Slasher icon Candyman (played by Tony Todd) has become a horror legend in his own right, but the character was inspired by two real urban legends. Candyman has so far stalked prey and claimed victims in three feature films, released in 1992, 1995, and 1999. He'll return to screens this summer in a movie reboot produced by Get Out director Jordan Peele and directed by up-and-comer Nia DaCosta. While actual plot details on the reboot - which Peele has dubbed a "spiritual sequel" to the original Candyman - remain scarce, it's been confirmed that Todd will reprise the role he made famous.
In the context of the Candyman films, the character is an urban legend who draws his power from those who believe in him, and anyone who challenges that belief by daring to speak his name five times into a mirror instantly becomes a target. A man named Daniel Robitaille in life, Candyman is a tragic, even romantic figure, but that won't stop him from slicing anyone who crosses him or gets in his way from groin to gullet with his trademark hook.
Considering Candyman's characterization within his films, it makes sense that the way he operates and appears was directly inspired by two popular, oft-repeated real life urban legends.
Candyman: The Real Urban Legends That Inspired Tony Todd's Villain
The first real life urban legend to inspire Candyman is the legend of Bloody Mary, which itself has been used directly by multiple horror films and TV shows. As with most urban legends or tales of folklore, it's unclear when Bloody Mary's story was first told. There have also been many variations on the Bloody Mary legend, including some where the ghost is actually benevolent. In most versions though, Bloody Mary is called when someone dares speak her name multiple times into a mirror in a darkened room, which clearly inspired the method of calling Candyman by saying his name five times into a mirror.
The second urban legend that serves as inspiration for Candyman is that of The Hookman, also sometimes just called The Hook. This story has also been adapted directly multiple times in pop culture, and concerns a young couple getting intimate inside a parked car when they hear a radio report about an escaped mental patient with a hook for a hand. In some versions, the couple leaves but later finds a hook embedded into their car, signifying that the psycho had been nearby. In others, the boyfriend leaves the car for some reason, followed by the girlfriend hearing a strange sound, and exiting the vehicle to find her dead boyfriend's corpse and/or the hook-handed killer. Obviously, this story inspired Candyman's weapon of choice, a hook jammed into the bloody stump his hand used to occupy.
