A stylish sequel though inferior to its classic predecessor, Bill Condon's Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh deepens our knowledge of what made the murdered Daniel Robitaille turn into the monster that haunts dreams and mirrors. But some of it is still pretty routine: schoolteacher Annie takes a long time to connect her family's plantation-owning past and her own artistic talent with the legend, and is far too ready to say the Candyman's name five times in a mirror to debunk her pupils' fears.
The setting--New Orleans in Carnival time with a disc jockey whimsically reminding us that Carnival is the last farewell to pleasure before the rigours of Lent--and the atmospheric score by Philip Glass give the film some of its class. Tony Todd, who returns as the Candyman, gives the monstrous spectre with a hook for a hand a quiet dignity and sadness which impresses. His life was torn agonisingly from him and he is mad for vengeance, yet he has an artistic temperament and loved Annie's kinswoman Caroline. Condon captures an attractive elegiac tone in much of this, as well as moments of brutal horror.
On the DVD:Candyman 2 is presented in widescreen 1.78:1; there is an attractive crispness to the picture which does real justice to the film's impressive sense of place. The music score comes across well in Dolby Digital stereo. There is a theatrical trailer, but no other features. --Roz Kaveney
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