Erick: when is boom needed?
Vivi: Okay. I will tell you when boob is needed sex in the city all the characters pretty much had sex with their bra on. And that is the one time I will argue you need boob
Erick: because no one’s doing, it’s called sex in the city, babe. Not boobs in the som
Vivi: boobs in the city.
Erick: Welcome back to the chicken. Not scared podcast here with you as always your host, Eric and VB. Today, we’re gonna be talking about the 1992 film Candyman directed by a Bernard rose.
But before we get into that, how are you, baby?
Vivi: It’s been a really lazy Sunday, but I’m excited to finally cover Candyman. I’ve never seen it before. Heard it talked about so much.
Erick: Let’s do this. Yeah, I’m excited too. I want to watch the new one now that we’ve seen this. Cause I remember my family always talking about it.
They used to scare the shit out of us as kids. Cause we’re obviously from Chicago and they would always say like, say his name in the mirror. And we had a candy land board game that they would kind of correlate with Candyman. Yeah. They liked messing with us. Yeah. That Chucky bunch of other stuff. Yeah.
Vivi: And Chucky take place in Chicago. So very scary to me.
Erick: What do you ever give you content
Vivi: I think the new probably have the same groupie content.
We watch Crimson peak with nightmare for years and grow that scary this week on clubhouse. And it was a real fun.
Erick: Yeah. I’d never seen it. You said you’ve seen it more than
Vivi: once. Yeah, I saw it closer to when it first came out. And then recently for an article we did for Sharay.
Erick: It was fun. I liked it. It’s another Del Toro film. gave me devil’s backbone vibes. the specters are similar word. Their fluids are floating in space. Yeah,
Vivi: definitely his signature style. It’s a really beautiful looking movie, but it’s not my favorite Del Toro.
Erick: Yeah. It ends like gangs in New York for some reason. It’s fun though. I kind of liked it. The twist at the end is obvious. Obviously. I’m weird.
Vivi: I think that’s the part that makes me like about the movie. Not that like anything like that was new because game of Thrones had done it a million times already, but I just didn’t see where it fit in this like ghost story.
Erick: I think I could’ve done without it. It could’ve just been like his caretaker or something. I dunno, which also is fucking weird.
On that super comforting note? What do you have for comfort content?
Vivi: I really like pride and prejudice. So I’ve just been listening to the audio book for the 10th million time and I have it on all the time.
Erick: Is it really that good? I don’t think I’ve ever seen it.
Vivi: I love it. I don’t know why I love it. It’s just something so specific to the period drama of it all.
It talks about like social class in it’s just a classic book that I liked a
Erick: lot.
Vivi: Well, what about
Erick: you? I’ve actually continued to be obsessed with Pokemon. So I got more Pokemon cards and actually made some tick talks of, been posting like two videos a day. go check it out and be like Pokemon.
If not, I mean, it’s fine. I’ll be a nerd by myself, but I also got Pokemon snap from Vivi. as a Valentine’s day gift. That’s early, but we’re gonna play tonight probably because I used to play the one from Nintendo 64, so much. It’s gonna be fun. I can’t wait.
Vivi: Yeah. I like how switch revamped a lot of the and 64 games.
Erick: Yeah. You still have to finish your all-star is Mario game. Yeah. It has Mario sunshine and I really wanted to play that when I was a kid, I never had a game cube and I used to just see people talk about how awesome it was and I could never play
Vivi: it.
Well, I’ve never played it so we can play it together.
Erick: If you, like, Mario 64, you would love galaxy.
Vivi: All right. Let’s plant. Cause that’s what I’ve been playing 64.
Erick: and you still didn’t get my metal, Mario joke about ghost Ghostface.
Vivi: Ah, yes. You won’t let that go.
Erick: Someone on the internet. Got it. When I tweeted about it, someone yeah. One person knew what I was talking about.
Vivi: That’s a real soulmate there.
Erick: I don’t even know if it was a real account. It might’ve been a bot, thanks. Yeah. Well, you came up with today’s drink. What do we have today? What was the inspiration?
Vivi: having never seen this movie before, I did know about there being a ton of bees in here. So I just went with the obvious of doing a honey cocktail. I was trying to think of something and found out that there is a cocktail called the bees knees. So I kind of made a variation of that drink because I think it has gin in it.
And we did Jen, not that long ago. So I wanted one with tequila I just substituted that. And it has a lot of honey syrup in it. So I’m thinking it’s going to be really love
Erick: me some honey assuming you were going to say, cause it’s sweet.
You expect me to hate it. I do really like honey, when you were making me tea while I was sick and I started making my own tea, the ginger tea. The honey. I think that’s like the sweet, I can tolerate a lot of,
Vivi: it’s like the most natural sweet, isn’t it? Yeah.
because this drink is tequila, the version I saw of it had miscalendared and I didn’t want to add Ms. Gunn. So I decided to do an adjoining shot with it. So I’m going to call this the hook and the beasting
Erick: I could dig that
Vivi: okay. So the shot actually has Ms. Scott in it, and I added some orange, the core.
So
Erick: yum, what kind of orange? The core now that we know there’s four.
Vivi: grand Marnier. I don’t know if that’s how you pronounce it, but grandma, you got to say it fancy.
Erick: Cheers.
Vivi: Cheers.
Erick: It’s ripe with tequila smell.
Vivi: I you sent the audio. The recipe called for silver tequila, but I don’t love silver tequila unless it’s in a margarita. I
Erick: It starts off kind of like a sour and then you get the hints of honey and the tequila. It’s all makes us pretty well.
Vivi: Like, kind of tastes like tea,
Erick: spicy tea. Yeah. Like imagine adding lime and honey to tea. That’s kind of what it takes. Like
Vivi: I love this.
Erick: this thing, let’s try that one.
Vivi: Is this
Erick: sweeter? It’s very orangy and smokey.
Vivi: I think I like the main cocktail a little better, definitely a super easy shot.
You can throw these down better than straight liquor
what do you rate it?
Erick: I like honey, like I said, and I just liked the warm feeling that it kind of gives you as you drink it. I give this a four.
Vivi: I really like this.
I’m going to give it a five out of five.
Erick: Oh, wow.
Vivi: I just love tequila.
Erick: So
Vivi: It’s just great. What do you think of the shot?
Erick: 2.5 because it is a little sweeter,
Vivi: I would give it a three out of five as well for a shot. Not the best, not the worst.
Erick: It definitely will sting you though.
Don’t drink too many of these because they are dangerous.
Vivi: Speaking of these things, are you going to sting me with some facts?
Erick: I have a lot of them, so yes, casting for the film could have been very different. We could have had Eddie Murphy as the Candyman and Sandra Bullock has Helen. This could have been a fucking comedy movie.
Vivi: I cannot imagine those actors in this
Erick: movie, Eddie Murphy was like already. Famous at this point but he was just too expensive to even consider Sandra Bullock, however, was the third contender. And still wasn’t even famous yet
Vivi: right?
Because this is 92,
Erick: So The role was originally going to go into Bernard Rose’s wife, but she got pregnant. And so it went to Virginia Madsen, but Sandra Bullock was the third. If Madsen did. Sandra was going to take it. This could have been like a comedy. It’s a weird,
Vivi: yeah, would have like, not been taken seriously.
I think have those two actors had to lead.
Erick: I mean, maybe we’re thinking that now. Cause I think Sandra just, depends on you know her in.
Cause if you haven’t seen anything serious with her or you just kind of are like
Vivi: what, he’s a comedy actress you think, but Eddie Murphy has only done comedy that I am aware of.
Erick: Right. Speaking of changes, the Candyman was originally a man with pale skin and long blonde hair wearing brightly colored clothing in the forbidden,
As it says in the opening credits, the film is based on a short story called the forbidden by Clive Barker, who was also known for Hellraiser.
Vivi: This movie definitely has Hellraiser vibes.
Erick: dream from another world
Vivi: pain is exquisite, whatever he says,
Erick: Clive Barker is British and originally had the stories set in Liverpool, but it was changed to Chicago at Bernard roses. After changing the setting of the Chicago rose wanted the film to take place in the worst part of Chicago at the time and was pointed to Cabrini green.
The film crew actually filmed there and had police escorts followed them around for protection. They even hired some local folks to keep gangs in the area away.
Vivi: I believe I saw somewhere too, that they paid people off. Like they paid gang members to leave them alone.
Erick: I work in construction, not like physically, but when we have crews go out to the south side, I just think it’s crazy when they say they had to hire an armed escort to go there when we are there just like everyday doing our own thing.
