you look closely at [[spoiler:Bernadette]]'s body and [[spoiler:how Candyman kills the psychiatrist]], it's clear Candyman uses the genital/rectal areas as the hook's points of entry.
88	-->'''Candyman (narration):''' With my hook for a hand, I'll split you from your groin to your gullet.
89	* HappyEndingOverride: The [[Film/{{Candyman\|2021}} 2021 sequel]] effectively does this to [[spoiler:Anthony. He's saved by Helen in the climax of this film, but he will eventually fall victim to Candyman and become part of the "hive" when he reaches adulthood.]]
90	* HeelFaceDoorSlam: [[spoiler:After Helen dies, Trevor seems to feel pangs of guilt for how he cheated on her. Then he chants her name in front of the mirror...]]
91	* TheHeroDies: [[spoiler:Helen herself at the end of the first film. It also partially counts as a HeroicSacrifice.]]
92	* HeroineWithBadPublicity: Helen Lyle, due to being suspected of the murders.
93	* HoodFilm: A supernatural horror version thereof. While the short story it was based on was set in UsefulNotes/{{Liverpool}} and was mainly about the [[UsefulNotes/ATouchOfClassEthnicityAndReligion British class system]], this film moves the setting to UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}'s Cabrini-Green projects and makes the Candyman the ghost of a black man who was lynched for sleeping with a white woman.
94	* HookHand: Candyman's weapon of choice.
95	* HooksAndCrooks: One of the most infamous examples since Captain Hook. [[spoiler:Helen uses one in the last few minutes of the movie as well.]]
96	* ImprobableInfantSurvival: [[spoiler:Played straight with the baby Helen rescues in the film who survives being kidnapped by Candyman, held prisoner, and nearly burned alive, but super averted in the short story.]]
97	** [[spoiler:Also averted with the boy who had a run-in with Candyman in the restroom in the backstory and the baby mentioned in the interview with the freshman.]]
98	* InTheStyleOf: This film is what happens when you have Creator/StanleyKubrick direct a supernatural SlasherMovie in the vein of his last horror outing ''Film/TheShining''.
99	* InsufferableGenius: Philip Purcell, one of Trevor's academic buddies, is a condescending know-it-all, who is very dismissive of Helen and her credentials. He also prides himself on being an expert on the Candyman legend.
100	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:While it doesn't stick, Candyman is destroyed by the same bonfire he set up to burn Helen and the baby in.]]
101	** [[spoiler: For his infidelity, Trevor is murdered by his vengeful wife's spirit as she claims him as her first victim.]]
102	* KickTheDog: An unwitting variation. [[spoiler: Trevor probably didn't ''intend'' to leave Helen all alone in prison that night. Still, circumstances or no, it doesn't change that Trevor making out with his lover ''highly'' inconvenienced his wife and left her to rot in a cell all night.]]
103	* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:The way they deal with Candyman at the end. Unfortunately, Helen dies that way as well...]]
104	** [[spoiler:Averted in the short story, where Helen dies in the bonfire, trapped by Candyman who can't be destroyed by a simple fire.]]
105	* KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade: [[EvilIsPetty A more petty version]] of this is implied to be part of the reason why the Candyman decides to target Helen. At least a part of his anger towards her seems to be motivated by the fact that with her attempt to investigate him and write about his story, she brought him unwanted public exposure and uncovered some of the true story behind his legend, thereby demystifying him somewhat. [[spoiler:Except the other reason he's targeting her is her resemblance to his long-lost lover, if the painting in his lair is any indication.]]
106	* MalignedMixedMarriage: Part of how Candyman came into existence. The original "Candyman" was a young, well-to-do black man who fell in love with a white woman (who is implied to have borne a striking resemblance to Helen). Her disapproving father hired some thugs to hack off his right hand and cover him in honey, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath attracting bees that stung him to death]]. Legend did the rest. This is only in the movie, as Candyman has no origin in the short story.
107	* MagicMirror: Candyman can be summoned from any mirror.
108	* MirrorMonster: Saying Candyman's name five times in front of a mirror will summon the killer who will slay you with his HookHand. At the end of the movie, [[spoiler:Helen]] has become a vengeful spirit who can be summoned the same way.
109	* MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome: Referenced:
110	-->'''Helen:''' Yeah, but y'know what bugs me about the whole thing? Two people get brutally murdered and the cops do nothing, but a white woman goes in there and gets attacked and they lock the place down.
111	* MixAndMatchCritter: Candyman is effectively a mashup of various urban legends such as Bloody Mary, the Hook-Handed Man, the Mutilated Child in a public restroom, and the razorblades in the Halloween candy. This is pointed out in the short story by Trevor.
112	* MurderIntoMalevolence:
113	** Candyman was a freedman raised in "polite society", i.e. white society, who fell in love with a plantation owner's daughter while painting her portrait. When she became pregnant, her father [[TorchesAndPitchforks had a mob chase him down]] and brutally murder him. End result: he became a murderous spirit who now only cares to "empower his myth" by hunting down anyone who chants his name five times into a mirror and gutting them with a hook.
