10 Things You Didn't Know About Candyman

4. He Knows His Shakespeare

Every great horror icon has their thing. Michael Myers hunts his family. Jason punishes teenage shenanigans with exceedingly elaborate kills. Freddy does wisecracks and surrealism.

Candyman? Candyman has class.

Honestly, the film would be almost forgettable without Tony Todd’s 1890s diction. For all that he makes a towering, frightening physical presence, it’s the near poetry of his dialogue that makes the masterpiece.

In fact, some of the time there ain’t no “nearly” about his poetry. The leitmotif of “sweets to the sweet” comes from Billy Shakes his own bad self. Better, it comes from Hamlet’s tragic Ophelia, mad with grief, strewing the ground with flowers in memory of her murdered father. The reference evokes Daniel Robitaille’s own besetting loss, reminding the well-read audience that before Candyman was ever a monster, he was a bereaved lover who watched his life go up in flames.

Also, if you didn’t get the Shakespeare reference the first time through, no shame. What do you think we’re for? We nerd so you don’t have to.