You know what I mean? so hard to comment on it
Vivi: it’s also hard to come men on it because I don’t believe this specific housing exists anymore. I think it was torn down eventually.
And what we see a lot here is neighborhoods can go from being like the worst within a couple decades to being extremely gentrified and becoming the new up and coming neighborhoods.
Erick: So open up a Starbucks and it no longer looks
Vivi: like this. Yeah. Open up your hipster vegan coffee shop, and suddenly there’s no people of color in your neighborhood. So
Erick: yeah, I don’t know. I can comment on this shit all day. Anyway. Ruthie Jean’s murder by someone who came through her bathroom cabinet is actually based on the true murder of Ruthie may McCoy in 1987, who was murdered in that exact way.
There were also other murders that happened in the same Mo at the time.
Vivi: Follow-up question. I don’t know if it’s in your notes, but was this in Chicago? Yes. Oh, What are some kind of like true crime inspiration in here?
Erick: Philip Glass was the composer for the score of the movie. When they reached out to him for the score, he created it and was pissed when he saw what movie it was applied to, because he was like, this is like a shitty horror gory movie. And I was over here trying to make something classical and was upset that they lied to him.
Vivi: that’s upsetting. Cause I think the score of this movie is awesome and I am so surprised. It’s not more iconic in the way that like Michael score is iconic. The way Friday song is iconic.
Erick: He’s come back though and said that he’s still making money from this, so he’s not as upset. Put some money in shove it up someone’s ass and they’ll shut the fuck up about it.
Many were concerned that a white English man writing an African-American horror villain would be full of negative racial stereotypes. Producers made him consult the NAACP before starting production, who approved the script and thought it would be great to see a black actor play someone like Freddy.
This doesn’t mean people still didn’t find the movie problematic. Some have even said it uses white people’s fear of black people and racial stereotypes for shock value.
Vivi: mentioned this to you before we started recording, and we’ll say it right off the bat. We’re not the people to comment on this.
We are not educated enough on the subject. We obviously noticed the racial tones in the movie. The only thing that I personally. No. Well, there’s a lot of things, but one that really stood out to me is that Candyman is instead of seeking revenge on the people who we assumed murdered him being white men, he is terrorizing people of his own race, which I thought was really odd.
I don’t know. No,
Erick: I thought so too. What I thought you were going to say was that instead of getting revenge against the white men who punished him, he’s out here trying to get the woman he died for. This is like a love story. It’s not even like he’s given a full-on I’m a murderer. You like Freddy or Jason’s story.
he’s got This romantic Phantom of the opera story undertone.
Vivi: I’ve seen it compared to that a lot. we’ll just say there is way better podcasters to talk about this movie.
There’s definitely like so much information out there that you could seek out. We’re just here to talk about it and terms of horror. Yeah.
Erick: And then there’s this last one, which is probably the most famous one fact, which is that all the bees in the film were real Tony Todd who plays Candyman negotiated with producers, that he would get an extra thousand dollars for every beasting inflicted on him.
He ended up getting stung 23 times, but several precautions were also taken the beads were bred specifically for the film so that they were young. Apparently they’ve sting less when they’re younger. The cast was also covered in the queen sent to reduce stinging side fun fact reading. This reminded me of the scene from the movie.
With Macaulay Culkin.
Vivi: I’ve never seen it, but I know that he dies from,
Erick: well, not one big thing. Oh, it’s a lot. Yeah. Oh God. Okay. And the beekeeper from that film was hired to do this.
Vivi: I never seen the movie and I think it’s because like, I don’t know. I want
Erick: to see that. It’s really sad. I remember watching that as good
Vivi: looking as dead.
What? Richie Richard
Erick: is dead. What home kid is dead. What,
Vivi: I’ve seen that fact everywhere was Virginia Madsen allergic to
Erick: bees. Yes. So she was allergic to bees. I wanted to save this specific fun fact for later, but for all those scenes where the Candyman quote unquote puts her under a spell, she was actually. They’ve been enticed by rose I don’t believe that stuff.
I don’t believe that people can actually be hypnotized, but that goes into like, what do you believe? What do you not? Because apparently she was, she was hypnotized and it was just her and him alone. And he would hypnotize her to make things easier and more believable.
So for the BC and he also had an advisor so that she wouldn’t be as afraid. don’t know, I was reading the interview. This is from Madsen. She said that he was like, it’s not even that bad. And kind of like forced her. It seems like, but she was like, I was an actress just trying to do whatever to get a paycheck.
So I did it, but he was like, don’t even worry about it. It’s not even that bad. And she’s like, I’m definitely afraid. I’m allergic. He made her go get tests to make sure she wasn’t because he didn’t believe her. Oh fuck. turns out she’s like more allergic to wasps and bees. I don’t know. I don’t know what the real context is of it.
That’s the way I read her interview. And I was like, that’s kind of shitty. If my boss is telling me now, fuck you. You’re stupid. You’re not actually learned to go get a test. I bet. You’re not like I don’t have to prove shit to you.
Vivi: Yeah. I read somewhere that they had to keep like emergency services there, like an ambulance and EpiPens just
Erick: in case.
Yeah. They had the whole crew ready, So hypnotism allergic tests, all those kinds of things were done to make sure she was good.
Vivi: It really makes you appreciate that scene. Like way more. Cause it’s crazy.
Erick: All the bees in his mouth are real too. Yeah, that’s great. And he got 23,000 bucks just for getting stung.
what I was thinking about is like 23 beasts things. I just automatically, again think of my girl but I think he dies because he was allergic. I used to, for the longest time, think that one B could just kill you because of that movie straight up murder you.
I thought it was a horror movie. I don’t even think it is. I think it’s like a romantic movie or whatever. Anytime I got stung by a bee, I was like, I’m going to die.
Vivi: if anything, after watching hereditary, keep an epi pen on you at all times, even if you’re not allergic to anything just in case
Erick: right now, I’m thinking did Alex Wolf have ants on his face?
For real? If he didn’t, he needs to learn from Kenny
Vivi: man needs to get on her level.
Erick: Right? He’s over here trying to smash his face in desks. He needs to have some real and swarm on his body. If he really wants to be on the edge, throwing himself out windows, no, put some ants on your body. Good job. Tony Todd real hero. Are you ready for the speed run? No, clearly. 1, 2, 3
Vivi: go.
Vivi: Okay. So we get introduced to the legend of Candyman, through a student who is like giving this report to Helen, who is working on a thesis with her friend, Bernadette.
She um, is investigating the Candyman. Her husband also works at UIC and is like teaching legends. He’s totally banging one of his students, but like, we don’t see that till later. So um, Helen is just obsessed with her thesis and getting as much information as possible to the point where she goes investigates in the projects where this urban legend kind of uh, is born, originated from.
Um, She keeps like going back and asking questions and asking questions. Then it eventually gets her in trouble with a gang member who then kind of hits her with a hook, kind of like the legend to keep her from like investigating too much. Um, It goes to shit from there because we find out that Kenny man is actually real and kind of influences her to do terrible things.
She like may have murdered a dog kidnapped someone’s baby, and then like she’s getting put in jail and all fuck. Um, And then
Erick: I psyched you out with telling you that you didn’t even finish the last movie you did. It’s okay. You did. Okay. I thought you were going to beat it once he said she does a bunch of shit. I thought you were going to just stay.
Vivi: Yeah, well, yeah. Cause he told me I like totally missed the ending of the last that’s.
Okay.
Erick: I really suck at these. So I mean, you do way better than I do. But you failed so
Vivi: bottoms up. Oh, we’ll finish the rest of this. Beasting cause we just sipped it thing.
Erick: That’s a soft shop. That’s a pretty soft B. Was it bred 12 hours before this podcast?
Vivi: Yes. And you get paid a thousand dollars for every one you do. Just kidding. Don’t ask us for a thousand
Erick: listener. If you want to see us do more shots, most,
Vivi: if you have a thousand dollars just laying around like that.
Erick: Yeah. Anyway. Good job. Are you ready for what the internet says? Yes. it’s going to be like the south side killed a bunch of people. Just like the news for the news.
The Candyman, a murderer soul with a hook forehand is accidentally summoned to reality by a skeptic grad student research in the Monster’s myths.
Vivi: Okay.
Erick: Accidentally. She accidentally summoned them.
Vivi: She seems pretty involved.
Erick: Right. I don’t think it was an accident.
