Before going on to direct many critically much more acclaimed movies, Bill Condon's first major motion picture was a "Candyman" sequel, perhaps an unnecessary one, most definitely one that didn't carry most of the goodies from the first film with it, but also one that offers some simple horror fun, cheese and all.
Though despite that cheese, "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh" visibly and undeniably thrives to achieve the same level of substance, dread and seriousness that the original possesses. Well, this sequel certainly has lost most of the subtext, at least half of the dread, and its seriousness, although apparent, gets muddled with lesser scares, story in lack of more layers, slower pacing and somewhat silly ending. In the center of the plot is Annie Tarrant, and, as it turns out, Candyman has some history with her family, which is now being haunted. The story does the decent thing of trying to expand the Candyman mythos and is intriguing as such, but ultimately starts slowing down in its exploration and ending up somewhere pretty expected. Kelly Rowan's Annie might not be on the same level as Virginia Madsen's Helen, but she makes up for a decent heroine worth tagging along. Thankfully, Tony Todd's still here and is as menacing as ever, at least as far as the script allows. Worth mentioning is also the character of Kingfisher, only seen on screen for a few seconds, but narrating with his radio voice at times throughout. Old-school radio narration elements are always cool. It only makes sense that the sequel has doubled down on gore and various action effects, which is as awesome as it is cheesy, especially if utilized just for a cheap thrill's sake. The ending, in that regard, was cool and climatic in a visual way, but in regards of the story, it was a total cop-out, I found it to be the most dissatisfying part of the whole movie.
Around the middle of of the movie I was sure I'd be able to give it a six and call it an overlooked sequel, but truth be told, it's lesser than the sum of its good parts. I do recommend checking it out if You're a fan of the character of Candyman. My rating: 5/10.
Though despite that cheese, "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh" visibly and undeniably thrives to achieve the same level of substance, dread and seriousness that the original possesses. Well, this sequel certainly has lost most of the subtext, at least half of the dread, and its seriousness, although apparent, gets muddled with lesser scares, story in lack of more layers, slower pacing and somewhat silly ending. In the center of the plot is Annie Tarrant, and, as it turns out, Candyman has some history with her family, which is now being haunted. The story does the decent thing of trying to expand the Candyman mythos and is intriguing as such, but ultimately starts slowing down in its exploration and ending up somewhere pretty expected. Kelly Rowan's Annie might not be on the same level as Virginia Madsen's Helen, but she makes up for a decent heroine worth tagging along. Thankfully, Tony Todd's still here and is as menacing as ever, at least as far as the script allows. Worth mentioning is also the character of Kingfisher, only seen on screen for a few seconds, but narrating with his radio voice at times throughout. Old-school radio narration elements are always cool. It only makes sense that the sequel has doubled down on gore and various action effects, which is as awesome as it is cheesy, especially if utilized just for a cheap thrill's sake. The ending, in that regard, was cool and climatic in a visual way, but in regards of the story, it was a total cop-out, I found it to be the most dissatisfying part of the whole movie.
Around the middle of of the movie I was sure I'd be able to give it a six and call it an overlooked sequel, but truth be told, it's lesser than the sum of its good parts. I do recommend checking it out if You're a fan of the character of Candyman. My rating: 5/10.