Classic Movie Review: 'Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh'

Candyman Farewell to the Flesh

Directed by Bill Condon

Written by Rand Ravich, Mark Krueger, Clive Barker

Starring Tony Todd, Kelly Rowan, Timothy Carhart, Veronica Cartwright

Release Date March 17th, 1995

Published March 20th, 2025

The journey to bring Candyman Farewell to the Flesh, the sequel to the hit horror movie, Candyman (1992), to the big screen is far more entertaining than the movie that was the result of that journey. Following the surprising success of Candyman, producers went to Candyman director Bernard Rose to start work on a sequel. Rose was not ready for this request. He had no idea what to do with a sequel as he believed he’d killed the title character at the end of the first film. Indeed, (Spoiler Alert) Tony Todd’s Candyman burns to death alongside Virginia Madsen’s Helen Lyle. So, not only is Candyman destroyed but his legend is passed to Helen who now appears if you say her name five times in front of a mirror.

So, what to do with a sequel? Candyman is dead and Helen is the new Candyman. Rose had to scramble for an idea. He had a green-lighted movie, he needed to get a story fast to take advantage of this rare Hollywood sure thing. Thinking that since the first story had been based on a Clive Barker short story, Rose began searching through Barker’s catalogue of shorts for a new story to tell. Again, in Rose’s mind, the Candyman is dead. So now, for a sequel, he’s viewing it as an anthology under the umbrella title of Candyman.

If you know anything about Hollywood studio executives, you can guess what happened when Rose returned with his new Candyman sequel pitch. Stunned executives sat in stony silence as Rose pitched a Candyman movie with no Candyman. There would be no Tony Todd, no Virginia Madsen, no bees and no urban legend about sayings and mirrors and whatnot. Rose was not exactly fired on the spot, but executives did turn his greenlight to red. Still seeing dollar signs for a Candyman sequel, execs sought a new story and a director. Enter the trio of Rand Ravich, Mark Krueger, and director Bill Condon.

Their take on Candyman, which becomes Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh, for some reason, neglects much of the original film. Now, the story is set in New Orleans. Daniel Robitaille (Todd) is still a former slave but now he grew up and lived on a plantation in New Orleans instead of what became Chicago. He was still murdered after impregnating a slave owner’s daughter and his hand was still cut off before he was smeared with honey and attacked by bees. He’s also still an urban legend who comes when someone calls his name 5 times in front of a mirror.

Other changes though have Candyman tied inextricably to a New Orleans family, descendants of the slave owners that killed Robitaille. In modern day New Orleans, Candyman is a myth who has committed several random murders. These murders come to be blamed on Ethan Tarrant (William O’Leary) who believes his father was also a victim of the Candyman. When an author, Professor Phillip Purcell, the only actor returning from the first film, ends up dead, killed by the Candyman, Tarrant is arrested as a suspect.

Ethan’s sister, Annie, a public school teacher, tries to bail him out with the help of their wealthy, unstable mother, Octavia (Veronica Cartwright), but the cops refuse to let Ethan go. This leads Annie to investigate on her own to prove her brother’s innocence. When she calls Candyman to prove that Candyman is a myth, she finds one of her students goes missing and herself, cursed by Candyman to join him as a murderer of myth and legend, perpetuating Candyman’s revenge to a whole new generation. I think.

Honestly, I am not sure what the hell is going throughout much of Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh. Why doesn’t Candyman just kill Annie like he kills everyone else? Can Candyman kill people who don’t summon him? It seems like he may be able to, maybe. Does Candyman want Annie to be his partner? His wife? His concubine? We will come to find out that the blonde beauty is a member of Daniel’s family, his bloodline, somehow, leading to further, needlessly icky, questions about Candyman’s motivation.

The plot is a convoluted disaster. That said, Bill Condon is a good director. Even before he became an indie icon with Gods and Monsters and a mainstream auteur with Chicago and Dreamgirls, Condon shows a remarkable eye for shot composition and great attention to visual detail. His talent is misapplied in the low budget slasher genre, but Condon does his best to make Candyman Farewell to the Flesh less tedious. He’s helped by another elegantly creepy performance from Tony Todd who is truly the only reason Candyman became a franchise and a horror icon mentioned in the same breath as the Jason’s and Freddy’s of the horror world.

No, it’s literally everything else in Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh that fails spectacularly. Nothing against actress Kelly Rowan but she’s completely overmatched by the material. She appears nearly as lost as the audience as she tries to shove the plot along. Condon and his screenwriters appear more interested in the New Orleans setting than anything Rowan is doing with her character. Yes, you can apply the cliche ‘New Orleans is like another character in the movie’ as we are bombarded with references to gumbo, the French Quarter, Mardi Gras, and endless dancing funeral processions.

It’s no wonder Rowan did not return for the third film in the franchise, Candyman 3: Day of the Dead, even as her character, Annie, does return in the sequel. If I were Rowan I would also want to put Candyman Farewell to the Flesh behind me as quickly as possible. Turning down a role in Candyman 3 had to be the easiest 'NO' in her career. The movie treats Rowan poorly and does no favors for any of her co-stars either.

That said, Veronica Cartwright may not be very good in Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh but she, at the very least, understands the assignment and engages in a broad caricature of a New Orleans matron. Her character is dying from cancer and she loves bringing it up as much as possible so she can faint and beg for sympathy. Only the mother from Tommy Wiseau’s The Room enjoys exploiting a cancer diagnosis more than Cartwright does in Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh.

Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh is the subject of the next episode of the I Hate Critics 1995 Movie Podcast. Each week, myself and my co-hosts Gen-Z’er M.J, and Gen-X’er Amy, watch a movie released 30 years ago that week in order to track how movies and popular culture have changed in just the past 30 years. It’s been a fun experiment, now in its third year online. You can find the I Hate Critics 1995 Podcast on the I Hate Critics Movie Review Podcast feed, wherever you listen to podcasts.