Candyman is a 1992 American supernatural horror film written and directed by Bernard Rose, and produced by Clive Barker and Steve Golin, based on the short story The Forbidden by Clive Barker, though the films scenario is switched from England to the Cabrini–Green public housing development on Chicagos Near North Side. It stars Virginia Madsen, Tony Todd, and Xander Berkeley. The plot follows a graduate student (Madsen) completing a thesis on urban legends who encounters the legend of Candyman (Todd), an artist and son of a slave who had his hand severed and was then murdered.

It was released theatrically by TriStar and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment on 16 October 1992. It has a 70% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, which called it a nuanced, effectively chilling tale. It grossed over $25 million over an $8 million budget.

Candyman spawned two sequels, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, and Candyman: Day of the Dead, neither of which performed critically and commercially as well as Candyman.

Helen Lyle, a Chicago graduate student who is researching urban legends, hears of a local legend known as the Candyman. The legend claims that Candyman can be summoned by saying his name five times while facing a mirror, whereupon he will murder the summoner with a hook jammed in the bloody stump of his right arm. She encounters two cleaning ladies who tell her about the murder of a woman named Ruthie Jean, a resident in the notorious Cabrini-Green housing project who they claim was a victim of Candyman. Helens research turns up 25 other murders in the area similar to Ruthie Jeans. Later that evening, Helen and her friend Bernadette Walsh, skeptical of Candymans existence, call Candymans name into the mirror in Helens bathroom; nothing happens.

Helen learns from Professor Philip Purcell that Candyman was the son of a slave who became prosperous after developing a system for mass-producing shoes during the Civil War. He grew up in a polite society and became a well-known artist, sought after for his talent in