Rare Depiction of Candyman Revealed

Clive Barker’s original incarnation for the character of The Candyman in his Books of Blood short story “The Forbidden” is a much different beast than what Bernard Rose gave us in his adaptation. In the story he’s described more like a sickly ghost with waxy jaundiced skin, rouged cheeks, blue lips, eyes like rubies, and a patchwork coat. Of course the movie went down a different route and the audience was given something more closer to Phantom of the Opera, which is fine. It’s more of a classic monster look that I think general audiences were able to relate to.

Before being published in volume five of The Books of Blood, the story actually made its debut in a horror fiction semiprozine called Fantasy Tales that was created by Clive Barker’s Shadows of Eden author Steven Jones. He discusses this more in depth in the audio tracks that he and Kim Newman provided for both the Arrow Video and Scream Factory recent bluray special editions.

Luckily, Bloody Disgusting columnist Jason Jenkins was able to get a copy of the issue from eBay and was kind enough to share the artwork that was created by John Stewart. This is a much more nightmarish version of the character that reminds me of something out of a H.P. Lovecraft story. The ‘wildman’ appearance really gets under my skin. It’s the stare that does it. Kudos to Stewart for coming up with a look that is truly unnerving. I think this would be a very interesting depiction for the new film to explore if they decide to not use Tony Todd. 

Check it out:

To read the rest of this fascinating article click on the link below:

[Image] The Very First Depiction of Clive Barker’s Candyman Was Far Different Than Tony Todd’s Portrayal

Thanks to Jason Jenkins and Bloody Disgusting.