“Candyman 3: Day of the Dead” was released four years after “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” (1995) was released yet Caroline (Donna D’Errico), the daughter of the protagonist in the sequel to the original, is now a buxom blonde in East Los Angeles trying to reclaim her family history by promoting an exhibit of Daniel Robitaille’s paintings from the sordid myth of Candyman, but supernatural forces and lurid fans are insurmountable obstacles. Turi Meyer directed and cowrote this direct to DVD sequel with Alfredo Septien, and the collaborators seemed to find their groove with popular television series. This review will have serious spoilers so if you want to watch this film, consider yourself warned.
“Candyman 3: Day of the Dead” could have been called Candyman 3: Titties. There are suicidal mom titties, coffee table mermaid titties, sad titties, trophy girlfriend titties, great great grandma titties. I was planning to joke about this installment being Candyman: Baywatch edition, but then I discovered that D’Errico was in Baywatch, which I have never seen. It suffers from the horror movie tropes of that time and could easily not be a part of Candyman franchise for huge swaths. At times, it feels as if Freddy Kruger, not Candyman, would appear. It borrows liberally from The Shining while missing its nuance.
“Candyman 3: Day of the Dead” tries to incorporate elements from the original and the sequel. The protagonist has a black best friend like Helen in the original. It takes the festival atmosphere from the sequel and ties the titular character’s appearance to a specific season. Candyman retains his sequel wardrobe though instead of a gray cravat, it is black, and the white shirt is more visible. He uses bees as much as his hook, hypnotizes his potential victims, and chooses a seat of power in an area of great past evil in a desperate region covered in graffiti and skulls. His descendants are artists like him. A missing person drives the protagonist to confront Candyman. Like the original film, he kills everyone around Caroline so she becomes the lead suspect. The police brutality is amplified in this installment. Caroline, like her ancestors, has a thing for dating outside her perceived race. This film’s most effective horror concept is the idea that racism gets stirred up at the prospect of a white woman being sexually interested in anyone who is not white—weaponized jealousy. It falls short of exploring how that jealousy affects the white woman. We expect physical violence, but the film ignores a history of cops raping women in their custody. I did not want a scene depicting sexual assault, but it made sense considering the context. Candyman’s spirit is tied to a collection of objects, Daniel Robitaille’s portraits, which were not as well-crafted as the first sequel’s portrait. Caroline gets the happy ending that Daniel Robitaille wanted without the pesky pain of childbirth.
Once again, the sequel messes with the origin story. In the original and first sequel, Caroline is a wealthy landowner’s daughter. In the original, he is a well-educated and respected freeman and artist, the first generation after slavery, ultimately burned and ashes scattered. In the first sequel, he is the son of slaves, and his auspicious beginnings are diluted. In this sequel Caroline becomes a Confederate general’s daughter. Each subsequent iteration emphasizes his association to slavery instead of the illusion and ultimate disappointment of freedom in the original. The lynching scene changes again from a daytime scene in the first sequel to a nighttime sequel when he dies after his name was chanted for the fifth time. Instead of a black majority city back drop, most of the city speaks Spanish. A healer instructs her, “You must destroy the good. Without good, evil will die” and Caroline’s mother words haunt her, “You must destroy the myth.”
“Candyman 3: Day of the Dead” continues the idea of a cursed family, but it does not work because this film is more egregious than “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh.” The filmmakers forget that just because they are sexually attracted to the blonde protagonists, does not mean that their blood relative would be! When the protagonist is having sex, Candyman takes her lover’s place in her mind and ew! “You will never know true ecstasy until you know death.” No! Candyman may be a brutal murderer, but he would not be incestuous because he likes white women, and his descendant would not be. Now I know why Todd looks disappointed in that portrait. You made him make out with his onscreen great great grand baby! The worst move that this franchise ever made was framing Candyman from demon lover to demon daddy.
I am uncertain if Todd had always emphasized the bee sound in “Believe” and “Be my victim” as he did in “Candyman 3: Day of the Dead,” but I finally noticed it. He was at his most powerful in this film and appears two minutes into the film. He was floating down a subway tunnel with bees buzzing around him. Just as he suddenly materialized in a sheet covered chair in the second installment, shadows from the front seat of a cop car takes his form as he rises after a fresh kill. In one scene, smoke rises around him from barrels as he beckons near his alar. I get why he would be annoyed that his descendant was trying to destroy his existence, and that he was still trying to arrange that supernatural family reunion, but Candyman was just killing anyone with no real logic. In the first film, his murders were a sick wish fulfilment of the protagonist to draw her to him, but in this film, it just repulses Caroline more. Read the room, Daniel! Stop bringing up her mom. Even though he cares more about his survival in this film, he keeps killing his best publicists and followers in this film, which makes no sense. His followers bugged me because they quoted the first film, and no one survived from the original film who could memorialize these lines to quote them. It was kind of funny that he merked them though. How did they picture this going in their heads? Apparently Candyman is still a man of his time and hates piercings.
Annie in “Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh” made a better ripoff of Jamie Lee Curtis confronting her monster family in “Halloween: 20 Years Later” (1998) than Caroline did “Candyman 3: Day of the Dead.” Within seconds of picking up a hook, she screams. Worst final girl ever. I’m mad at how they did Annie in this movie, and it did not enhance Caroline’s story as a person determined not to repeat her mother’s mistakes because her mother would not do that. Candyman lies. Also Caroline burned Candyman up like his lynchers so while I approve killing him, not thrilled about the methods considering the historical context. To be fair, she kind of tripped and lit him on fire so it is not right, but its ok.
Is “Candyman 3: Day of the Dead” a good movie despite its flaws? No. Tino was built up as if he was going to be pivotal, but he was the most anti-climactic character of the entire film. He did not even have good intel. The best part of the movie is Wade Williams as the racist cop. Williams gives the best performance, and you may remember as the hateful guard in “Prison Break.”
“Candyman 3: Day of the Dead” proves that recycling is not always good for the environment. It is only worth watching for Todd as Candyman because as Robataille before he died, he makes out with his woman by tentatively touching her knee. For a movie so obsessed with nudity, there is no sexy.
