Harefooted Halloween: Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh

What I Liked: Tony Todd (The Rock) delivers another eerie performance as the Candyman.  He’s just as vicious except this time he looks tortured being relegated to a restless murdering ghoul.  The all black overcoat looks cooler too.

What I Didn’t Like: Once again the rules with the Candyman aren’t totally clear.  Like in the first movie after you say his name in the mirror five times sometimes he appears immediately, sometimes it’s a while later, sometimes he doesn’t show up at all and sometimes he’ll drop in unexpectedly without the chant.  What was the point of the mirror conjuring gag if they weren’t gonna stick to it at all?

The sound effect stings on the jump scares are these over the top screeching noises and they’re loud in the mix.  They’re some of the most obnoxious I’ve ever heard in a horror movie.

Overall Impressions: I know I went real light on the previous sections but there isn’t a ton to say here.  The most interesting (and strangest) thing the filmmakers did was change up the Candyman’s backstory.  Him having an affair with and impregnating a white woman in 1890, being chased by an angry mob of white people, getting his hand sawed off and being stung to death by bees is still here.  The big changes are this all occurred in New Orleans instead of Chicago, the woman he was sleeping with was the daughter of a wealthy plantation owner and they didn’t burn his corpse.  I have no idea why these changes were made.  Maybe the filmmakers were hellbent on shooting in New Orleans for creative reasons.  Or they got a tax break or something.  In any case these changes are fine.  They don’t make the Candyman’s tale any more or less intriguing.

Another difference is we got a straight up slasher picture this time which I have to admit makes a lot of sense with this hook wielding gut spilling character.  And the Candyman is after a woman (Kelly Rowan (Assassins)) who is the descendant of his lover so it makes sense why he would pursue her and not kill her right away.

What I’m trying to say is Farewell to the Flesh feels like it should be the first movie in the series and the original feels like the sequel where they decided to go in a different direction instead of repeating the slasher formula.  I don’t think I’ve felt this way before where an array of films seemed out of sequence.

Candy 2 is alright though.  It’s easier to digest than its predecessor but it’s also less interesting overall.  Except for the really fucked up fact that the Candyman wants to get with his own great granddaughter.  Did this get by everyone?  I feel like the filmmakers wouldn’t have made the protagonist and the villain so directly related if they realized the connection.  Just something to keep in mind when you watch.