114	** Candyman {{invoke\|dTrope}}s this trope himself in the first film: he torments and ultimately causes the violent death of [[spoiler:the female protagonist]]. The twist ending reveals she too becomes a murderous spirit.
115	* MythologyGag: There is a Guy Fawkes mask on Helen's bathroom wall, which could be an allusion to the fact in the original story it takes place around Guy Fawkes Day.
116	* NamedByTheAdaptation: The nameless boy from Butt's Corner is called Jake in the movie.
117	* NonIndicativeName: The Candyman has nothing to do with candy.
118	** Although there are seeming offerings of sweets and candy to him in his lair.
119	* OurGhostsAreDifferent: Candyman himself is a vengeful spirit that lashes out at anyone that summons him, and the same thing happens to Helen in the end.
120	* OurSlashersAreDifferent: The Candyman is a slasher but erudite, intelligent, and possessed of powers relating to both being a ghost as well as an urban legend.
121	* OnePhoneCall: Played with. After Helen is arrested by the police on murder charges and informed of her Miranda rights, she asks for a phone call to contact her husband, but it's never stated that she has any rights to one or that it's the only one she'll get.
122	* PoliceAreUseless: The police are no help whatsoever in the gang violence plaguing Cabrini Green, and admit as much. Worse, they spend most of the film targeting Helen, and none of them question anything about her supposed "murder spree". Case in point, Bernadette was killed with a hook with a force Helen couldn't possibly have swung with. None of them notice.
123	* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: [[AvertedTrope Gutted with a hook and then kicked to death.]] The actual Candyman, when he was still alive, was in a relationship with a white woman -- which got him violently murdered by a white lynch mob led by the woman's father.
124	* RaceLift:
125	** The Candyman in Barker's original story had been described as an imposing possibly white man (he is described as having a rather unnatural shade of yellow that of course adds to his candy theme).
126	** Bernadette, Anne-Marie, Jake (who was nameless in the short story), and Anthony (Kerry in the original story) were made African-American in the movie as well.
127	* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The story was partially inspired by a real news article "murdered through the mirror" about a woman named Ruthie Mae [=McCoy=] being murdered in the projects and her killers came through the mirror-like in the movie.
128	* SarcasticConfession: Trevor claims Stacy is in madly love with him, in a joking manner, and Helen laughs it off. Oh, if only she knew...
129	* ScaryBlackMan: Creator/TonyTodd as the Candyman. This was his StarMakingRole. Do the math.
130	* ScaryStingingSwarm: [[spoiler:Candyman was tortured by having his hand hacked off with a saw, then being covered in honey, which attracted bees that stung him to death. His ghost now uses those bees as weapons.]]
131	* SettingUpdate: The original story takes place in a fictional British housing project called Butt's Court in the late '70s, while the movie moves the setting to '90s Chicago and the real-life slum of Cabrini Green. The change in setting also makes the bonfire seem out of place, as in the original the bonfire is part of the traditional Guy Fawkes Night celebrations.
132	* ShoutOutToShakespeare: "Sweets to the sweet" is taken from a line from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}''.
133	* ShoutOut: Candyman's coat is a very dark purple, emulating [[Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory a certain candyman of a different kind]].
134	* ShroudedInMyth: Of course.
135	* SlashersPreferBlondes:
136	** The first death shown in the film is about a blonde babysitter who summoned Candyman and ended up being killed as a result.
137	** [[spoiler:Double Subverted with Helen Lyle; she makes it through most of the film when Candyman starts haunting her but ends up dying towards the end of the film when saving Anne-Marie's infant and herself from a bonfire.]]
138	* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Anne-Marie's baby.]]
139	* SpeakOfTheDevil: Saying Candyman's name five times into a mirror will summon him, in a nod to the Bloody Mary legend.
140	* SpookyPainting: The giant graffiti of Candyman's screaming face that Helen sees in the semi-abandoned projects.
141	* SpookyPhotographs: When reviewing her evidence from Cabrini Greene, Helen discovers that Candyman was standing right behind her in the bathroom.
142	* SortingAlgorithmOfMortality: As stated above, averted. Among Candyman's many victims are a child, a dog, [[spoiler:(attempted) a baby, and (indirectly) the white female protagonist]].
143	* SoundOnlyDeath: Candyman's murder of [[spoiler:Bernadette]], and the girl from the prologue story, if it happened.
144	* StrugglingSingleMother: Ann-Marie is raising her son alone in Cabrini-Green, where poverty and violence are commonplace. [[spoiler: Even worse is the fact that there is a murderous spirit lurking around, which kidnaps him and tries to burn him alive in a plan to make him a part of his legend.]]
145	* SurrealHorror: Given this film nods quite a bit to Creator/StanleyKubrick, this can be expected.
146	* TeacherStudentRomance: [[spoiler:Trevor is revealed to be having an affair with his student, Stacy, behind Helen's back.]]
147	* TemptingFate: Go Ahead: Say the curse and visit previous murder sites. WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong?