She literally went out here and said, I’m not a cop, but candy man. Come out here.
Vivi: Yeah. it seems pretty deliberate.
Erick: I am D BS gives it a 6.6 out of 10
Vivi: I feel like Corey usually ends up in the five.
Erick: Let’s dive into it. I’m excited for it. Give yourself a beast thing.
Grab yourself a hook and get ready for this. We got an opening shot of the expressway living in Chicago, and then the city skyline, as the Candyman speak saying what’s blood for, if not for spilling, I like his speech. It’s just very hypnotizing. I think the way that Helen acts, when he’s speaking kind of oozes into the viewer you’re like trying to understand too, what the fuck he means? We get a up of a swarm of bees and then a swarm approaching the city.
Vivi: that’s warm of apocalyptic bees over the city kind of goes nowhere. It’s just an opening
Erick: shot. Right? Cause I think it would be all over the fucking news.
If it’s just a giant swarm of bees hit downtown Chicago, specifically the Hancock building,
Vivi: I will say. I went to UIC where a majority of the campus scenes take place. That place does have a shit ton of beef
Erick: because of the candy man. Maybe
Vivi: similar to creep show, they just released all the bees into the UIC campus,
Erick: Hey, save the bees in front of him. This is an allegory for saving them.
Vivi: Absolutely. That’s what
Erick: this film’s really about. Yeah. Peter was behind it.
Isn’t Peter
Vivi: like a terrible organisms. Yes.
Erick: This is a horror movie. I don’t know what you want to say. Okay. In a classroom, a one tells a story of Clara who was with a boy named Michael, but had the hots for a boy named Billy one night. She might Billy over while she’s babysitting, Billy and Clara are in a bathroom and she asks him if he had ever heard the story of the Candyman, she explains he was a man who had his hand and saw it off.
And now has a hook in the stump. She says to summon him, you have to say his name five times in the mirror and L peer behind you. While Billy tries to be seductive, they say his name and nothing happens. He tries to make a move, but she says she doesn’t want to do it here and sends them downstairs
Vivi: When you’re in the mood. Are you just like, do you want to play a game?
Erick: Does that, why scream started the way it did what the fuck did Billy say? was always a Billy. We need to get a little radar and stop being PG 13.
She shared an assembly downstairs and they could have really just been into it, hooks into both of them.
Vivi: And then, and we’re in Hellraiser territory again? The character of Billy.
Erick: Oh my God. Yeah, he does. When she said these are teenagers, it was Lou. Was that actor. It looks like Sam
Vivi: Raimi. It’s Sam Rami’s brother, I think.
Oh, is it a fucking thing? That’s why I was asking.
Erick: Who’s the, he looks so much like Sam right here.
Ted Ramey, Billy.
wall alone. She says it a fifth time. And the candy man shows up in a flash binder downstairs. Billy awaits in the sofa when he hears the scream and sees blood leaking from the ceiling
Flashback to the girl, telling him the story. He says, Billy was scared, so bad. His hair turned white, Clara was killed.
And so it was the baby. She was babysitting.
I thought this blood leaking from the selling was pretty cool It kind of reminded me of nightmare on Elm street.
Vivi: I did. I got
Erick: that vibe too. I thought we were going to be re-introduced to Clara and her friends. These characters are kind of just there to introduce you to the horror story and then don’t really ever come
Vivi: back.
Yeah, this is very much just an introduction to the urban legend. I believe I saw somewhere that they married bloody Mary and the urban legend of the hook in the car together to get candy. Man’s legend.
Erick: You’re talking about like tow trucks. So Mader started this.
Vivi: No, the legend of the hook, you know, where the couples that make up point the broadcast comes over the radio.
An insane dude escaped. He has a hook for our hand, the girl freaks out and wants to go home. The dude is mad when they pull up to her house to let her out. There’s a hook in
Erick: the story of the hash thing and slasher basically,
Vivi: We find out that it is Helen, who is doing the interviews on these students. She walks into another classroom to find her friend, Bernadette, who is also working on the same thesis as her interviewing another student. We’re not sure if they’re students or just people they’ve found for their thesis, and he’s kind of telling a different version of the urban legend
just to kind of show you how much urban legends can change when they’re told and retold. Brenda is played by
Erick: Casey lemons,
Vivi: Who we literally just covered in sounds of
Erick: lambs.
I think this was the last well-known film that she was in she actually switched to directing herself and has directed a bunch of other things. apparently one of her students went on to do the new Candyman,
Vivi: That’s awesome. But it kind of makes me sad because I feel like she had the potential to be another horror icon. And she was like put in the token best friend
Erick: role. Yeah. Yeah. I hate that so much. She played literally the same character. it almost feels like
Vivi: she definitely had more screen time in this than silence of the lambs.
And again, like silence of the lambs was so critically acclaimed. You think she would have been cast in more roles?
we then cut to Helen walking through the university of Illinois at Chicago or UIC, she enters the classroom where they’re discussing modern folklore and the fear of urban society. Helen approaches the professor and notices a group of students stick around to say, bye or comments on the lecture.
We get introduced to a girl named Stacy who. It’s definitely flirting with the professor and stares at Helen for way too long. We find out that the professor is Trevor and it is actually Helen’s husband. She points out how Stacy was glaring at her and blushing and what didn’t even like acknowledge her really.
And he’s kind of like, oh, really? You’re going to do the jealous wife thing. Like, what do you think is
Erick: happening? He endlessly brushes her aside on her concerns, this entire fountain. when dude like you clearly are fucking this girl.
Vivi: I noticed we do this a lot in movies and I guess I’m just going to introduce it as a thing.
the true villain of this story, we do this in like every episode. So I’m going to award the true villain of this story to Trevor.
Erick: Ooh, we should just do this from now on. Should we make a jingle for it?
Vivi: Yeah,
Erick: are they trash?
Vivi: Are they the true villain? Yes. Got sidetracked. Yeah, she just kind of asks him why he’s doing this lecture on modern.
folklore, he just brushes her off and says that I can’t wait for you to finish your thesis with Bernadette before giving my class. that’s just kind of his role, like you said, throughout the movie, just brushing her off.
We got to Helen in a classroom listening back to the tapes on handyman, when a custodial worker comes in and says, Hey, do you mind if I clean.
She overhears the tapes and says, oh, you’re studying Candyman. We learned that this woman’s name is Henrietta. she mentions that she’s heard stories about him everyone fears him, especially after dark. She says that he’s known to be around Cabrini green, and one of her friends lives there. Helen asked if she could talk to her friend and Henrietta calls to another custodial worker named Katie. Katie tells her the story of Ruthie Jean who was murdered in her bathtub. A neighbor heard loud smashing and tried to call the police multiple times, but they just blew her off and thought she was crazy.
Ruthie Jean was eventually found dead and killed with a hook. These women believe that Candyman is the one that killed her.
Erick: The Candyman wasn’t actually responsible yet, right?
Vivi: Yeah. It was just this criminal working under legend, which is pretty like, smart because it’s almost like your crimes become urban legend, but then not because you’re bringing up a lot of fear in the community.
Erick: It makes me think that if the people in the neighborhood know that this guy is actually real, Jake recognizes him right away, why wouldn’t they make a mob and get them themselves? But it looks like he’s instilled fear. I think they say he’s like a crime Lord.
Vivi: Yeah. So it seems like he might have some control over the community, with the information that Helen has given, she begins to look through newspapers, Q the microfiche scene in every movie.
Erick: I only recognize those now because of what episode was it? that you were like microfiche. And I was like, the fuck is that it’s
Vivi: in every movie.
I think it was in ring when I like specifically pointed out, because there’s so much microfiche in that one. That’s right. That’s right. But it’s an, every single horror
Erick: movie. Damn what a world completely
Vivi: the place by an internet search now in films, I believe. Yeah. point is Helen is looking through microfiche. She’s looking through old newspapers about the murders of Ruthie Jean and several others that kind of check out with kitty story back at her apartment with Bernadette, she shows her the articles and says that Caprini green is a bad place. People are sharp there every day. Ellen points out that her building is just like the one Ruthie Jean was murdered and says her condo was actually meant to be a housing project, but was eventually repurposed for condos.
Erick: This is like very specific Chicago details, but they point out that because in the city they can do this by hiding the bad side, quote, unquote of the city by using the elevated CTA to block it out of the fancy people’s view from the gold coast that here they couldn’t do the same.
So they had to repurpose the area and they even make a comment about like, Helen, how much are you actually paying in here?
