Candyman: Day of the Dead

The Candyman returns once again to torment and kill a distant relative for further undisclosed or vague reasons.

This time it's Baywatch alumni Donna D'Errico taking the lead and boring the hell out of us for the films 90 minute duration.

Granted this is a marginal step up from Farewell To The Flesh (1995) but still spotlights why the Candyman franchise died such a death.

I've never understood how Tony Todds Candyman became so iconic, how do people place him alongside the likes of Freddy, Leatherface and Jason when he had just 3 rather mediocre films to his name.

I'd like to see Candyman reborn, whether a 4th film or a reboot I don't mind but we a) Need Todd to remain the titular role and b) New writers.

The Good:

Wade Williams

Donna D'Errico is far better here than I've seen her before

The Bad:

Plot is still pretty messy

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Remaking the origin scene and making it different makes about as much sense as nipples on men

Donna D'Errico is allergic to bra's

After watching the reboot this is oscar material in comparison. Stick to original 3 movies, if you dont like 2 and 3 stay well clear of last one.

I have a theory that you can judge a film on its trailers. The rental for Candyman 3 included such cinematic gems as Idle Hands, The Eternal, Water Damage and The Substitute 3: The Winner Takes All. To save you looking, the average rating for said films on the IMDb is currently 4.87. Though that's still higher than the rating for Candyman 3.

Another film with the same title was also a weak third in a horror trilogy. Though George A.Romero's Day of the Dead is still streets ahead of this. The vague phallic symbolism of the Candyman's hook is here expanded upon, the sociological issues toned down, while the beautiful theme is ditched in favour of a generic pop beat. Lead Donna D'Errico has gorgeous breasts, but do we really need to see them all through the film? A plastic temptress who, like Kelly Rowan, couldn't hold a candle to Virginia Madsen, she fails to wear a bra in any single scene. She even goes topless on two occasions, one of four actresses in the movie to do so. That's Day of the Dead all over: gratuitous nudity, bad language, gore and a total lack of credibility.

The Mexican element is in no way stereotypical. No, instead characters make love to Latino guitar music after downing Tequilas. Sĕnõr. While a group of Candy disciples obviously spent so long in worshipping him they had no time for acting lessons. Poor old Candyman, marginalised in his own franchise in favour of D'Errico's nipples, resorts to saying "be my victim" about ten million times. Maybe he's really saying "bee – my victim!" in reference to those lamely CGIed insects that fly around him? Perhaps not. Candyman states he wants to reclaim his dignity. Sorry, mate – you lost that when you signed on for the sequels...

Did this film really have a chance at beating the hook stabbing prequels? I was pleasantly surprised at how good the follow up to the first was, however the third...well.

After avoiding this movie for ages, not wanting to be disappointed, I finally popped by my local video shop ( I may have gone to see it at the flicks if I had been given the chance ). Sat down with a mate who hadn't seen the others and watched him squirm, not from the horror but from boredom.

A poor low budget remake of the others this certainly was. A gripping glorious gore fest this was not.

We now find that Candyman had time to do a couple of sketches of his voluptuous lover (he's no Picasso) during his slave(?) days. Thankgod the writers kept his horrible demise the same.

Well I wasn't expecting the Earth, but how about a complete self parody instead of this, at least we could have laughed aloud in the correct places, like Scream. Was it supposed to be funny?

Some good ideas: an insensitive lover who had to get it, a subway scene that didn't stand a chance against 'American werewolf' but was still enjoyable, a great cop death and plenty of honey.

Okay it was bearable. Just. Maybe they'll repair the damage with another; until then I'll conveniently forget this one. Watch the others again instead.

For some reason, the third part of a trilogy always disappoints me, if only slightly. And that's just what Candyman 3: Day of the Dead does: slightly, not heavily, disappoints.

It seems that Caroline (the now-grown-up daughter of Annie from the second film) is on her in LA. She owns Daniel Robetaille's (the Candyman) paintings which she has chosen to show at the gallery of an aspiring artist.

Tempted by her friends, she says the Candyman's name five times because she feels she'll be doing him justice by proving his supposed non-existence. Although nothing happens while she is at the gallery opening, her life later begins to unravel as she finds the vengeful spirit slaughtering everyone around her (he killed her mother years before), with only Caroline appearing to be suspect.

Co-produced by Tony Todd, this somewhat hokey (and hopefully FINAL) entry to the Candyman films is not that bad. Although I consider anything to outwit its bland and tepid predecessor, this is not much better with acting (Donna D'Errico's Caroline is a shrieking wimp at best), and our heroine seems to exist only to scream, fill out a tank top, and see her friends slaughtered in extremely gory fashion.

The Latin "Day of the Dead" festival has almost no relevance in this film, as its concept is only used in one scene I can think of, but then again, it wouldn't have been wise to just call this entry "Candyman 3" and leave it at that. Let's hope after this fairly decent entry that film makers will do what they should...leave it at that.

Rating: **1/2 out of ****