148	* TragicVillain: Candyman himself. In life, he was simply an artist whose only crime was being a black man who fell in love with a white woman in a racist and intolerant society. He only became an evil and murderous spirit after being hunted down by a lynch mob and brutally executed.
149	** Can also apply to [[spoiler: Helen]] at the end of the movie. [[spoiler: She started out as a graduate student simply studying an urban myth only to become embroiled in a series of supernatural murders of which she was framed for, leading to her being involuntarily committed and learning her husband had planned to let her rot in there while shacking up with his attractive, young student. She is then killed when burned in the pyre, her final act saving a baby from the flames. She then becomes the "new" Candyman, inadvertently summoned by her husband whom she then guts with Candyman's hook.]]
150	* TriggerPhrase: Saying Candyman's name five times in front of a mirror is what summons him.
151	** And [[spoiler:Helen]] at the end of the movie.
152	* TruthInTelevision: Even though the method of killing may have been more "creative" than real life, Candyman's story (minus the supernatural elements) tragically happened many times in U.S. history. From the time of slavery until the mid-20th Century, being involved with a white woman would have been a ''very'' good way for a black man to fall victim to a lynch mob.
153	** Other elements of the film also have their basis in real-life tragedy. The poverty, crime and violence suffered by the residents of Cabrini-Green was very true, and the movie was at least partly inspired by [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ABLA_Homes#Ruth_Mae_McCoy the 1987 murder of Ruthie Mae McCoy]], a resident of Chicago's South Side ABLA homes who was killed when a burglar came through her bathroom mirror. The police were sadly just as useless in real life as they are in the film. Notably, the film has characters named ''Ruthie'' Jean and Ann-Marie ''[=McCoy=]''.
154	* UnnervinglyHeartwarming: During the climax of Candyman, Helen agrees to sacrifice herself to save the life of the infant that the eponymous villain has kidnapped. The scene that follows is portrayed almost ''romantically,'' with Candyman demonstrating surprising tenderness towards his victim, complete with slow piano music, a BridalCarry, and a held gaze as he assures her that they will be immortal as living urban legends. However, Candyman has still essentially ruined Helen's life by getting her framed as a murderer, so the romance of the scene has a distinct undercurrent of wrongness about it. [[spoiler: And then Candyman reveals that under his coat, he's just a skeleton wreathed in the many hundreds of bees that killed him, and as he leans in for a kiss, we see even more of the damn things pouring out of his mouth...]]
155	* UrbanLegends: The legend of the Candyman is an InUniverse combination of the "Bloody Mary" and "Hookman" myths, and a few of the kills that happen on-screen in this and other films in the series occur because of people daring each other. Exploring the application of urban legends as a boogeyman in modern living is the reason Helen becomes involved in the Candyman's horror to begin with, and the "urban" part is highlighted by the fact most of the plot of the first film happens within the (now-demolished) Cabrini-Green projects in UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}.
156	** Another urban legend mentioned that a young boy associated with Candyman is the infamous story that there are booby-trapped public bathrooms designed to mutilate men and boys who use them.
157	* VengefulGhost: Candyman, and by the end of the movie [[spoiler: Helen herself.]]
158	* VillainousBreakdown: For most of the film, Candyman is unstoppable. At the climax of the film [[spoiler:Helen stabs Candyman with a stake of burning wood, takes the baby and escapes his grasp. He immediately flies into a rage, uselessly trying to tear apart the burning wood pile to get her back. He goes from the silver-tongued, confident killer to impotently commanding her to come back to him while the bonfire consumes him]].
159	* YourMindMakesItReal: The entire point of both the short story and the movie, Candyman is a myth and urban legend incarnate, and through the fear and belief of the people of Cabrini Green, he'll always have been real.
160	* WeHardlyKnewYe: Dr. Burke is around for only one scene before Candyman cuts him open with his hook.
161	* WhiteGalOnBlackGuyDrama: About as subtle as being gutted with a hook and then kicked to death. The actual Candyman, when he was still alive, was in a relationship with a white woman -- which got him violently murdered by a white lynch mob led by the woman's father.
162	* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Candyman became an undead monster after he was murdered by a lynch mob because he was a cultured black man who fell in love with a white woman in the 19th century.
163	* WhereDaWhiteWomenAt: PlayedForDrama, as Candyman (before becoming a ghost) was lynched for the [[SarcasmMode heinous crime]] of impregnating a white woman.
164	* WretchedHive: Cabrini Green, much as it was in RealLife. Helen's thesis is about how the residents use urban legends like Candyman to deal with the constant horrors of living there. Candyman feeds off of their fear to survive, [[spoiler:and is vanquished when they burn him in a bonfire]].
165	* TheWormThatWalks: [[spoiler: Candyman's body is a collection of the bees that killed him wreathed around his bloody skeleton, with his human head still attached.]]
166	* WouldHurtAChild: [[spoiler:Candyman does not discriminate when choosing victims.]]
167	* YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead: Helen tracks down the undead Candyman to his urban lair and attempts to stab him through the neck while he's sleeping. He just pulls it out without issue, and moments later it becomes obvious why: ''most of his upper body is a rotten patchwork swarming with bees''.

Context Film / Candyman