Is there such a thing as the scary Candyman?

Answer 1

No, he is completely fictional. While the Bloody Mary legend is oral folklore that has been passed down from generation to generation, the Candyman is the creation of one man, an English writer named Clive Barker.

Clive Barker is an acclaimed horror author who has been publishing novels, short stories, and novellas (very long short stories) for decades. The 1992 movie Candyman, starring Virginia Madsen and Tony Todd, was based on his novella, "The Forbidden," which was published in In the Flesh, a collection of four novellas by the author. Both the story and the movie are terrifying, but they are no more real than King Kong. The part about the Candyman being summoned when you say his name 5 times into the mirror is only in the movie, not the book. That part was invented by the screenwriter, Bernard Rose, who got the idea from the Bloody Mary legend.

Candyman is not the only film adaptation of a Clive Barker story. His story, "The Hellbound Heart," spawned the Hellraiser movies, and Clive Barker himself directed and wrote the screenplay for the first one, which came out in 1987. The 2008 movie The Midnight Meat Train was based on a short story of the same name, from his collection, Books of Blood: Volume 1. Among many other film credits, he has also done two episodes of the show Masters of Horror, and a Tales From the Darkside episode was based on one of his stories, "The Yattering and Jack."

Answer 2

"Candyman" is a fictional Horror character from a short story by Clive Barker and later, a film franchise. The Candyman is depicted as a vengeful ghost who can be summoned by saying his name five times in front of a mirror. It's not a real urban legend but a creation of fiction.