Vivi: And she’s like, don’t ask about it. this is just all very specific to people who are from Chicago. really wonder if like the cult following of this movie is like part of Chicago.
Erick: I mean, I’m sure it is. I like seeing a movie that takes place in Chicago.
Vivi: At least we got a couple horror classics. Imagine living somewhere like Ohio, you get no money.
Erick: Now I want to look up.
Vivi: She then takes Bernadette to her bathroom where she believes the killer came through the mirror. She shows her that if she pulls off the mirror, the only thing separating her apartment from the next one is another back of the mirror.
And I am so glad that in our place, we do not have these.
Erick: No, because the back of our mirror is our bedroom
Vivi: and it is glued to the wall.
She shows her that if she knocks through that mirror, she can actually push it off and see the other apart.
Erick: Right. She’s straight up fucking up other people’s houses. And Bernadette’s like, what are you doing? And she’s like, it’s cool. No one lives there. Meanwhile, whole ass family looks
Vivi: through. I think she does say like, what if someone’s like on the toilet? And she’s like, it’s vacant. It’s like, ma’am what if it’s not,
Erick: are you going to go into the apartment next door and put the fucking cabinet back?
The realtor is going to come in, showing the place like, look, everything is great. The bathrooms are redone. This fucking cab that’s on the floor. And we could see another neighbor’s
Vivi: house. And she’s in there. Like what?
Erick: Taking a shit.
Vivi: They kind of laugh about the situation and laugh off. Even the existence of Candyman Helen and Bernadette say his name four times, but Bernadette stopped short of saying it. The fifth time, me being held in to be the only one to say it, Helen laughs and calls her a chicken and they just kind of leave it at that
Erick: idiots.
Vivi: Mm mm. Did you ever play bloody.
Erick: As a kid. No, I did not. But you want to do it today? No. Okay.
That night, we get a hallway view of her bathroom cabinet. While Helen lays in bed, she starts hearing noise and gets the shit scared out of her by Trevor who jumps on top of her, the next scene is Ellen and Bernadette heading to Cabrini green.
Bernadette goes through her bag, showing all the protection. She has saying there’s a lot of gang activity there. And Helen makes fun of her for it for some fucking reason. Like she’s so ready to go. She’s like, it’s only eight blocks away. You’re over-exaggerating but she’s literally been told, like, this is the worst part of the city.
Vivi: Yeah. And again, I don’t know if it’s just because we’re from Chicago and we know this to be true. Eight blocks really makes a difference. We are one of the most, if not the most racially segregated cities in America.
Erick: Yeah. When I used to read about Chicago and history books, he used to be like, Chicago was like the melting pot of the United States. I have heard other people refer to it more like a salad
Vivi: because they don’t
Erick: touch.
We literally have literally Italy, Chinatown, little village, which is like mostly Hispanic people. There’s also like humble park, which is mostly Puerto Rican. Like it’s just so segregated. Even amongst minority groups. It’s crazy. Helen makes fun of her for some reason.
Bernadette has the common sense to know where she’s going and be safe about it. And Helen’s got that same attitude that like white people think that they’re invincible and can just go in here and keeps using that whole rhetoric that I’m not a cop, but also they’re going to think we’re cops.
So we’re safe. Yeah.
Vivi: It’s a weird,
Erick: Bernadette has a taser, pepper spray. She’s got everything. She needs to go here. Helen asks her, whether she’d rather do this or go back to their classroom and write the same old thing for their thesis
they show up to the building where people are posted up and staring at them, they approached the building while the men cat call them. Bernadette is scared, but Helen talks her through it saying that because they think they’re cops.
They won’t do anything to them, bro, because they think they’re cops, they’re gonna do something to you.
Vivi: if anything, that’s worse.
Erick: They noticed the elevator doesn’t work. And as the men are surrounding them, they ask what they’re looking for. Helen tells them that they’re not cops and decides to take the stairs, Bernadette hesitates. But Ellen says that they won’t follow. They find graffiti on the wall that says suites to the suite.
And as they’re taking pictures, a woman opens the door with her barking, Roddy, little Rottweiler. He’s cute. They say, sorry. And continue into an apartment, which we’re assuming was Ruthie’s.
Vivi: Something like that really out to me in this film is that they’re wearing. Super eighties codes, even though it’s 92, it’s like shoulder pads up the ass there peacoats, right?
Yeah. It’s very eighties. Despite being a nineties film,
Erick: ellen continues to take pictures while Bernadette says they shouldn’t even be there. Helen checks, the medicine cabinet removes it and decides to cross over to the other side. Bernadette tries to stop her common sense and says, if there are drugs, what are you going to do?
Just apologize and say, Hey, we’re here for a thesis, which he fucking does later. Yeah. Helen brushes her aside and tells her to wait five minutes. She learned that shit from Trevor rushing people aside with commonsense, Helen takes more photos. it’s kind of cool. She exits this hole in the wall the camera’s zooms out.
And it’s a mural of a man screaming with his mouth open. And the hole is the mouth.
Vivi: It’s a pretty cool shot
Erick: at the base. She finds a of candy filled with razorblades
Vivi: The scene with the candy goes nowhere. No,
Erick: I thought it was going to be that that was related to the Candyman, who is the fake if anything, other than personal story about him being the quote unquote Candyman, there’s no real reference to candy at all here. No. Other than like the sweets to the sweet, but even that’s like, okay, what does that mean?
Vivi: I might watch the sequels because apparently his lore and the explanation of what sweets to my sweet mean come in the later movies.
Erick: That’s unfortunate what if you don’t watch this equals?
Vivi: Yeah, I kind of wanted to know more about his lore, but yeah, the candy and the, razors and the candy go nowhere. seems like an offering to him. If anything,
Erick: I think that’s just something that was like a source of fear at the time.
Wasn’t it? Weren’t they always saying that during Halloween people were giving out candies with razorblades.
Vivi: I heard this a million times growing up. It was always on the news.
Erick: Back to Bernadette. She waits, nervously smoking a cigarette. When Helen scares her through the cabinet hole, as Bernadette says, they have to go.
They’re startled by the woman with the dog who says they don’t belong there.
Vivi: Helen tries to give the woman that barged in, on them, her card and explains that they’re there for their thesis as the lady stares at her, like, okay.
Erick: Okay.
Vivi: she hears a baby crying she goes immediately to pay attention to her baby. They follow her. And she says white people coming into the apartments only means trouble.
The woman says if they’re doing a study, they’re probably only going to say that the people who live here are bad, nothing but drugs stealing gang-banging.
And they’re not all about that.
We find out that this woman’s name is Ann Marie she doesn’t mean to be rude, but white people aren’t usually friendly. As she’s saying these things, the baby gets fussy and Helen runs to go get something for her to help with the baby.
And Marie decides to tell them about Ruthie Jean’s murder. She says she heard the screaming and called the police, but no one cared. She says she’s scared for her and her child because no one is going to catch the Candyman. cut to a man laughing.
Helen and Bernadette are at dinner with Trevor and a man named Purcell
Erick: She is saying a very real story. That’s happening in her area, Cabrini green people aren’t taking seriously when they need help. The cops were never there and think that they’re crazy.
And we get this very entitled laugh from Purcell at a fancy restaurant. That’s done. It has to be, I heard the laugh immediately. I was like, man, fuck that guy. I don’t even know him yet, but
Vivi: fuck them. Yeah.
Erick: They’re really shitty. it’s just written all over their face that they feel like they’re better than everyone, including Helen, who is his own life,
Vivi: the wife. And that’s like, so upsetting
Erick: but everybody at that table, except for Helen and Bernadette Helen A.
Little bit. Yeah.
Vivi: Per cell jokes about their thesis and says he can help them with it.
Helen snaps back and says that they’re going to bury him with their research Purcell laughs at them and burn it that says that they recently visited Cabrini. We have this moment of Trevor kind of telling Helen to like shut up, Purcell says he knows. What happened there and wrote a paper about it 10 years ago, he laughs in their face as he explains the legend. It’s a really funny moment because he’s like, you know, the legend of the Candyman. Right.
And then Helen, very deadpan is like, no, she is writing an entire thesis on it. It’s very mansplaining.
Erick: Yeah. I would’ve rather had Alan be like, I found that in research fuck Purcell, Purcell’s whole character didn’t exist to be this shitty entitled man who mansplained serves no purpose other than this.
And then later at the funeral to point out, oh my God, the black people are coming to the funeral. Yes.
