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Candyman is one of those rare horror classics I haven’t seen fully until just recently. Based off of the short story “The Forbidden” by Clive Barker (one of my favorite horror authors), I was excited to see what this icon had in store for me.

Helen Lyle and Bernadette Walsh are grad students investigating a local urban legend held accountable for several grisly murders, the Candyman. If you look into a mirror and say his name 5 times, a figure with a hook for a hand disembowels you. Upon further investigation Helen learns where this story originated, a young African American man was brutally killed by having his arm cut off and slathered in honey so he would by stung to death by thousands of bees and finally his body was burned and his ashes were scattered in what would be a run down apartment complex near her. She takes the legend in jest and summons the haunting figure who turns Helen’s life upside down to continue his legend; can Helen bring down the figure before he steals a baby’s life as well as her own?

While not perfect, I can safely say Candyman is a classic. Tony Todd as Candyman is menacing and his voice is frightening; my only grip is that they echo him too much and there’s a few times it becomes hard to understand his lines. I love the cinematography and the use of symbolism. My favorite besides Candyman’s full  reveal at the end is the entrance to his lair being a painting of his screaming face. Virginia Madsen as Helen isn’t a typical survivor girl and I liked her as a main character. The movie’s pacing is good and the score is pretty different which gives the movie a tone different than most slasher movies. A couple of times the effects look kooky but nothing unforgivable by any means. Candyman is definitely a movie I recommend to any horror fan who never saw it. May the gaming gods bring you glory.

Phantasm is one of my all time favorite horror movies and one of my first reviews I ever did on the blog. The Tall Man is a dark, menacing figure with untold horrors at his disposal. Unlike typical horror series though, Phantasm has a huge story that continues each installment.

The sequel picks up right where the first left off. Mike and Reggie barely escape there house, blowing the Tall Man up inside. Mike tells his story to the cops and is understandably thrown into the funny farm, released when he’s a full grown adult, reuniting with Reggie who go on a cross country hunt for the Tall Man. Setting up another remote funeral home, the Tall Man and his minions come across a gifted young woman named Liz. Can Mike and Reggie vanquish the sinister Tall Man once and for all?

I got to admit, as far as sequels go, Phantasm 2 is pretty damn awesome. The story stays fresh and stays strangely unpredictable as the original was. Angus Scrum is once again awesome as the Tall Man. The score is a cool, more action paced version of the original. There is a awesome amount of kills, including new modifications to the sphere that are simply badass. I definitely recommend checking out this strange, WTF, sequel that doesn’t disappoint if you loved the first. May the gaming gods bring you glory.