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‘Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh’
By Richard Harrington
Washington Post Staff Writer
March 17, 1995
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The setting may be new, but the setup is familiar: If you say Candyman's name five times while looking into a mirror, he will come. And he will gut you groin to gullet with his hook.The compulsive chiller "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh" is the second film derived from a short story by horrormeister Clive Barker. Born Daniel Robitaille, Candyman (Tony Todd) was once the well-educated son of slaves, a portrait artist who fell in love with the daughter of a rich white landowner. After his gruesome murder at the hands of a white mob, Candyman is condemned to eternity as a monster with all manner of grisly murder attributed to him. New Orleans schoolteacher Annie Tarrant (Kelly Rowan) has a problem: A few years earlier, her father was mysteriously eviscerated and now her brother Ethan (William O'Leary) is under arrest for a similar murder. Not only that, one of her artistically gifted young students is producing weird sketches of a spectral figure he calls . . . Candyman. When Annie learns the legend, she seeks to dispel it by calling Candyman's name in front of a mirror once . . . twice . . . thrice . . . Wrong move, Annie, particularly during Mardi Gras. Guess she didn't know "carnival" in Latin means "Farewell to the Flesh." More troubles ensue, and Annie investigates by going back to the old family estate (Hint: It includes old slave quarters). Continuing the extrapolation of Barker's original story, scriptwriters Rand Ravich and Mark Kruger and director Bill Condon come up with a familial melodrama, a Southern Gothic romance cleverly playing off interracial taboos. A number of flashbacks deepen Candyman's tragedy while reinforcing his rage. Both seducer and destroyer, he's a reflection of the hatred that killed him. As the vengeful Candyman, Tony Todd remains both a tragic victim and a frightfully menacing supposition, enough so that you'll think twice before repeating that full Candyman mantra in front of your bathroom mirror. "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh" is rated R and contains some graphic violence.
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