Pretty Good

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Candyman's ancestor, Caroline (Donna D'Errico) is an artist in Boyle Heights, LA, allowing her great grandfather's paintings to be shown in a gallery in the hopes of highlighting the man not the myth. But her gallery presenter (the building is his) wants to instead publicize the myth in order to call attention to the show and orchestrate potential revenue. Miguel (Mark Adair-Rios) urges Caroline to look into a mirror and say Candyman's name five teams if she doesn't believe in the myth, and through this action appears to have genuinely resurfaced him from whatever beyond he belongs. An actor hired by Miguel, David (Jsu Garcia; A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)), appears as a Candyman nut with hook hand to scare up the attendees and Caroline as a pub stunt. When Miguel and a model (Rena Riffel) are found murdered thanks to the Candyman, Caroline (she found them) becomes a possible suspect, but David is specifically under suspicion. When Caroline's actress roommate / pal (Alexia Robinson) is gutted by the Candyman and literally dropped her in her arms, she becomes the official arrest for the supernatural killer's crimes. Meanwhile, Candyman calls out for Caroline to come to him, take her own life, and join him (wherever that is). A racist cop (Wade Williams) with a short fuse temper is out to get Caroline for the murder of his partner (yet another given the hook-gut treatment). It will all culminate in some old warehouse where the paintings stolen from Caroline's gallery and Candyman await. It seems there's a Candyman cult in LA who want to summon him, having showed up at the gallery and become totally enthralled by the mythos. Plot is a mess, too much of Candyman yapping constantly in one visit to Caroline after another, a significant interest (not that this bothered me too much) in showing lead Donna D'Errico's bust and walking around scantily clad, diminishing results in the special gore effects this go-around, and a laughable finale where all it takes is tearing up a painting of Candyman in order to harm him; Candyman: Day of the Dead is a pitiful proclamation that the series was not on life support as much as totally flatlined. No atmosphere or a Philip Glass score to save it this time. Todd owns this character and even if tasked to talk too much instead of smoothly emerging in and out of the story (less is more was always beneficial in letting Todd be appreciated when he appears instead of getting him as much as possible to the point where the power in seeing him deteriorates), the actor still has a presence and chemistry that is undeniable. The use of bees to suffocate Riffel and how they emerge from Todd's mouth and rotted torso are a bit much. Much like Pinhead, a series of films which feature Candyman gradually rusted his sinister sheen. D'Errico is definitely nice to look at, and her tight T-shirts emphasize her impressive chest while her performance always seemed secondary in importance. Virginia Madsen she is not. Major sin: not making the Day of the Dead more colorful and alive a backdrop, even though D'Errico goes through a crowd while Wade Williams gave chase with police behind him. D'Errico constantly fainting and collapsing every time Candyman is close becomes more than a bit tiresome. While Todd's made a lot worse than this (the 2000s became a decade where he would take whatever role would come his way), Candyman: Day of the Dead marked a disappointing conclusion to the franchise (it started out so well, too). Sadly the end of the 90s led a decline in quality parts Todd would be offered after. Williams, as the cop from hell, is clearly a purposely abusive and overtly violent dirtbag representing bigots on the force in LA. When the very first scene has D'Errico in short shirt and panties walking into a bathroom, it is obvious the film will desperately beg for the audience's attention...her figure certainly doesn't hurt.

The first movie is a perfect example of how to make a classic horror film. After the mediocre sequel, I thought it couldn't get any worse! I was dead wrong on that. This went STV and it shows. At least the second sequel had semblance of suspense, this sequel nearly put me to sleep. It's extremely cheap and clearly here to make some quick cash. They try to force the "Candyman" is a myth thing on us. Uh....how many times has Candyman killed people? Surely, someone would start to think he's for real at this juncture. I didn't buy it and it felt like they were going to the well one too many times. I also hate how they keep showing snippets of Daniel Robitaille's past. WE KNOW THE STORY!! Enough already. There is virtually no suspense, no thrills, and absolutely no scares. Not only that, but it's really boring. There are far too many times where I felt like dozing off. That shouldn't be happening with Candyman. There is gore, but I didn't care. We get your usual hook carnage and some CGI bees. The acting is pretty bad. Tony Todd looks disillusioned and embarrassed by this sequel. He knows what a piece of crap this sequel is. He's shown way too much and the mystique is gone. What a shame! Donna D'Errico felt like a model and nothing more. Her performance is amateurish, and she had no business being the heroine in this movie. Needless to say, she failed to evoke sympathy from me. Jsu Garcia (NOES fame) grabs a quick paycheck. A reviewer on this site called this a "pathetic end" I couldn't have said it any better. It ranks as one of the worst endings to a horror franchise. Hopefully they give Candyman the send-off he richly deserves. 2/10

