Candyman (1992)
Tomatometer: 74%

Based on a short story by celebrated horror icon Clive Barker, Candyman played on familiar archetypes to introduce a chilling new figure to scare-cinema. Tony Todd, who RT had the pleasure of meeting at this year's Comic-Con, plays the hook-fisted apparition who appears in mirrors when his name is spoken five times, and Virginia Madsen is the skeptical grad student researching the history of his legend in the housing projects of Chicago. Whether it was the unsettling gracefulness of his gravelly voice, the imposing stature of his presence, or the fat, bloody hook where his right hand should have been, Candyman effectively scared the bejeezus out of millions of moviegoers in 1992. He was so effective, in fact, that the movie spawned two sequels (one of them DTV) and reignited a centuries-old fear of mirrors. It's "very clever, well-made and unpredictable," wrote Andreas Samuelson of Slasherpool.

Ghost (1990)
Tomatometer: 78%

In a quiet way, Ghost proclaims the death of the 1980s. Fresh from The Color Purple, Dirty Dancing, and St. Elmo's Fire, the film's stars (Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Swayze, and Demi Moore, respectively) hit career peaks shortly before Jerry Zucker (yes, the man responsible for Airplane!) brought this film to theaters and pop culture consciousness. Sure, it's schmaltzy and often indifferent to things like logic, but its regret-free tone and "love will stay with you" message struck a deep chord with the country and its performances were hard to forget: Demi Moore in the throes of passion with a glow-in-the-dark Patrick Swayze; sexy pottery throwing; "Ditto." Before you start singing "I am Henry the Eighth, I am," consider for a moment how something so sappy could seep into the collective consciousness as deeply as Ghost did. For as much as it purports to be a mystery, it's no mystery: the 1980s are dead, God save the 1990s. "Call me corny, but I really dig it," wrote efilmcritic's Scott Weinberg. "Not without its flaws, Ghost still boasts drama, comedy, romance and a bit of the spooky stuff to boot."