Candyman essay

Candyman is a 1992 American horror film starring Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd and Xander Berkeley. The film was directed by Bernard Rose and is based on the short story "The Forbidden" written by Clive Barker however the film's scenario is switched from the setting of England to the Cabrini–Green public housing development on Chicago's North Side.

The plot revolves around Helen Lyle who is a graduate student conducting research for her thesis on urban legends and myths. Whilst interviewing people over their superstitions she hears about a local legend known as Candyman. The legend contained many elements similar to the most well-known urban legends, which included endangered babysitters, spirits who appear in mirrors when fatally summoned, and maniac killers with unnatural deformities and behaviours.

In the first 15 minutes Bernard rose ah tried to give it as much of a horror feeling as possible to build up the tension but not to give anything away to early. The credits start off with a horizontal track above the city with what appears as gothic style font and a non diagetic sound of organ playing and a choir which gives us the link to spiritual and supernatural happenings. The way it’s been set out with the credits is to give the clear idea its based in an urban environment because most people would think the city is safer

This scene cuts away to a woman giving a narration over a scene set in the suburbs with a babysitter and a lad she likes. The reason its been set in the suburbs is because no one expects it to happen there as generally wealthier people live here so it is considered safer with more security and protection. The girl and boy are upstairs and in front of a mirror with the reflection giving a 2 shot of them together with a build-up of non diagetic music to give tension to the scene. The girl then dares the boy to say Candyman 5 times however he only reaches 4 times. The boy then goes downstairs and the girl then says it to the mirror for the 5^th time and turns the light off with a superimpose of Candyman appearing and striking her down with “a hook in his bloody stump” and then blood coming through the roof and onto the lad below in order to give the film a horror feeling early on.

One of the props used in was the girls white bra which is a stereotype for horror films showing that the girl is still young and innocent and as in many horror films it’s the innocent girls that die. Whereas in comparison to the boy who is in a black leather jacket and on a motorbike. This shows that in horror films girls are less protected against the violence and typically get killed for usually being sexually unclean or because they are set out to be pretty and young.

The story then cuts away to an Ariel shot over the city and then into the university and then into the building where the main character Helen is listening to the diagetic sound of a tape recording of the story with an extreme close up of her talking it back to herself although sh4e doesn’t repeat her saying Candyman as if she thinks there is truth behind it. This is also shown by the build-up of non diagetic sound which suddenly stops. This scene then cuts away to a lecture hall where the lecturer is giving a talk on urban myths and legends. The lecture finishes and Helen heads down to the male who turns out to be her husband. However a girl hangs round to talk to him and her body language suggests she likes him, plus she has been portrayed as a young and pretty blonde girl which is normally the most used stereotype for horror films. Nevertheless from the-lecture and her investigations we learn that they are both intelligent and think they have a high level of understanding of what they are dealing with which misleads her into thinking that the murderer comes from behind the mirror via a hole in the wall which is a design flaw in the buildings structure.

The following scene is then of Helen and her friend and they are stood in the bathroom looking at the mirror in a 2 shot. The tension is built up with non diagetic music and a zoom in through the hole in the wall where the murderer supposedly comes through. They then put the mirror back on the wall and star saying “Candyman” however the 2^nd women stops before she reaches the 5^th time although Helen carries on. This is followed by a prolonged silence and a zoom in on her face resulting in extreme close up of her face to show her curiosity and anxiety in the situation however this is followed by her calling her friend a chicken which lightens the mood and breaks the silence with laughter however the scene then cuts away back to the mirror but this time it’s now night and darker as the camera starts reverse tracking down the corridor and begins to pan into the woman’s room where we catch glimpse of a Christian cross. The cross possibly represents she’s a Christian which links back to the first girl who was killed because she also was wearing a cross however was becoming  sexually active which is shunned upon; having sex before marriage. This all links back to being a horror genre because with any religious vies there is good and evil so this portrays Candyman in a devil/ demon manner.

in conclusion I believe that The main technical codes used to represent the horror genre are camera angles and the mise en scene. The reason for this was because it shows the fear and emotion on the characters face. The camera angles are an essential part of the horror genre but so are the mise en scene props such as the white bra and blood and also the mirror and saying Candyman 5 times plus the hook in the stump. Whereas other technical codes these 2 go together with aspects of each other such as the lighting and the camera angles.