Candyman is an American horror film of the slasher sub-genre. It was directed by Bernard Rose and based on the 1985 short story, "The Forbidden" by famed horror author Clive Barker. The story appeared as the first vignette in volume 5 of Barker's anthology series "Books of Blood". Candyman proved successful enough to spawn two sequels, Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh in 1995 and the 1999 direct-to-video movie Candyman: Day of the Dead. The eponymous villain of the series is Daniel Robitaille, aka, the Candyman - the ghost of a Louisiana slave who can be called into existence any time someone speaks the name "Candyman" five times in front of a mirror. College student Helen Lyle and her friend Bernie Walsh uncover the secret of the Candyman while exploring the haunted corridors of the Cabrini Green housing projects in Chicago, Illinois.