FAQ

Because if his existence is confirmed, people might become a lot less cavalier about summoning him. He exists in a rumor, and it's "a blessed existence", also specifically talking about belief and a congregation. Everything he does is to solidify himself as a myth, something to be believed in despite the doubts. If he just showed up in daylight it wouldn't be a myth anymore, just a fact, with no actual faith to support him. And it wouldn't have the same style or mystique.

He has a physical body though, at least at times, so he can be hurt. Plus, his first body was killed in a bonfire, and it's a common trope that hitting the ghost with whatever hit it earlier does extra damage. Candyman is a metaphorical being fueled by belief whose power was (by his own admission) waning after Helen "demistified" him with her arrest of the Candyman criminal. He observes that he's going to burn little Anthony and Helen as an act to restore "his congregation's faith", "a new miracle" of sorts (presumably in his gameplan the residents eventually find Helen's and Anthony's charred bodies and realize the Candyman tricked them, kickstarting his legend anew). Helen walking out of the fire with Anthony meant she basically hijacked the "new miracle" and "his congregation" for herself (so instead of talking about how Candyman tricked them, they'll be talking about how a fiery woman saved a baby), killing the belief the Candyman needed (and thus also killing Candyman himself) for good. The fire burning him is just a metaphysical representation of the disbelief in Candyman doing him in.

They probably didn't give him one. The urban legend itself did. It's a story of a one-handed killer. Of course he must have a hook in the other hand. They didn't, since the lynching never actually happened. Cabrini Green didn't even exist when it was supposed to have taken place. Candyman is an urban legend brought to life through belief, his backstory doesn't have to make sense because it never took place.

The biggest reason: the gangster never summoned Candyman, so Candyman could not come and kill him.

Additionally: The gangster using the Candyman name and hook was quite a powerful dynamo for fueling the myth and the community's fear in Candyman. His kill count was attributed to Candyman, making Candyman more powerful.

It is not until the gangster is arrested that issues arise. Suddenly, all of Candyman's kills are attributed to the gangster. The neighborhood assumes Candyman was just a fake story the gangster made up and begin to think they are now safe, since the gangster was arrested. Because they have a mortal face on the Candyman legend, they stop believing in the supernatural aspects of the story, stop being afraid, and stop giving Candyman offerings. As a result, the 'real' Candyman fades, and must take action to reassert his existence.

We can't know for sure, but if you judge from their first conversation in the University, you can say that he was already cheating on Helen.

Yes to both. His normal speaking voice during interviews is less operatic and slightly but noticeably higher. He could easily pitch down to the level we hear in the film, something that he has done in multiple other films.

Aside from this, an educated guess is that an echo effect was added in post-production, and a very slight flange was added to the echo. The extent of the echo varies frequently, with more echo repetition at the end of lines. The secondary voices ever so slightly "wetter" (aka flanged) than his original voice, which clearly adds to the monstrous quality. A little goes a long way when manipulating voices in post-production. From what this writer can tell, no distortion was applied.

The first time that we hear Tony Todd's voice in the film is the only time this writer is willing to guess it was -not- manipulated. Reports around the time of the original DVD release had it that he simply modulated his voice in that trumpet-like fashion and repeated this amazing feat in ADR.

No, it's based on a fictional short story called 'The Forbidden' , authored by Clive Barker. There are a few similar urban legends out there, like the legend of Bloody Mary, but Candyman isn't based on any true cases.

This has never been clearly explained in the film, and involves fan debate on Candyman's true nature.

Some theories among fans are that the spirit which became Candyman wants Helen to join him because she either reminds him of the women he impregnated in his own lifetime, or because she is a reincarnation of his lover.

However, some fans argue that Candyman was brought into existence from belief in a story, and therefore was never the spirit of the lynched man, but a tulpa-esque being, or even a minor god, created from belief. Since he was never a person, but relies on a story frame work to create and sustain him, Helen fitting the necessary story tropes of that original story framework, as well as her belief in the power of stories as an anthropologist/ sociologist, made her an ideal choice to slot into a character role as Candyman's 'chosen one'. Candyman was behaving and speaking in accordance with story, which would expect some sort of destined fate.

None of these theories have ever been officially confirmed as being correct.

Candyman was stung to death by bees in an apiary while he ran from a group of racist men after impregnating a white girl. The bees are just part of his urban legend identity.

He has a hook for a hand because his hand was cut off during his lifetime (the film never explains where he got the hook). He always disembowels people with the hook because it's part of the urban legend, and also because it made the film more scary and disturbing for viewers.

The book was very different from the film, so a future book adaptation could very well be a possibility, but no adaptations or remakes have been announced as of 2015.

Whether plans were in place in 2015 is still up for debate, but clearly plans evolved between then and 2021. Note that horror films are cheap and (relatively) easy to make, with minimal special effects required. Most of the special effects that are required are simple and practical in nature. The 2021 Candyman could have been greenlit in late 2019 for all we know to the contrary.

In one sequence, the R-Rated version features some alternate, slightly more harmless shots than the unrated version.