In 1992 director Bernard Rose adapted a short novella by Clive Barker entitled “The Forbidden” into a big screen horror film: Candyman.

It starred Virginia Madsen as Helen Lyle, a Chicago Grad Student doing a thesis on urban legends, and Tony Todd in a career defining role as the titular boogeyman. The following year it hit home video and my friends and I (probably in our final year of Junior High at the time) finally got around to seeing it. I still remember going over to my buddy Joey’s apartment on a Saturday night, his dad, Bruce, had rented it for us to watch (Thanks Bruce!). I still remember the “ooooh shit” moment we both had as soon as the opening credits started playing and Philip Glass’ brilliantly haunting score began to blare out of the surround sound. We knew were in for something frightening and different. Turns out, it was one of the scariest movies we had seen in a long time.