Vivi: Again, like you said, I think his character is very on purpose. he’s laughing right after we mentioned the struggles of a marginalized neighborhood. And then instead of treating Helen, like someone that he could maybe collaborate with someone who says equal in the academic field, he’s explaining her own Theaster, not to say that he’s not an expert, but wouldn’t,
Erick: you you’d be a little more open to being like, okay, what do you know?
And I’ll fill in the gaps, let’s work together. You don’t have to be so like entitled on it.
Vivi: Yeah. He then explains the legend of Candyman. He said that the legend first appeared in the 1890s. Candyman was the son of a slave who made a fortune because he invented a device that could mass produce shoes during the civil war, because of this Candyman was able to go to some of the best schools and lived in high society.
He became well-known as an artist and was commissioned to do a lot of portraits for a lot of rich families. One day he was commissioned by a landowner to paint his daughter for sale. Makes a point to mention his like beautiful version old daughter, which
Erick: is okay. Captured the virginal image and presence of his daughter.
bet you though. 100%. That’s how the fucker described his own daughter though.
Vivi: That’s the fucked up part. Can you just capture all that? I’m a burden in this portrait. Thank you. how do you capture
Paint. My vulva. Should,
Erick: that’s what the dad said. And he said, but my daughter capture my vulva shut on my daughter.
Yeah,
Vivi: something else. But the two eventually fell in love and she became pregnant. When the father found out, he decided to get revenge and had people chase Candyman down all the way to Cabrini green.
The mob sawed off his hand and replaced it with a hook and then proceeded to cover him with bees while he was naked, until he was eventually stung to death, he was then burned on a higher and his ashes were scattered all over Cabrini.
First
Erick: of all, poor people. What the fuck? Why do they have to go out here and inhale someones ashes? Second of all, the way that they put this hook on his hand is fucking brutal. Cause it’s got nails in it in the stump.
Vivi: It’s a very odd way to torture
Erick: someone. If you’re going to kill them and burn them.
Why
Vivi: give them a weapon that can be. Because if you did that, I’m swinging, I’m going to start taking you guys down.
Erick: I think he says specifically the legend shows that hooligans were the ones who were hired I
Vivi: kind of viewed this as a polite way of a white man saying this was a lynching mob.
These were white men,
but the entire time that he is telling this legend, we are focusing on Helen space who seems to be very entranced by the story.
Erick: Helen goes back looking for Ann Marie and no one answers a kid named Jake watches and tells her she’s not home. The ride is in the window work. And I heard so cute. Helen asks him if he knew Ruthie Jean, he hesitates, as she tells him, she’s not a cop. Only a cop would say, I’m not a cop. He says he can’t say anything or else the Candyman will get him. Honestly, I think at this point, Jake is talking about the guide the Lord of crime, the load of crime.
means that much more later when Jake’s like, wait, he’s not real. I literally
Vivi: saw him. I literally saw him give you that black guy.
Erick: He says he’s not scared, but that she’s crazy for even looking for him. She says she’s not scared either. And asks him to show her where the Candyman is.
He’s like, okay, your own damn funeral. he takes her to a public bathroom nearby and tells her the story of a kid who he says for some reason is a R word doesn’t even add value to the story.
Vivi: It’s the nineties. I guess we use this language.
Erick: He says, though that the kid was murdered there. His mother was at the store across the street. When suddenly everyone heard screaming, the people nearby, stopped her from running to the bathroom. And a man decided to go check. He says a big strong man, the man wasn’t in there. Five seconds before running out his hair, completely white from fear.
I want to see these people who are allegedly turning white from fear.
Vivi: Some Nancy action.
Erick: But another story that’s kind of weird.
the kid had his junk cutoff and thrown in the toilet. It
Vivi: was castrated by Candyman, even
Erick: worse, knowing that it’s this crime Lord dude, who did it?
Vivi: Why? Yeah, I don’t want
Erick: Helen’s like, did he die? And the kids, like, I mean, he might as well have he doesn’t have his penis anymore. Yeah. Helen asks though, if he’s sure the Candyman did it. And Jake says, yeah. And she goes in because she’s a white lady
Vivi: and she’s gotta be up in everybody’s business.
Erick: The bathroom reeks with writing all over. she checks every stall. And the last one has the writing from earlier that says suites to the suite.
She opens the stall and an arrow points at the toilet. She opens it and finds a swarm of bees inside skin. They’re really public bathrooms would be full of all kinds of bullshit. where it’s literally a hole in the ground and it’s just so much stuff in there.
And I’m like, I’m gonna just shit myself. It’s cool.
Outside someone approaches Jake from behind and he turns slowly saying Candyman in the bathroom. Helen is taking photos. When she sees several men enter with the main one, holding a hook in his hand, she tells them she’s not a cop and doing research for school, just like she said to Bernadette, main man comes up to her and says, I heard you’re looking for a Candyman bitch. And his err, on the side of the head with the hook,
Vivi: it’s pretty intense.
Like, the way it looks in this shot. you think she’d be dead.
She would have lost her. I realistically, I think they had killed her.
Erick: Honestly. And cut her Dick off too. They did this a kid.
Why not her?
Vivi: How did she survive? Well, I brought this question up while we were watching it and it was like something that she points out later on is like, how smart is it to attack a white woman?
Erick: Yeah. I wanted to get there because it’s just so heavy.
Vivi: She brings it up later essentially saying, isn’t it fucked up? That two people are killed in this neighborhood and no one gives a shit, a white woman, his head and they shut the place down.
Erick: Yeah,
Vivi: and isn’t it so sad that this film was made 30 years ago and it’s the fucking
Erick: same. And it’s the
Vivi: same
Erick: shit in the next scene, we see a police lineup of several men repeating the lines. Including the man who did it.
I think it’s just funny. Cause everyone’s like, I heard you were looking for the Candyman bitch. Helen, with a swollen, I pointed them out and is told she’s lucky to be alive. The cop explains he’s responsible for all the killings actually. she asks if Jake is okay.
Vivi: Yeah. It turns out he was working under the moniker of Candyman.
After questioning, she approaches Jake in the home who says that he just wants to go home. He’s pissed and says that she lied to him because it’s supposed to be a secret between them who Candyman is. And that he showed her, this kind
Erick: of crime scene literally said, snitches get stitches.
What the fuck? Helen? We had a deal.
Vivi: Yeah. I don’t blame this kid.
Erick: I literally told you I don’t trust you. you told me to trust you because you’re not a cop. And then you took me straight to the cops. What the fuck?
Vivi: And he is now afraid that Candyman is going to get him.
She reassures him. That Kenny man from the stories is not even. And that they’ve caught the man who did it back home. Helen sets up a nice dinner to celebrate with Trevor. quite some time has passed because her eye has healed. Trevor shows up late, and the scene only really serves two purposes.
One to let us know that Trevor’s kind of doing some sketchy stuff. And later on, it becomes kind of a sweet moment between them. That Trevor is remembering.
Erick: She asks, are you hungry? And he looks disgusted. Like, yeah, I am. But he probably went out to you with Stacy.
Yeah.
Vivi: Or eight out Stacy. I don’t know
Erick: her Volvo.
Vivi: Capture her essence, her Volvo later on, she meets up with Bernadette at school and says Two people were killed and no one cared, but as soon as a white lady gets hurt, the whole neighborhood is shut down. Brenda agrees, but says, at least they caught the man who did it. She also has a surprise for her. She was able to save all the photos that were taken during the incident. They celebrate by saying that the papers are going to love their thesis and their side of the story. And that they’re going to get to work
Erick: on it in the morning. J Jonah Jameson is really going to love those pictures of Candyman.
Vivi: I just love how that meme has been around since we were children still.
Erick: But When she says I saved the photos, I didn’t even think the men probably like destroyed your camera.
Vivi: You know, I feel like the entire purpose of them harassing her was kind of to get her to.
Prodding into them and investigating them. So yeah, this drawing evidence that makes sense. Helen is very excited and is looking over the photos as she walks to her car in the parking lot. She hears someone approaching, but doesn’t pay too much attention until a very deep dreamlike voice says her name,
Erick: enter the Candyman.
Vivi: Finally, Helen sees a man standing a long coat across the parking lot.
Erick: this coat is real nice. I kind of want to find one. This
Vivi: is the most stylish horror icon that I’ve seen.
Love. His coat kind of want one.
It’s very nineties,
Erick: 1890s
Vivi: vibe. It’s very 89 days. You know, it just like a does well survived a
Erick: century.
