Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh

We now come to the 1995 bad Bill Condon sequel to one of the scariest horror movies ever made. “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” has more of the tragic horror icon with a hook for a hand. Once a slave who was lynched for having an affair with a white woman, he appears for murder every time someone says his name five times in a mirror.

A direct sequel to the first film, a local author (Michael Culkin) is murdered by Candyman (Tony Todd) in a bar bathroom, and his attacker, Ethan Tennant (William O’Leary), the son of a Candyman victim (Michael Bergeron) is blamed. His sister, Annie Tarrant, played by Kelly Rowan, is a normal school teacher in New Orleans who is insistent that he didn’t commit the murder, but Ethan just wants to take the blame for Candyman. Felix Vasquez said in his review, “Convinced otherwise, she begins investigating, despite his objections, and unfolds a humongous mystery that I wish were interesting.” For some reason, more of the originals of Candyman are revealed, as he’s given a tragic story, as well as a reason for being called from the mirror. You would think he’d only really murder the people that call him from the mirror but sure enough he just needs to be called by anyone at any time even playfully.

Vasquez said, “The Cenobites needed a puzzle solved.” Demons needed a book to be read. Deadites needed an incantation. But you could be somewhere, say his name five times, and sure enough he’ll appear and murder viciously. There’s just something that explains the character where he can come around to kill you at any time. Sure enough, despite being warned about the Candyman, and knowing about the mysterious hook-based murders, Annie begins putting herself in danger. She finds changes to the Candyman, she enters into dark isolated mansions, and all just because of a guess. Even when it becomes evident that the Candyman is real, Kelly Rowan’s performance is fine, but the rest of the movie drags with a slow pacing that completely removes any mystery that the writer tries to invoke.

Vasquez admitted, “Granted Tony Todd’s performance is fantastic as always, but rather than uncover Annie’s past, I just wanted the movie to get to the darn point, and figure out what Candyman wanted with her and her mother (Veronica Cartwright).”

I cannot believe that they would make a sequel that would be so awful. The way they ended the first movie, I would have been happy with the direction it could have gone in, but they threw that out the window. This sequel is just terrible. Currently, it is streaming on Max, but do not make the mistake of seeing it because you will be questioning the movie every minute. If you loved the first movie, then don’t see this one at all.

Next week we will be continuing the torture by looking at a worse sequel in “Candyman Month.”