CANDYMAN: FAREWELL TO THE FLESH — Movie Review
By John Argote-Rodriguez
ROAD TO CANDYMAN (2021)🐝🪝
“Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” was released on March 17, 1995 with Bill Condon taking over directing duties with Tony Todd returning as Candyman joined by Kelly Rowan, Timothy Carhart, Veronica Cartwright, Bill Nunn, and William O’Leary.
Following the success of “Candyman” a sequel was greenlit and while Bernard Rose was set to return to direct the film neither him nor the studio could see eye-to-eye on the story of Candyman 2 so Bill Condon was brought onboard with a different story.
“Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” moves from the projects of Cabrini-Green, Chicago to New Orleans three years after the events of the first film with Kelly Rowan as Annie Tarrant who is being haunted by the Candyman goes on a journey through her linage and discovers revelations that just might explain why the Candyman is after her so adamantly.
Well fellas I’m here to say that “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” is a lackluster follow-up. However, I don’t think Farewell to the Flesh is anywhere near as bad as critics say it is or how low it’s rated in Rotten Tomatoes because there are some good moments.
What made “Candyman” fantastic was it wasn’t just your average run of the mill horror film, it was also a social commentary on social classes and racial injustice and whole Farewell to the Flesh does tap into those themes it unfortunately primarily fell into straight to slasher/horror and as one it felt generic. Originally Bernard Rose was return to return and direct a prequel, however talks broke down as it involved a interracial relationship which the studio shut down as they viewed it too risky to made at the time which I think is bullshit.
Unfortunately Farewell to the Flesh, falls more close towards average horror film. However, unlike it’s awful follow-up this film still tries to expand upon the lore and even provided us with some Candyman backstory, giving us a flashback to his brutal murder which I’d say is the best part of the film unfortunately because while I appreciate the development attempt at Annie Tarrant played by Kelly Rowan and her brother they just weren’t that interesting. I could careless about Annie’s brother Ethan, he was boring as hell so much so that every time the camera cut to Ethan it came hard to keep my eyes on the television.
Kelly Rowan’s Annie Tarrant is given some backstory and I love the attempt at trying to make this character work and to be clear I don’t hate Annie Tarrant I just don’t find her character interesting. Kelly Rowan did good with the work she was given which I thought she did well, but she was nothing compared to the impact that Virginia Madsen’s Helen Lyle had, the long-lasting ramifications and impact of that character is felt because every movie since the original has the absence of Helen. Nobody talks about any other Candyman victim then Helen.
The best scene is ironically the most tragic in the form of a flashback sequence showing us Daniel Robitaille being chased down and tortured to death leading to him becoming the Candyman. Aside from the not so convincing costumes aside from Tony Todd, the scene is really impact because of the horrid atrocious being committed by the white supremacy assholes. I hate racism so much and seeing it film is an easy trigger because fuuuuuuuck I wanted to fuck up all those racist shits, hell I’d even kick the teeth out of those kids, but anyways it just proves how impact the scene is. Though the ambiguity from the first film of simply knowing this event rather than seeing it was more suspenseful, but this also humanizes the killer spirit looking vengeance.
This scene is once again show in the following film “Candyman: Day of the Dead” and it’s shot very differently from this one and I initially disliked how inconsistent it was to the continuity, but upon watching Dead Meat’s Kill Count by James A. Janisse he pointed out that this didn’t bother him due to it’s different interpretations as Candyman is a legend and that changed my perspective… don’t know why I didn’t just write this on my Day of the Dead review, but it’s here.
“Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” is an okay entry. It fails to capture what made the original special by slowly descending into a traditional slasher film and not having any interesting characters aside from Tony Todd’s Daniel Robitaille/Candyman. However despite Annie Tarrant not being anywhere near as interesting as Helen Lyle, but Kelly Rowan’s performance as Annie is good that I had hope for her character. In the end Farewell to the Flesh is just a underwhelming and disappointing sequel that has great moments like the bees coming out of Candyman’s face and Tony Todd’s performance, but it fell short in terms of story, but hey at least it’s better then the film sequel that came after this.
Grade: C