Vivi: These coats might still be somewhere. If you know where to find one, let me know. She asked him if she knows him he says, no, And that she has doubted him.
She starts getting flashes of the mural and becomes in trance. She starts tearing up and seems hypnotized. As he speaks, he says she wasn’t convinced by his story. So he had to come to her. He says, be my victim.
And he shows her his hook.
Erick: his monologues until you hear them multiple times kind of don’t make sense at first. You’re like, what the fuck are you talking about?
Vivi: Yeah, because he goes on to say that he is the writing on the walls, whispers in the classroom. And without them, I am nothing.
Now I must spill innocent blood. He’s a TOPA. He kind of, is again, when you first hear this, you’re like, what the hell? He is truly a legend. You lives through the retelling of his story. He is somewhat immortal, but someone not as we later find out
the next scene we see is Helen waking up on the bathroom floor of Ann Marie’s. She is completely covered in blood and finds a meat Cleaver right next to her. We hear a woman screaming. As Helen wakes up on the bathroom floor, she is completely covered in blood and finds a meat Cleaver and next to her, she gets up and kind of explores where she is.
And we find out that she’s in an Marie’s apartment and Maria is crying and flailing over the crib, asking where baby Anthony is. She sees Helen who tries to ask her what is happening, but Ann Marie immediately attacks her
and Murray bank. Helen’s had the ground. Helen tries to defend herself by cutting her arm with a meat Cleaver and is found in a very compromising, suspicious position as the police barge in she’s literally over this woman with a meat Cleaver over her head.
Helen is taken to the station and we see her stripped of all her clothes that are covered in blood.
Erick: It’s a really long scene of her just getting naked
Vivi: lifter boob.
Erick: Is there a candy with blades in there?
Vivi: Yeah. She was told she was under arrest because at 10:00 PM and Marie came home and found her dog decapitated. So fucking sad.
Erick: Yeah. Right. He was so
Vivi: cute when she cried for assistance, Helen attacked her and that’s when the officers broke into help, they then ask her where the baby is when she says she doesn’t know, they proceed to say that she is a sick person in shock with all of this.
She asked to make her one phone call. She calls Trevor who doesn’t answer. And the phone goes straight to voice message,
She is then put in a cell where she gets the privilege of having cigarettes with her. Yeah.
Erick: he hasn’t even been in prison that long
Vivi: we get flashes back to the apartment where baby Anthony is crying.
in that secret room in Ruthie Jean’s apartment with a hook over him,
Erick: strike a pose with the hook. I just thought the hook flashing was funny. Cause it’s like baby crying, put hook and image to make people scared. Worried
Vivi: for baby. I think that Anthony is the focus of the 20, 21.
Oh, interesting.
Erick: Trevor brings Helen back home with the help of their lawyer and says, no one thinks she actually did it, but asks what she remembers.
She says she doesn’t know. And just woke up there as she takes a bath. Trevor tells her he’s going to go to the university and moved back in 20 minutes.
She asks why he didn’t answer the phone. When she called. And he says, well, I was asleep and thought maybe you were with Bernadette. When he leaves, she remained suspicious of everything. And she gets her bag of photos, looks at them through projector before noticing that one of them where she took a shot of herself in the mirror, shows the caveman standing by.
I don’t even know that this is possible. I’ve never taken a photo. That’s so fucking blurry, but that’s something blurrier is in the background and I like can make it blurry to make the back thing clear.
Vivi: Yeah. I would not have noticed this at all.
No,
Erick: it’s too forced, but she runs to the bathroom to look in the mirror and a hook comes out at her through the medicine cabinet, scared as fuck. She runs to the hallway and sees him standing at the end of the hall. He repeats for her to be his victim and believe in him. he has the child and must take her life or he’ll take theirs.
your disbelief disrupted my congregation without them. I am nothing. Now I must kill you. Your death will put fear in children, come with me and be immortal. I at first, before we knew that whole 1890 story was wondering why he spoke like this.
Yeah. And it’s just, I guess the old
Vivi: speaker. so actually had to do like a lot of Candyman explained videos after this because having not seen the SQLs the backstory is. Hinted at, but not fully explained or I’m slow and couldn’t catch it.
No,
Erick: honestly, I rely on you to explain things to me. I’m not the best at catching little details yesterday when we were watching it, I was like, what, what does this mean? And you were like, I don’t know. And I was like, what does this mean? You’re like, I don’t know. And I was like, what? You’re the reason I know.
Vivi: Yeah. So had to do some research
just, the way he was saying like things about a congregation he needed people to believe in him. You hear congregation and you think church, but I think it’s in terms of an urban legend,
Erick: almost makes me think that. The fake Candyman existing because the people feared a Candyman. It helped him thrive there, whether they believed in him or the actual Lord.
Vivi: No, yeah. I think that’s true because as soon as he’s arrested and people have a real life face to put to Candyman is when he appears and is like you’re to blame for my LOR being destroyed.
Erick: He says all that as she stares at him again in that same hypnotized state and is cut by the hook on her neck, Bernadette is at the door, ringing the doorbell and poor Bernadette again, what the fuck she should have just left.
Yeah, she knows. Ellen’s crazy. She doesn’t have to follow her around and get killed. Berta does at the door, ringing the doorbell and here’s the commotion. Helen tries to yell out to her to leave, but she can’t scream loud enough. It’s like she’s being suppressed by the Candyman. Bernadette enters the apartment, frantically the door slams quickly behind her.
She turns around and sees that the Candyman is there. He kills her off screen.
Vivi: Or does he.
We could talk about that at the end.
Erick: Yeah. Trevor shows up in shock and sees Helen covered in blood and a knife in her hand, she’s handcuffed. And given the shot, she yells out for Trevor. She sees Bernadette dead on the floor. As cops investigate the murder
Vivi: Poor Bernadette.
The way she was killed seems very brutal because there are picking photographs off her wounds.
The makeup they did on her, I feel like they made her look way too pale. They made her look like
Erick: someone who got.
Vivi: Yeah, if she was caught, like right after the murder was committed.
I don’t know if she would look that pale again, if you’re a forensic scientist, email us, let us know.
Erick: She looks like she was drained of blood. Yeah. Like a blues on from
Vivi: Donna the dead. And I think, I feel like so terrible because Bernadette was like her one true friend in this, like her husband is not there for her at all.
Erick: No later Helen says Trevor was the last thing she had really. But Bernadette was there for her from the start. She even went into this, allegedly violent and dangerous place with her questions asked. Sure. But she still did it. I feel like Trevor would have never done that for Ellen, in a cop car, she sees the flashes of the lights and in a trance-like state flashes of the mural of the man with his mouth open appeared to her.
We hear the Candyman, asked her why she wants to live. He says, it’s a blessing to be whispered about and live in people’s dreams without having to be. She sees a flash of the baby Anthony in the apartment and says, please, God, don’t let him kill the baby
Vivi: But we cut to Helen then being taken to a hospital. She is frantic and keeps asking for Trevor who was holding her hand, but they eventually get separated. She continues to call for him as she is strapped into a bed alone in a room Candyman then appears to her and hovers over her and asks her to give him a kiss.
She calls for help and says the murderer is here. He is under the bed before the. Medical staff comes in and sedates her
Erick: not understanding what the fuck was happening and what Candyman meant by anything. I was like, why is he trying to kiss her?
What is this? What is happening here?
Vivi: Not until you find out that Helen might be his re-incarnated love. Do you kind of understand what’s going on? back at the apartments, we see a scene of baby Anthony cooing as Candyman puts a finger full of honey in his mouth to feed him. And we get another flush of the Huck.
Erick: I didn’t know that he was putting honey in his mouth. I was like, First he wants to kiss hell. And now he’s sticking fingers and beavers miles.
What the fuck is happening here?
Vivi: I’m pretty sure it’s honey that he’s putting in his mouth. We can double-check that. But it came at a time where I was like, yo, well, this baby even still be alive. It’s been so many days and it hasn’t been bad. And then I was like, oh, I guess, yeah, if you’re feeding the baby, honey,
but the next thing we get is Helen being woken up and wheeled to the office of Dr. Berg, when forms are that she’s been there for a month, but she’s been drugged on Thorazine the entire time. And is this legal?
Erick: I mean, it was state man that, okay. We’ve learned that the law can do whatever the fuck they want,
Vivi: and this feels very illegal, but Helen is apprised and yells at him. He informs her that it’s state mandated because he is part of her defense team. As she is being charged with first degree murder, he asks her what happens.
