On August 27th, Nia DaCosta’s sequel to the original 1992 Candyman, also titled Candyman, was released to commercial and critical fanfare. Opening with $22.4 million at the box office1, Candyman succeeded where many larger budgeted films could not during the COVID-19 Pandemic with its performance. Candyman also set a new milestone by becoming the first black female directed film to top the box office.2
As Candyman ‘21 continues be profitable at the box office, attention can be turned to the original Bernard Rode directed film. Fans of the original will perhaps want to revisit Candyman ‘92 or those only familiar with the new film may want to watch the original for the first time. For those lacking physical releases, Candyman ‘92 can be found on Peacock TV and other VOD services such as iTunes, Google Play, and RedBox.3
Hopefully with renewed interest, Candyman ‘92 will see a flux of such revisitation and even more positive reassessment. There’s a variety of ways to take in and appreciate the original film: essays, fan art, and even homage in other media. The original Candyman no doubt left its mark in cinema canon, but it also left an impression on other content creators (writers, directors, artists, etc.). One curious example of such inspiration is the world of sampling wherein a music group takes samples of dialogue (and other sounds and noises) from a source (such as a film, TV show, radio broadcast, video game, etc.) and incorporates them into their own compositions.
Candyman ‘92 has had the honour of being sampled numerous times by various underground musical acts that hail from a variety of genres: hiphop, death metal, industrial, and so on. These bands use Candyman samples in a variety of ways. Same incorporate Candyman’s (Tony Todd) opening narration of the film into the beginning of their songs, trying to replicate an ominous introduction to set a specific tone and mood. Some instances are used as outright homage in order to broadcast the music act’s appreciation to the film.
What follows is a list of music acts and their songs that sample dialogue from Candyman ‘92. In order to illustrate how each artist uses the sample, YouTube links are provided for each song along with (when available) a clip from the movie that contains the original dialogue. This way the song and the source text and be compared side by side.
Aborted
Belgian death metal act Aborted pulls double duty with the Clive Barker references in their song “Cenobites” which is the last track from their 2014 album The Necrotic Manifesto.
The title is, of course, a reference to the Cenobites that populate the Hellraiser films that are adaptations of Barker’s The Hellbound Heart. In addition to the Hellraiser connection, the song is also tethered to Barker’s Candyman via usage of sample dialogue. “Cenobites” begins immediately with a quote of Candyman saying “They will say that I have shed innocent blood. What’s blood for if not for shedding?”4
These lines are also the very first lines spoken in the film.5
By beginning “Cenobites” with this sample, Aborted accomplishes two things. First, it mimics the original film by settingthe tone that something unsettling is going to happen in the narrative . Second, it takes the acts described in the sample (shedding innocent blood) and relocates it from the Candyman character to the sadistic villain in the band’s official music video who kidnaps a young woman and proceeds to mutilate her.
Da Boy Tommy
Tommy Debie, better known as Da Boy Tommy, was a jumpstyle Belgian DJ who sadly passed away in 2013.
In 2000 he released a song called “Candyman” which appeared on its own CD-single as well as various compilation albums.6
The song begins with a sample of someone whispering “Candyman.” At the one minute mark of the song, a sample of Clara (Marianna Elliott) explaining who Candyman is to Billy (Ted Raimi) while repeating his name can be heard, interspersed with samples of Carol Anne Freeling (Heather O’Rourke) from Poltergeist saying “They’re here.” This combining of samples from two different sources and merging them together to create new textual play is a hallmark of the cut-up technique pioneered by William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin.
Darling Kandie
Darling Kandie is a side project of sorts of Groovie Man of My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult, a foundational industrial-disco act that long ago established themselves as auteurs of incorporating samples from exploitation and pornographic films into their music.
“People Next Door” from Darling Kandie’s debut self titled album is a song that is made entirely of collaged samples (constructed in the same fashion as the aforementioned cut-up technique), including “We need a new unity” which is from George Lucas’ THX-1138 (the sample also makes an appearance in the Laibach song “Regime of Coincidence State of Gravity” from their seminal Kapital album) and “Open your mind to me” which is said by the stomach mutant Kuato in the 1990 film Total Recall.
At the 2:00 mark of the song a sample of Candyman saying “I came for you” can be heard.7
The line comes from the scene where Candyman confronts Helen (Virginia Madsen) in a parking garage and hypnotizes her.8
The line appears once, briefly, before being lost in the sea of other samples in the song.
Deutsch Nepal
Deutsch Nepal is a Swedish industrial project spearheaded by Peter Andersson.
