Candyman: Day of the Dead

Candyman: Day of the Dead
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***DISCLAIMER*** The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion (or other commenters), that's fine. To each their own. These reviews are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay. 4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching!  Candyman 3:  Sure Why Not?

Candyman – Day of the Dead – 2 out of 5

After finally checking out the first film and it’s first sequel (read my reviews for them here and here), I decided to complete the first set of films before the new feature arrived, so I watched Candyman:  Day of the Dead.  It is a long way from the quality of the first film and about the same as the second film.  Fun fact about the film, the story takes place in 2020.  In this version of 2020, everything looked very 90s and there was no pandemic.

"Okay...you can do this.  Get out there and be the best Candyman
you can be!"

25 years after the events in New Orleans and 28 years since the events of Chicago, Candyman (Tony Todd) has been lying dormant and extremely quiet.  As the Day of the Dead is about to arrive in Los Angeles, a descendant of the angry spirit and art gallery owner; Caroline McKeever (Donna D’Errico), finds herself to be the next target of the killer.  As per ushe, Candyman starts to claim the lives of people in Caroline’s life, tormenting her and making her the target of the police.  Now Caroline must clear her name, protect her friends, and stop Candyman from achieving his bloody goals.

"Let me lend you a...hook?!?  Oh wait, I can do better. Wait, get back
here and be my victim!"

Day of the Dead is pretty much like Farewell to the Flesh in its quality.  The story is fairly dry and not very interesting, and it tries to add on some gratuitous elements in order to disguise that the feature really doesn’t have much going on for itself.  In this case, the movie likes to throw in some boobage and scantily clad ladies.  Right at the very beginning of the film, we see a dream sequence where Donna D’Errico is walking around in her underwear and then, within the first 20 minutes of the film and Candyman’s first kill, we have a woman in nothing but one of those very 90s, high hip thongs and dripping honey onto her breasts.  As I’ve stated in the past, I’m not a prude and I have nothing against nudity in films, but gratuitous nudity is annoying because it is usually there for either childish and misogynistic reasons or in order to cover up a weak-sauce story.  In the cast of Day of the Dead, it was a little bit of all of that.

"Welp, time to doom my friend to death.  Candyman..."

"*Sigh* Someone said my name five times in
a mirror.  I'll be right back."

But hey, if seeing some tiddies and a woman in her undies is enough to make a good movie for you, then go on with your bad self!  Lord knows I get enough people yelling at me on Twitter when I give a bad review and they tell me it was great because you get to see some nudity.  With that being said…this still was a very boring film, and nothing can erase the fact it stinks of a phoned-in sequel.  First off, the story really isn’t that interesting and is repeating the mistakes of the last film.  It feels like it is just meandering from plot point to plot point and it never really explores any elements in any real meaningful way.  Even the torture that Candyman subjects Caroline to pales in comparison to what was done in the first film.  In fact, Candyman sorta feels like he gets no joy from what he is doing and is just going through the motions.

Nic Cage thought he had it bad when the bees were in his eyes.

I always find the trope of the goth kid trying to be
dark and edgy getting killed by the horror
hero they worship funny.

And speaking of going through the motions, the performances in the film are fairly bland.  Donna D’Errico spends most of her time just staring at things wide-eyed and even Tony Todd doesn’t look like he is giving much energy.  The majority of the rest of the performances are of the scenery chewing over-the-top variety and this is very noticeable in this strange group of punk/goth kids who worship Candyman.  Granted, their performances are entertaining and amusing in a riffable way, but it really isn’t doing the overall product a lot of favors.  There are some decent performances in the film in the form of Nick Corri as a man helping Caroline and Wade Williams as a racist cop but even these performances aren’t enough to save the film…and, admittedly, Williams is laying it on a little thick and often comes off as a caricature rather than a character.

A cop that is racist?  What a trope.  Don't we see enough of these in real life?

Ultimately, one of the biggest killers for me was something I had trouble putting my finger on in the last one but made the realization in Day of the Dead.  The first film established that Candyman is this urban legend and it even goes as far to hint that the residents of Cabrini-Green have been terrorized by him for generations.  There was this feeling that he could be called to haunt and go after anyone who called forth to him.  Farewell to the Flesh and this one never gives off that vibe and, instead, focuses almost entirely on people who have some sort of connection to the vengeful spirit.  The idea that by saying his name five times in a mirror could mean you are dooming yourself to him chasing you is a scary idea and, while this element still exists in these two films, it feels like an afterthought and just an excuse for a random kill.  These sequels feel too narrow with Candyman’s scope for targets and that sorta feels like it is robbing the story of horror and makes Candyman feel like an antagonist that is only tailor-made for very specific victims.  Not to mention that seeing him once again focus his energy on a white, blonde woman is…well…kinda boring.

Wow...how exciting.  Another blonde white woman.

Candyman:  Day of the Dead is basically a flavorless direct-to-video sequel that doesn’t come anywhere close to the greatness the first film was.  It retreads the same road that started the franchise (which sequels usually do) but fails to find that balance of being fresh and original, and familiar at the same time.  It lacks a story that has bite and intrigue to it, there is no atmosphere so nothing about it is chilling or tense, the performances are forgettable, and they once again make a small adjustment to Candyman’s origin for no real reason.  In the end, the movie wasn’t good, but I am now caught up and prepared for the new sequel from Nia DaCosta and Jordan Peele later this year…and I am very excited for that one.