And she’s trying to say that she is not capable of murder and that she is not crazy. He then shows her footage of when she first arrived in that scene where we saw Candyman floating above her and then under her bed. We now get the camera’s point of view where she is just talking and screaming at him.
Erick: Yeah. Kudos to Helen though. I think if I had seen that shit and I like truly went through this, I’d be like, I’m fucking crazy. I don’t know what I’m doing here,
Vivi: but she doesn’t. She stands her ground and says that Candyman is responsible for this and she can prove it. She then turns to a mirror in the room and says his name five times.
Erick: Yeah. This movie from here on out just goes insane. It is wild.
Vivi: Burke just kind of looks at her disappointed before he starts screaming in pain. And we see Candyman behind him, stabbing him repeatedly with his hook all the way along the back of his neck. Helen screams as Candyman removes her restraints and jumps out the window.
Very stylish. I will say saying tonight, the congregation will witness some new miracle. The staff begins to realize something is wrong and is banging on the door. As Helen decides to climb out the window and follow Candyman. Fuck
Erick: it. I’m crazy. Might as well. Just continue to be crazy. What do I have to lose fun fact?
some point in the past, they were like this just too brutal. Make it less brutal that did that. and then now it’s like the actual footage from before.
It’s not even that bad. It just gets split all the way to the back.
Vivi: He’s just like split in
Erick: half and not even in like the worst way, but 13 ghosts that’s fucking brutal. This not so bad.
Vivi: She climbs out the window and kind of shimmies her way to the next window. This is terrifying. I hate Heights. I cannot
Erick: do this fast. She just does this No hesitation.
Vivi: Nope. She’s already crazy. What else is she going to do?
She bangs on the window next door. And a nurse or orderly lets her in Helen immediately jumps on her and slams the back of her head on the floor. I hope this woman’s okay. Cause that looked intense.
Erick: I think the funnier part isn’t that the person who’s in the room tied to the bed, another patient is just staring like what the fuck
Vivi: that is so messed up.
Erick: Again, this movie just goes insane. After this
Vivi: Helen then steals her clothes. And uses them to escape the hospital.
Erick: She just gave us some, goes home and notices that the door to her apartment is wide open. She calls out for Trevor, as she sees the walls are being painted pink, pink, fucking disgusting. this was Stacy’s idea. Wasn’t it?
Vivi: It’s also, I think very nineties.
Cause I’m pretty sure I had an aunt who painted her walls
Erick: this color. She walks in on Stacy from class painting when Stacy notices her, she laughs as Trevor comes in talking to her sweetly, like a fucking child and also notices
Vivi: Helen it’s disgusting.
And he’s like, does the baby have a booboo? I punch you in the face. If you talk to me, I am going to punch you in the
Erick: domestic abuse. The little baby’s going to punch me in the face, give me a Bobo.
Vivi: I hated every second.
Erick: I’m not sure asks her why she’s there and tell Stacy to call the hospital. Helen asks what’s the matter scared of something.
and asks Trevor, if he was going to wait until she got out to tell her, or no, where you just not expecting me to get out at all.
Vivi: I think he wasn’t
Erick: flashback earlier when they’re holding hands it emphasizes their two wedding rings and get separated. I think that was just like one more way to be symbolic and say their marriage is over. And this is the last time they’re seen together
Vivi: I would argue the marriage was over forever ago. Yeah. The second he was like learning what that student,
Erick: the second he was at home for a second dinner without saying he was at home for a second dinner
Vivi: where he keeps coming home late at night
Erick: when he didn’t answer the phone when she’s in jail
Vivi: and side note Trevor is not an attractive man.
No, Helen is a very beautiful woman. I hate her hair in this entire movie, but I swear
Erick: at the beginning, I thought she was Sculley from X-Files. She looks very much like her a little bit. I love Scully. This lady is attractive.
Vivi: I will say. And the student who is Stacey literally looks like the exact same as her, but like two years younger or something.
Cause it’s not even that drastic. Like his wife is
Erick: Trevor. She wasn’t even the fucking lead of the movie. Okay.
Helen, hands, Stacy the phone and tells her to call them Stacy cries and is afraid for her fucking life. Helen hands the phone over to Trevor and says she’s not a murder. And that he was all she had left.
this is sad because Helen is there to be like, fuck you guys. But also like her whole world has crashed down on itself.
Vivi: It doesn’t go there to be like, fuck you guys. She goes there to look for her husband because she needs support.
Erick: Yeah. So she’s the real victim here, even though they feel like they are,
Vivi: although I get it, I would definitely think she was a murderer at this point.
I think it’s just bad timing on this affair started before I realized you could kill me.
Erick: It’s like, if you started telling me, Hey, these things are happening to me and I just showed up. I don’t think I would think you’re a killer. I, be here to find out what’s going on with you It’s clear that Trevor doesn’t even give a shit to look into what’s happening, where.
Vivi: Obviously trying to alienate her to make her vulnerable. So she will agree to come with him.
Erick: After Helen says that, she says it’s over and leaves, Trevor then runs frantically to the phone.
We hear Candyman say they’ll all abandon you. All you have left is my desire for you. Ellen goes to the apartment building and sees the mural on the wall with art. That shows what happened in the 1890s. She finds Candyman on the table was sleeping. The question
Vivi: work. I thought this was super weird.
Cause I thought he was kind of like a Freddy character that lived in like people’s dreams and legends.
Erick: It’s going to take as quick pre murder net always need one of those. Or he just murdered the shit out of that one guy. And he’s like, I got one per day. I got to take a nap before that she approaches. did we see when she picked
Vivi: the hookup? Yeah. She picks it up as she’s entering, He left it there for her. It’s matching his and her
Erick: murder weapon. He should have also matching Lee. kicked her in the hands, hard.
It came off and put the hook in her hand. Anyway, she approaches with a hook and stabs him. He opens his eyes and grabs her hypnotize. Again. She screams that they had a deal can’t even recite. It’s more saying their pain will be exquisite. Their deaths are nothing to fear and asks her to be a moral with him.
It’s very
Vivi: romantic. Yeah. There’s this whole spinning scene that’s happening between them.
Erick: Yeah. The general that Tony Todd and Virginia Madsen apparently took classes of like ballet and fencing together to further improve their romantic chemistry on camera.
Vivi: No, I did not. But I did see that this was supposed to be a kissing scene between the two of them.
But the studio said new, new, we’re fine with like tons of islands, but an interracial couple too. Yeah. They said that they’re like, we’re worried about how audiences will react to an interracial romance. Their romance is like heavily hinted out. I mean, it flew over my head.
Erick: It’s the entire backstory of Candyman.
Vivi: Yeah. Once you know the Lord at the end, you’re like, oh yeah, that makes sense. Why he’s like so obsessed with her.
Erick: People needed to fucking grow up.
Vivi: Yeah. It was the nineties. You think it’d be a little better? I don’t know. I’m always constantly disappointed. By
Upsetting. Yeah.
Erick: When she grabs his chest, she’s covered in bees. He opens his jacket and his chest cavity. It looks like he’s worn away. You could see his ribs and shit. His chest cavity is swarming with bees.
They come out of his mouth as he goes in for a kiss and covers her with his face. This kind of goes back probably to what you were saying. They didn’t want to show the kiss and they just put his head in the way. It’s implied though. I think that the kiss, right? Cause he shoves bees into her face and mouth.
She passes out. And the Candyman goes and grabs the baby saying, it’s now a time for that numerical Christmas.
Vivi: this scene is like super iconic. And I appreciate it. More knowing link, how much work went into creating this scene?
Erick: the authenticity of it makes it look that much better too.
I think if it had been CGI to look like
Vivi: right. Making it practical was like a commitment it’s wild. I think Tony, Todd had to wear kind of like a mouth guard it’s still not enough for me to be like, yeah, I’ll put a bunch of bees in my mind, but maybe if you pay me a thousand dollars per B,
Erick: honestly, I think a thousand bucks is too slow.
Right?
Vivi: Different times. I wouldn’t charge you more.
Erick: Oh yeah. think age. Sorry. At least. Especially if this mother fucker is over here telling me like, no, you’re not go get a test. She needed to
Vivi: charge a thousand per baby sting as well. Just for B just per be, especially since you’re fucking allergic anyway.
Helen wakes up and finds the hook that she had earlier. She makes her way through the abandoned apartment and finds a wall lit with candles and notices a woman on the mural. That looks a lot like her.
