The Candyman: the Urban Legend and True Story

Horror films have a tendency to incite fears yet unknown to their audience. Surprisingly, many of these films are based on true stories, such as the real-life violent frenzy of Ed Gein, which inspired the foundation for cult classic slasher flick, ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’.

Clive Barker, director behind the ‘Hellraiser’ franchise, was the original author of ‘The Forbidden’ in 1985, a short story which first introduced the now iconic Candyman killer to the horror scene. In 1992, director Bernard Rose adapted the story, simply naming it ‘Candyman’.

The 1992 rendition follows graduate Helen Lyle (Virginia Madsen) a sceptic of the campfire Candyman tale, whereby an African American painter named Daniel Robitaille was brutally murdered due to an interracial affair. Through a torturous and unjust death, an urban legend was birthed, whereby a grotesque man is said to appear when someone calls his name five times in front of a mirror. Despite her scepticism, our protagonist Helen commits this ritual, and a spate of unusual serial murders begins around town.

Most recently, ‘Candyman’ returned for yet another adaptation from Oscar-winning producer Jordan Peele and director Nia DaCosta. This time Yahya Abdul-Mateen II takes over as the titular antihero, playing baby Anthony from the 1992 film, now all grown up.  Of course, it’s worth mentioning the original Candyman, played by Tony Todd, returns briefly for a cameo appearance by the film’s end.

Unlike ‘Texas Chainsaw’, ‘Candyman’ isn’t based on a true case. However, it’s a production that doesn’t shy away from exemplifying the unsolved issues around racial discrimination and law enforcement’s history of neglect towards black communities. Director Nia DaCosta made efforts to shed light on the matter through her film, making reference to a particular 1987 case.

According to the-line-up.com, a viral TikTok video circulated during the lockdown of 2020, which brought attention to the killing of Ruthie Mae McCoy.  The video was uploaded by Samantha Hartsoe, who discovered a large hole behind her bathroom mirror, which she claimed led to an abandoned flat behind it.

Ruthie McCoy was an African American woman who had mental health issues since she was in her twenties, repeatedly living in and out of mental health hospitals. In 1983, she was moved to ABLA public housing, a fifteen-minute drive to Cabrini-Green; the setting for the ‘Candyman’ films. Originally these flats were to be built within prominently white communities, but the city council refused so the complex was shifted to inner-black communities. Due to severe neglect and management on the project, crime rates reportedly rose within the area.

McCoy called 911 claiming someone was trying to break into her home through her medicine cabinet. Dispatchers ignored the call until her neighbours voiced concerns over the loud noises coming from McCoy’s apartment. When police finally did arrive, she had already died after being shot several times by intruders.

Years later, it was found that negligence did indeed occur regardless of McCoy’s plea for help, assumed to occur due to her being a black, mentally ill woman.

Her name is referenced in the 2021 ‘Candyman’ adaptation twice—one of which being the forename of the Candyman’s first victim, the second being the surname of Anthony’s mother.

The main character, Anthony, dies by the end of the film after he himself incidentally is forced into the role of the Candyman. While otherwise unarmed, because he bared the Candyman’s hook-for-a-hand, Anthony in gunned down by police officers as soon as they barge into his home. No consequences comes to these police officers after they dissuade Anthony’s girlfriend from speaking her truth about the incident.

The parallels to several real-world incidents is unsubtle, to say the least, but that in no way devalues the director’s intentions. Just the year before, George Floyd’s case became globally recognised after a police officer unnecessarily restricted his breathing, ultimately leading to Floyd’s death. Many more cases such as this have cropped up before and since.

Instead of spotlighting a single individual who, in their life, committed bizarrely grotesque deeds, the Candyman tale highlights an entirely different, wide-spread rot in society. It doesn’t pay attention to a real-life lone serial murderer by portraying them as the small-town urban legend. Instead it examines the underlying horrors of negligence, ignorance towards the mentally ill, and injustice towards those of a different race in the real world.