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Review by Janet Maslin of the New York Times dated October 16 1992

Too many tales of the supernatural allow occult goings-on to take a garden-variety turn. But the imagination of Clive Barker is authentically strange. In “Candyman,” adapted by Bernard Rose from the Barker novel “The Forbidden,” the horror unfolds inside a housing project and plays out provocatively against a backdrop of racial injustice. For those who find this approach too unconventional, the Candyman of the title also has a reassuringly familiar hook where his hand ought to be. Using this, he slashes victims with suitable abandon.

After a perfunctory prologue involving careless, sexy teen-agers (any horror-film stalker’s favorite prey), “Candyman” settles upon a Chicago academic named Helen Lyle (Virgina Madsen) as its heroine of choice. A doctoral candidate whose studies lead her to the Candyman legend, Helen begins her own hands-on research into the story of this mysterious killer. She learns that Candyman (Tony Todd), a black man in a fashionably long coat who can be summoned by repeating his name five times into a mirror, was once the victim of a terrible crime and has been seeking his own form of justice ever since. His ashes are scattered at Cabrini Green, the Chicago housing project where much of the action takes place.

Mr. Rose, very partial to secret gateways into the netherworld, also gives Candyman a surprisingly soft touch. His gambits run toward “sweets to the sweet” and “be my victim,” and his taste runs toward Helen once she begins stirring up the memory of his past, through a series of suspensefully staged investigative episodes. That Helen goes from the halls of academe to a lunatic asylum during the course of the story says nothing to disparage her sleuthing talents.

“Candyman” is set up as an elaborate campfire story. More than once, it is said that what someone witnessed turned his or her hair white from shock. The film also has its share of novel touches, from the cute young student who dotes too much on Helen’s husband (Xander Berkeley) to the fellow academics who view Candyman’s crimes as a form of urban folklore. There is also an offbeat resolution to the tale, one that suggests there will soon be a new Candyperson in town.

The story’s unusually high interest in social issues is furthered by the contrast between Helen’s genteel condominium (which turns out to have a secret history as public housing) and the rougher atmosphere of Cabrini Green. At the latter, Vanessa Williams appears effectively as a young mother fighting to raise her baby against impossible obstacles, some of which emanate from the great beyond. The film’s spooky atmosphere is accentuated by Anthony B. Richmond’s cinematography and Philip Glass’s score.

Ms. Madsen’s performance is a lot more enterprising than what the material requires; the same can be said for Mr. Rose’s direction. Mr. Todd sounds suitably ominous when oozing lines like “the pain, I can assure you, will be exquisite.” Late in the story, both stars are required to play a kiss scene involving mouthfuls of bees. (Bees loom large in Candyman’s troubled history.) Whatever these actors were paid, it wasn’t enough.