Their eighth album, ¡Comprendido!… Time Stop! …And World Ending contains the track “Gouge Free Market” which has the dialogue “I am rumor. It is a blessed condition believe me, to be whispered about in street corners, to live in other people’s dreams, but not to have to be. Do you understand?” repeated multiple times.9
The lines are spoken by Candyman inside Helen’s mind.10
This is unique usage of the sample, as the song dislocates the dialogue from its slasher-horror roots and, if going by the name of the song’s title of “Gouge Free Market,” applies it to the horrors of capitalism. Much like Candyman, rampant commercialism and capitalism can be inferred as an unseen, yet omnipresent, boogeyman.
Freakin’ Inglish
Freakin’ Inglish was a short-lived UK hip hop group that had only one release, The Rhyme Wrecka E.P.
The cassette contains a song called “Victim” that opens with a sample of Candyman saying “Be my victim.”11
The sample is form the same scene Darling Kandie sampled (see above) and is used to compliment the rapped lyrics “Be my victim” and “Look out, I’m coming to get you.”
Internal Error
Gabber/hardcore techno act Internal Error, operating under the alias Nyeṫ, took their homage of the Candyman movie to the next level by composing a track called “Candy Man” that appeared on their EP Party Madness as well as the compilations TrAUMa 2 (Nightmare On AUM Street) and Napalm Rave.12
The song contains multiple samples of dialogue taken from the film, such as “If you look in the mirror, and say his name five times, he’ll appear behind you, breathing down your neck,” “Be my victim,” and “Where they proceeded to saw of his right hand with a rusty blade.” As with Da Boy Tommy, Internal Error looks to be using these samples to show adoration to the original film.
JNyce
Canadian hip hop artist J Nyce’s 2008 debut Vaults of Horror has a song called “Satanic Rites” that contains a Candyman sample.13
As with Aborted’s “Cenobites”, JNyce uses the “shed innocent blood” opening lines from Candyman as the opening to this song in order to establish a horror-film mood. The dialogue also gets dissociated from Candyman and instead applied to Satanism, which of course conjures up imagery of sacrifices.
Mortician
Deathgrind metal band Mortician wears their affection for the horror genre literally on their sleeves – album sleeves that is. Their last produced album, 2004’s Re-Animated Dead Flesh has a cover reminiscent of the Re-Animator film, and songs that reference numerous horror films, such as An American Werewolf in London, Silent Night, Deadly Night, and The Hills Have Eyes.
The final track on the album, “Be My Victim,” is, of course, an homage to Candyman.14
The track begins with a sample of Candyman saying “They’ll say that I’ve shed innocent blood. What’s blood for, if not for shedding. With my hook for a hand, I’ll split you from your groin to your gullet.” which is, of course, the opening lines of the film, and seek to replicate that opening much the same way Aborted and JNyce did. The song ends with a sample of Helen calling out to Candyman who suddenly appears and kills her psychiarist. These samples, coupled with the song’s title “Be My Victim” can be taken as another horror homage to the cult classic film.
[:SITD:]
German-based industrial act [:SITD:] (which stands for Shadows in the Dark) has an EP titled Snuff that contains a track called “Mortal.”
The remix of “Mortal” by Solitary Experiments is unique in that it contains Candyman samples from the German dub of the film.15
The track opens with “Fürchtest du den Schmerz oder das, was danach kommt? Der Schmerz wird von erlesener Qualität sein. Was unseren Tod angeht, vor ihm brauchst du dich nicht zu fürchten.” which is a translation of Candyman saying “The pain, I can assure you, will be exquisite. As for our deaths, there is nothing to fear.”
Near the end of the song the sample continues with “Lass uns unserem Leben ein Ende setzen vor ihren Augen und ihnen damit etwas geben, was sie für alle Zeiten verfolgt. Werde unsterblich! Komm mit mir.” which is a continuation of the above with “We shall die together in front of their very eyes and give them something to be haunted by. Come with me and be immortal.”
The song ends with “Man wird sagen, ich habe unschuldiges Blut vergossen” which is an interpretation of “They will say that I have shed innocent blood.”
All of these instances of bands and music projects sampling Candyman ‘92 not only solidify the original film’s legacy, but illustrate innovative instances of artists performing textual play to create a new texts with new meanings, or even pastiches in a post-modern sense.
Endnotes
1. Anthony D’Alessandro, “‘Candyman’ Makes The Box Office Taste Good With $22M+ Opening,” Deadline, August 29, 2021, https://deadline.com/2021/08/candyman-posts-sweet-thursday-night-with-1-9m-1234823246/.
