5 Horror Icons Who Never Got A Fair Crack At The Whip

2. Candyman (The Candyman film series)

I have to be honest, the Candyman was the main reason I wanted to do this list. That being the case you may find it odd that he’s not number one, but don’t fret there is a good reason for that. While writing up a top ten list of Horror movies from the nineties I re-watched The Candyman and it pretty much goes without saying I loved it. After nearly fifteen years watching it again was pretty eye opening. I remember thinking, where the hell has this guy been, he’s god damned magnificent, seriously magnificent!

His eloquent speeches matched with his gravelly booming voice and Tony Todd’s excellent performance was just a damned fine recipe for one of the most imposing villains to pop up in this genre I love so very much. So, what’s his thing? What’s he all about? Well, he exists to propagate his own legend, killing to feed the fear that keeps him alive. If people begin to doubt his existence he will strike out at some poor soul, cultivating his own mythology.

Being the powerful spectre that he is, he wears his vanity on his sleeve. His self-obsession is as clear as his booming voice, but when you’ve been haunting the lands for centuries it would be hard not build up a bit of a god complex when you hear people fearfully telling your story and cowering at the mention of your name.

And what is that story? Well in the eighteenth century his father was a slave who invented a machine which mass produced shoes. Becoming incredibly wealthy he was able to send his son to the best schools, where he became a well-known painter. After being commissioned by a wealthy land owner to paint his beautiful virgin daughter the two fell in love and she became pregnant out of wedlock. When the father discovered the truth he hired a lynch mob to hunt him down. They chased him through the streets, and after they had sawn of his right hand with a rusty saw they smeared him in honey and he died after being stung to death by the bees of the local apiary. Given the nature of his death he was nicknamed the Candyman.

His weapon of choice is the huge hook embedded in the bloody stump where his hand was severed. Though he may have quite the sympathetic backstory that doesn’t stop him from dispatching his victims with varying degrees of brutal savagery, and while he may not have the kill count of someone like Jason Voorhees he is just as lethal, if not more so.

The extent of his powers have never been displayed in full, but what we do know is that he can teleport, fly, and has incredible strength – oh and there’s the army of bees that dwell inside his body. So it kind of goes without saying that he’s quite the formidable adversary.

So why is this guy not standing among the titans of the genre? Well, I have no idea. The first movie is superb and while the three sequels aren’t stellar, much longer running franchises have been built on far less.

Continue the list.