‘Candyman’ Sequel Lacks Suspense Of Original Flick
The 1992 film “Candyman” was a better-than-average horror flick about a sexy, determined college instructor (Virginia Madsen) investigating a supernatural serial killer terrorizing Chicago’s CabriniGreen housing project.
The inevitable sequel, “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh,” which has the noted British horror author Clive Barker as executive producer, tries hard for the same distinctive brand of creepiness and has some clever touches to it, but it somehow ends up being a much more routine affair than the original.
In this outing, the action switches to New Orleans during Mardi Gras, and the boogie man of the title (Tony Todd) has been terrorizing a whole new cast of characters.
His primary target is a beautiful young teacher (Kelly Rowan) who appears to have some mysterious family connection to the spirit and, like the heroine of part one, spends most of the movie trying to get to the bottom of the mystery.
There are few dull moments here. In the course of the movie, the Candyman’s bloody victims include the woman’s brother, her father, her husband, her mother, a policeman investigating the case, and the smug author of a book on the Candyman legend.
Producer Barker (who is only credited with the story idea for the original), director Bill Condon (filling in for the original’s Bernard Rose) and his writers have crammed this movie so full of killings and razzle-dazzle MTV imagery that it has very little of what made the first “Candyman” so effective: genuine suspense.
xxxx Locations: Lincoln Heights, North Division and Coeur d’Alene cinemas Cast: Directed by Bill Condon, starring Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, Timothy Carhart and Veronica Cartwright Running time: 99 minutes Rated: R