Clearly she missed her own picture on the first viewing of it.
There is writing all over this mural that says it was always you Helen, which is narrated by Candyman. She then hears the baby crying outside and realizes baby Anthony was placed in this giant pile of garbage outside.
The building that earlier we found out was going to be part of a bonfire the community was going to do
Helen makes her way outside to try and save the baby and is climbing up this pile of garbage. Jake is woken up by all the commotion and sees a hook in the garbage. He doesn’t see who’s wielding it, but he believes it to be Candyman. He then wakes up everyone in the community and decides that he is going to burn down this pile of garbage.
They go out with jugs of gasoline. Dousing the entire pile, Helen finds the baby. And as she grabs Anthony and is about to try and run out with him, she is grabbed from behind by Candyman. At this point, the people in the neighborhood have lit the Pyre on fire and Helen is screaming for help. Candyman says that they’ll never be separated again.
And I think at this point in the scene, it’s meant to represent him, the woman he loved and the baby that I’m assuming they never got to have together.
Erick: He’s probably thinking all three of us could be mortal together, just so thick.
it’s hard to think that Candyman is a villain because he’s the one that probably got the worst out of anyone here. He was stuck being immortal because of what people did to him. You didn’t ask for this. No, I mean, it sucks for Helen. I’m not saying that she’s not the victim here either.
I mean,
Vivi: he’s being extremely toxic with her. Yes.
Erick: But yeah, it just sucks that he’s stuck in sort of this it’s like a ghost, right? It’s like unfinished business for him. Yeah.
Vivi: Helen decides that she’s not done putting up a fight and grabs, it looks like a steak, a wooden stake. That’s on fire and shoves it through candy.
Man’s chest.
Erick: cause he’s a
Vivi: vampire too. Apparently he bursts into flames screaming and she makes her way out with the baby. Not before a beam falls on her and her entire clothes and hair catch on fire in the process. Once she’s out, she hands and Marie, her baby and the rest of the community tries to put out the burns on her body.
In the background. We see Candyman once again, yelling he is burnt up. Jake being able to see a charred body in the fire. The next scene we cut to is unfortunately Helen dead. We are at her funeral with Trevor Purcell and Stacy they’re fucking asshole of a husband to bring his new sidepiece to your funeral.
I would have crawled out of my grave at that moment. Not weighted.
Erick: Fuck the rules of my summiting.
Vivi: I believe it’s Purcell who says Trevor look, as the people of Cabrini green approach led by Ann Marie and Jake.
I think there’s something like, kind of problematic about him saying this because he’s the one, who’s the expert on Candyman. He researched him, but he wants to treat the community that uh, okay. You know, you know where I’m going with this. It’s upsetting.
Erick: Trevor even looks at them in complete shock
Vivi: and they’re afraid, but Trevor’s Sears in shock.
As Jake drops candy, man’s hook into her grave. I think it’s a nice scene. It kind of emphasizes it’s possible that Helen has found her congregation Back home, Trevor is crying in the bathroom because it seems it’s like the only place he can get away from his girlfriend, Stacy
Erick: who he obviously finds annoying now.
Vivi: Not I hate him so much, like
Erick: 40 years older than her dude. Yeah.
Vivi: You should know that a college student is going to be annoying to hang out with, but.
I’m
Erick: going to hang out with, and I’m only 30.
Vivi: Stacey calls out to him to see what he wants for dinner. And she is like annoyed that he’s grieving Helen. She is also not great
It’s clear that Trevor wants to be left alone. However, he is remembering that scene from earlier where Helen had cooked him dinner somewhat crying. He’s looking in the mirror and says, Helen’s name five times. a bunch of flashing begins to happen.
And Helen appears behind him in the mirror
Erick: with her head
Vivi: still burnt. Yeah, she is bald now. Similar to Candyman it’s like, whatever they suffered in life becomes their like appearance in their immortal state. She’s still hot though. She’s still looks fucking great. Chick’s great. Bald.
As he turns around in shock, she says scared of something and she picks up the hook that she was buried. He is then gutted by Helen Stacy here’s the screaming and enters the bathroom where she finds Trevor’s dead body in the tub. It’s a very goofy face that
Erick: he’s making.
It’s like, they told them ACTA and he’s like,
Vivi: cross-eyed she is screaming while holding a kitchen knife kind of implying. She’s going to be,
Erick: yeah, it’s a very obnoxiously long knife too. It’s the one that little Michael is holding at the beginning of Halloween. Cause fuck. Absolutely.
Vivi: But the credits roll over this angelic Saint like mural of Helen with her hair on fire, suggesting that she is now a legend herself.
Erick: her own TOPA.
Vivi: and that’s
Erick: Candyman. What
Vivi: did you think? I kind of mentioned a little bit where I had to do. Some more research on the story because I was a little confused on the love story aspect of it. But yeah, it’s interpreted that Helen is the reincarnation of his lost love, and it makes more sense as to why he didn’t kill her outright and is trying to convince her to be immortal with him. I wonder how this pans out in the sequels, but after looking it up more, I was like, oh, this is pretty good.
And it’s super different from like the slashers of the eighties
Erick: that we’ve seen before. Right. His motivations are romantic, which is so different. Prior to her, starting to study this, what was Candyman doing for the last a hundred years?
Vivi: Yeah. Was he just trying to stay alive until he found his true love or was he content just being an urban legend
Erick: Because
Vivi: it would also explain her fascination with trying to uncover as much as possible about.
I’m super glad that she got revenge on Trevor
Erick: though. She gives me hell raiser vibes
Vivi: at the end. Oh my God. It looks so much like Hellraiser.
Erick: I’d like to see Candyman again. I want to watch the sequels for sure. With this new one from 2021 being a direct sequel to this one, it makes me think that two and three are probably not as good if you felt the need to do that.
Vivi: I don’t know, because I feel like that’s the route, a lot of remakes are going right now. this is the direct sequel. Forget everything you
Erick: knew. yeah. I’m excited to see where this goes. I’d like to see more lore, find out what happened in Candyman.
Vivi: I don’t think he’s ever given a name other than
Erick: Candyman.
Right? And has no reason either because candy plays no part, but you said maybe it does
Vivi: stay tuned. We’re going to watch the sequels.
Erick: Yeah. I don’t know. I really liked this. actually upset that we didn’t watch it sooner.
Especially since my cousins love to have a grand old time fucking scaring me with it. Watching this compared to others. This one’s actually a lot more thematically, dense, I think, than like a Jason, a Freddy, there’s a very different storyline here
Vivi: no horror icon we’ve seen before had like a love story behind it,
Erick: What do you rate this?
Vivi: I give this one an eight out of 10. I loved the soundtrack. It was beautiful. It’s very unique in the slasher genre.
I can see why it has a cult following really excited to see all the sequels and then the 20, 21 Candyman.
Erick: If it has to do with the kid, Anthony. I’m excited for that. I’d rate it a 8.5. I like seeing a horror in Chicago. It is a different enough story that makes me want more.
Vivi: Yeah.
do you want to talk about what scared looking about this? I don’t think
Erick: he actually gave a shit about anything that happened this, he was actually also hypnotize and found it very, quite tranquil. He was like, yes, Candyman, please that does live exquisitely delicious.
No,
Vivi: do you want to tell us about it? Low-key
Erick: he said let’s move back to Chicago.
Vivi: actually he wasn’t around when we lived in Chicago,
Erick: but we’ve taken him downtown. He’s been to the.
Vivi: Well visiting our parents.
But is that pretty much? It you’re for us.
Erick: Yeah. Our anniversary is coming up by the way, our show
Vivi: anniversary. And we are thinking of covering our first ever vampire movie because we realized that we have not covered one in 50 something.
No.
Erick: While we were in the clubhouse, One of the people kept bringing up how he’s on like a vampire movie binge and he was naming so many things that I was like, oh man.
Yeah, love a good vampire.
Vivi: Yeah, we might tweet about it and get a poll going or something. as always, we hope you guys had a good time here with us. You can follow us pretty much anywhere at shaken, not scared pod except Twitter, Twitter shaken, scared pod.
You can send us an email at shaken nuts, scared pod@gmail.com.
Erick: It’s more of the show on patron. You can get early access to episodes or a bonus episode in thing, drink idea every month. Listen, wherever you get your podcasts, give us a follow up, check out our drink, videos, go like them
Vivi: be sure to like rate, review all that good stuff.
Kate, thanks. Bye. Bye.
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