2. Anthony D’Alessandro, “‘Candyman’: Nia DaCosta Becomes First Black Female Filmmaker To Open Pic To No. 1 At Domestic B.O.,” Deadline, August 29, 2021, https://deadline.com/2021/08/candyman-nia-dacosta-box-office-record-first-black-female-filmmaker-1234824013/.
3. Pratik Handore, “Where to Stream Candyman (1992)?,” TheCinemaholic, August 28, 2021,https://thecinemaholic.com/where-to-stream-candyman-1992/.
4. Century Media Records, “ABORTED – Cenobites (OFFICIAL VIDEO),” YouTube Video, 5:29, November 1, 2014,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWCbLx_RL6k.
5. jopez94585, “Candyman intro…Candyman 92′,” YouTube Video, 2:59, April 18, 2007, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5kJMvH1JKw.
6. OverdoZe, “Da boy tommy – Candyman,” YouTube Video, 4:08, February 17, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLO-J9HA8Q0.
7. SHONK3Y, “Darling Kandie – People Next Door,” YouTube Video, 4:08, November 26, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2glIBIXN3E.
8. ScreamFactoryTV, “Candyman (1992) – Clip: Be My Victim (HD),” YouTube Video, 2:30, November 5, 2018,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOt3D01rCTY.
9. Chris Vermeers, “Deutsch Nepal – Gouge Free Market,” YouTube Video, 8:16, December 9, 2012,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa-ByD5L2rs.
10. Brian Cowan, “Candyman – I am rumor…,” YouTube Video, 0:42, November 13, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9h5KOBN53c.
11. UKStandTall, “Freakin’ Inglish – Victim,” YouTube Video, 4:10, April 25, 2014, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg57VF4nf0c.
12. eppogabber, “Internal Error – Candyman,” YouTube Video, 4:14, January 7, 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xqAGYaT5vg.
13. Dez Flight Underground, “Jnyce – Satanic Rites,” YouTube Video, 3:45, July 31, 2011,https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maF7_T1w2vk.
14. Cristian Farias, “Mortician – Be My Victim,” YouTube Video, 3:47, May 31, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN4QXAw-B-4.
15. Transmitte, “[:SITD:] – Mortal (RMX by Solitary Experiments),” YouTube Video, 4:54, April 30, 2011, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQptI0UM-Rg.
Bibliography
Brian Cowan. “Candyman – I am rumor…” YouTube Video, 0:42. November 13, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9h5KOBN53c.
Century Media Records. “ABORTED – Cenobites (OFFICIAL VIDEO).” YouTube Video, 5:29. November 1, 2014.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWCbLx_RL6k.
Chris Vermeers. “Deutsch Nepal – Gouge Free Market.” YouTube Video, 8:16. December 9, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aa-ByD5L2rs.
Cristian Farias. “Mortician – Be My Victim.” YouTube Video, 3:47. May 31, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sN4QXAw-B-4.
D’Alessandro, Anthony. “‘Candyman’ Makes The Box Office Taste Good With $22M+ Opening.” Deadline. August 29, 2021. https://deadline.com/2021/08/candyman-posts-sweet-thursday-night-with-1-9m-1234823246/.
—-. “‘Candyman’: Nia DaCosta Becomes First Black Female Filmmaker To Open Pic To No. 1 At Domestic B.O.” Deadline. August 29, 2021. https://deadline.com/2021/08/candyman-nia-dacosta-box-office-record-first-black-female-filmmaker-1234824013/.
Dez Flight Underground. “Jnyce – Satanic Rites.” YouTube Video, 3:45. July 31, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maF7_T1w2vk.
Eppogabber. “Internal Error – Candyman.” YouTube Video, 4:14. January 7, 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xqAGYaT5vg.
Handore, Pratik. “Where to Stream Candyman (1992)?” TheCinemaholic. August 28, 2021.https://thecinemaholic.com/where-to-stream-candyman-1992/.
Jopez94585. “Candyman intro…Candyman 92′.” YouTube Video, 2:59. April 18, 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5kJMvH1JKw.
OverdoZe. “Da boy tommy – Candyman,” YouTube Video, 4:08. February 17, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLO-J9HA8Q0.
ScreamFactoryTV. “Candyman (1992) – Clip: Be My Victim (HD).” YouTube Video, 2:30. November 5, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOt3D01rCTY.
SHONK3Y. “Darling Kandie – People Next Door.” YouTube Video, 4:08. November 26, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2glIBIXN3E.
Transmitte. “[:SITD:] – Mortal (RMX by Solitary Experiments).” YouTube Video, 4:54. April 30, 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQptI0UM-Rg.
UKStandTall. “Freakin’ Inglish – Victim.” YouTube Video, 4:10. April 25, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wg57VF4nf0c.