CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH
Polygram
1995 Color
93 Mins.
Horror/Thriller
Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, Timothy Carhart and Veronica Cartwright star.
Written by Rand Ravich and Clive Barker
Directed by Bill Condon
Rated R for language, violence, gore and sexuality
A young Bill Condon Academy Award Nominated Director of Dreamgirls began his theatrical film career with this visually stunning, entertaining but less effective sequel in the Candyman franchise. Although not nearly as powerful as the original, Candyman Farewell to the Flesh is a lot of fun. It picks up after the events of the original film in New Orleans where the descendants of the hooked madman find themselves in turmoil when their family is targeted. The movie centers around Annie played by a young Kelly Rowan of The OC, a struggling school teacher who begins to discover her sordid family history when her brother is wrongly accused of the madman's murders. Before she knows it there's a string of gory corpses and a plethora of dark family secrets rearing there ugly head. The performance from Todd doesn't have the disturbing presence it had in the original, that being said it is in some part due to the struggling screenplay that is filled with loads of hammy dialogue and jump scares. Kelly Rowan fares much better as Annie, she lends the character a formidable strength. The cinematography is rich and the direction from Bill Condon feels confident. All in all it extends the mythology in a mostly successful way but never fares to far away from it's desperation in becoming a profitable franchise. Sadly the film didn't fare well with critics or at the box office and left the door open for one of the most ridiculous, terrible franchise killers in the history of cinema. Still Farewell stands as an overly entertaining if slightly forgettable addition to genre cinema. ***.75/5
Box Office:
Opening Weekend-$6,046,825
Total Domestic-$13,940,383
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