The first film was marvellous, the second film was silly, and this third film, with the title not to be confused with the George A. Romero zombie film, I knew it was going to be terrible, being a straight to DVD release and getting the lowest critic ratings. Basically the Maxican holiday Day of the Dead, which celebrates to remember friends and family members who have died, is going on in Los Angeles, and the Candyman (Tony Todd) is still being called for by foolish people calling his name five times in the mirror. Art gallery owner Caroline McKeever (Donna D'Errico) is finding herself defending the memory of black slave Daniel Robitaille, the man who was tortured by villagers with his right hand sawed off, covered in honey and stung to death by bees, she will snap at anyone who speaks badly about him because of the legends and the previous reported murders. Caroline is in fact a distant relative of the Candyman, so when she calls his name five times in the mirror he does not want to kill her, he says it is her destiny for her to come with him so he will no longer be alone in hell, and will kill anyone associated with her until she does. Authorities get involved when the murders occur around her and she is accused of some involvement, and when the situation increases bigoted Lieutenant Detective Samuel Kraft (Wade Andrew Williams) is prepared to do anything to stop the killings, even if it means not bringing in Caroline alive, of course in the end she finds some way to defeat the Candyman. Also starring Nick Corri/Jsu Garcia as David de la Paz, Alexia Robinson as Tamara, Mike Moroff as Tino, Mark Adair-Rios as Miguel Velasco, Lupe Ontiveros as Abuela and Jud Meyers as Fitz. Todd is now just repetitive with his familiar lines in that deep voice and no longer creepy with the hook for a hand, the deaths are not as bloody as I remember from before either, this is definitely much more pointless and ridiculous than the previous sequel, it is predictable, it has a stupid story, and it just feels like rubbish, an awful horror sequel. Poor!

Perhaps you are wondering if there is a reason this is the last flick in the series for eleven years by now. Easy: this stinks. What do you mean, "that's not enough"? Fine. This should never have been a franchise to begin with. The original was brilliant, far surpassing any reasonable expectations in terms of substance for the genre that has an undeservedly poor reputation. These two both spell out what the first did so well at hinting at(are movie-goers this stupid? If they are, we really should shift money from Hollywood to education), have Todd(who, himself, did not like this) use his awesome voice(solely responsible for one of the two stars I award it) to deliver lines that no one would listen to if anyone else(well, maybe James Earl Jones, and a handful of others could do it, too) spoke it, *and* show us flashbacks to *things we already know happened*!(again, does this pass for storytelling now? This time, it seems to be to incorporate additional raunchy material) This opens with a half-naked hot chick, and if you find yourself not able to stand her right away(don't feel bad, none of us can take her seriously), stop watching immediately. She's the lead, you're not going to be given a reason to care about her(other than, I guess, her appearance), and she doesn't get any better as this goes on. Like the plot(what there is of one), it only gets worse as it goes, and increases in stupidity. Does she look familiar? She was a playmate, on Baywatch, and... oh, wait, that's it. Yeah, that's why you didn't recognize her face. She does what we know she can do, look good... and nothing else(oh, and scream... that, she can do, too). Other than Tony, Prison Break's Brad Bellick is the only person resembling an actor giving an actual performance in this(the kid is atrocious, and she isn't alone). This follows the second, and instantly a simple application of logic destroys it. The girl has now grown up... so either that one took place twenty years before it was made, or this one is set... well, at least ten years from now or so. Don't let all that futuristic technology frighten you. This so phones in the retelling of the myth at the beginning, a trend this follows from the '95 one, that you have to wonder why these people were making it at all, if they were so indifferent to it. The rules are changed(don't worry, this, too, awkwardly works in people saying the name five times to a mirror), and I hear the hook is, as well, though I can't tell. Our titular villain has a genuine motivation, and it makes so much sense that the only way I can see anyone siding against it is a lack of abstract thinking. Every character is obnoxious and most are powerfully forgettable. This isn't creepy(a couple of attempts are downright laughable) and there is no atmosphere, if it does try for them. It has a ton of jump-scares that don't pay off. The FX aren't awful, if they don't have an effect on the audience, as there is nothing in this we can get into. It moves at a snail's pace(or seemed like it, as *nothing* happened!), and its running time of 85 minutes is also what it is too long by. There is a lot of bloody violence, some gore and sexuality, and a little nudity. The DVD comes with a theatrical trailer, a minimal photo gallery and one of the lousiest menu systems I've experienced. I recommend this to those of an endlessly optimistic persuasion. Everyone else, save yourselves the pain. As with the recent remake of Romero's classic, it is quite frankly not The Dead's Day. 2/10