Candyman - Farewell to the Flesh

Candyman - Farewell to the Flesh
by Bill Condon

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Movie Reviews of Candyman - Farewell to the Flesh

Movie Review: Come . . . Be Candyman's victim
Summary: 5 Stars

I love the opening sequence of this film. The smarmy academic professor who is an expert on the Candyman but does not believe in him (the same man who needled Helen as she worked on her project in the original movie) is speaking about his new book in a New Orleans bookstore. Naturally, he proves his disbelief by theatrically calling out Candyman's name five times in front of his own reflection. Let's just say he ends up a convert to the Candyman religion. Then we meet Annie Tarrant (Kelly Rowan), a devoted schoolteacher in a poor neighborhood of town. Her brother is accused of killing the lecturing professor, but Annie does not believe his own statements of guilt. She believes something about her father's death is responsible for her brother's unexplainable behavior. That death, we learn, precipitated an enduring tragedy in the Tarrant family. Annie's mother is dying of cancer and seems to be holding something back from her questioning daughter. Annie herself, foolishly trying to prove to her frightened students that Candyman isn't real, calls him, and then things really get ugly. People die, many of them Tarrants, and the Candyman seems to engage in some sort of romantic courtship of Annie. Tarrant family secrets are eventually revealed, and in the process we get a bird's-eye view of the suffering inflicted upon Daniel Robitaille a century earlier - for those who don't know, he was lynched for having loved a white woman; his right hand was cut off with a rusty blade, and then he was smeared with honey and left at the mercy (or lack of it) of a whole colony of angry bees.

By the end of the movie, Candyman is not some horrible monster bent on destruction just because he enjoys gutting people; he is quite real, and his humanity shines through the robes of gore he has wrapped himself in over the decades. If you saw off his hand, will he not jam a hook in the stub of his arm and start gutting people? If you scratch his face, will not hordes of bees pour forth from his body? I love Candyman; he really is one of the most complex, sympathetic yet disturbing "monsters" wandering the horror universe today. Much of the credit for his power must go to Tony Todd, who portrays him brilliantly. Maybe the ending of this movie leaves a little bit to be desired, but the journey features some pretty decent gore and a lot of almost philosophical horror ruminations. If you want to call Candyman, go ahead; he's real enough to me that I'm not going to do it.

Summary of Candyman - Farewell to the Flesh