#8: Candyman & In the Mouth of Madness

These movies came out around the same time, but one I really loved from the start, the other I had to mature to appreciate how really good it was.

 

Candyman has all the makings of being an instant classic.  Immortal killer, heroine who has yet to discover her inner strength and the people who build up the killer's legend.  Tony Todd was perfectly cast; who could have done a better job?  The parking lot scene where he whisks Helen away was awesome.  I mean, all he was doing was saying her name and it was scary.

In the Mouth of Madness took some growing on me.  I loved it right up until the end.  I just didn't get the whole Sam Neill laughing at himself in the theater.  But as I got older I took it to mean the ridiculousness of life itself.  That we could spend our lives being afraid of the boogeyman everywhere we go, but in the end it's all just silliness.  Or that could just be the over analyst in me and Neill was just nuts.

 

This also marks for me the last good movie John Carpenter made.