Candyman 3 - Dia dos Mortos

"Candyman 3: Day of the Dead" is a prime example of a horror series going to the well one too many times. At the time of its release in 1992, the original "Candyman" was one of the most ferociously nasty horror films in a number of years, and while the 1995 sequel, "Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh," wasn't quite up to par with the first film, was at least watchable. The disappointing "Candyman 3" isn't utterly horrible, but it is, at best, unnecessary.

Tony Todd (and his cool-as-hell, gravelly as grave dirt voice) returns for a third go-round as the hook-handed, ghostly maniac, and this time he's brought back to life by his last surviving relative, his great-great granddaughter "Caroline," an artist who lives in the Barrio section of Los Angeles. Caroline is inexplicably portrayed by former "Baywatch" babe Donna D'Errico (of all people!), who can't act worth a damn but boy, does she look good running around in a tight tank top and black panties, so I honestly had no complaints about her performance. After she displays Candyman's paintings at a local art gallery, Caroline makes the mistake of saying her ancestor's name five times into a mirror and soon Candyman is running around the streets of L.A., popping up amidst swarms of bees, carving up her friends, asking her to "Be...my...victim," et cetera, et cetera. A pair of racist cops are convinced that Caroline is behind the string of murders and are intent on putting her away for the crimes, so in order to clear her name she has to stop the Candyman once and for all (with some help from an actor friend and his adorable young daughter), set against the backdrop of the annual Dia de los Muertos ("Day of the Dead") celebration in East L.A.

On paper it sounds OK, but the film unravels quickly. The movie is so cheap looking compared to the other two entries in the series that it could pass for a SyFy Channel or Lifetime Original Movie. Apparently the film was shot in a mere 20 days, mostly during daylight hours as the budget wouldn't allow for nighttime shoots, so even when scenes are supposed to be dark and scary, they look far too bright and unrealistic. Tony Todd does the best he can with what he's given but even he looks like he's simply going through the motions. As I previously mentioned, D'Errico can't act, so her Minnie Mouse-ish screams of terror will provide tons of unintentional comedy. There's a few decent gore scenes and some T&A sprinkled throughout but overall "Candyman 3" never comes close to giving you the feeling of darkness and dread that the original had in abundance.

I suppose if you're a fan of the series, "Candyman 3" is worth a look as long as you can find it cheap (like I did) but unless you're a Candyman completist you can safely give this one a miss.

First off this had a couple of things going against it(no philip glass score, not released theatrically, baywatch babe in lead role) but it is a pretty good movie. Sure Donna D'Errico just stands around and screams terribly when she should be running for the doors but she holds up in SOME scenes. The movie's score is at first crappy for a candyman movie(it sounds like a rap beat or something) but when candyman appears in the subway its all good. Other characters are kinda underwritten and some of the movie is a little bit to much the same as the first but the writer and director try to merge the best of the first two and for the most part do a good job but it's a nicely edited and well photographed movie that should hold up for fans of the first 2.....it's a movie that is well made and is more theatrical than direct-to-video.....nice n gory too.

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

I saw this movie and I couldn't help but laugh. It was sooooo pointless and dumb. What a waste of money, time, etc. Why couldn't they just have Candyman die in the first one?! No, they had to go ahead and make two pointless sequals. In this movie everything changes from the graphics to Candyman's hook which made me laugh at the movie even more. It was a flop as well as a joke which is no wonder it came out straight to video. The main character in the movie is a Baywatch dumb blonde who can't act or even act like she's acting. She even has sex with Candyman which made me laugh I almost peed my pants. DON'T WASTE YOUR TIME UNLESS YOU WANT TO LAUGH ALL NIGHT LONG!! I give it one star out of ten!! *snickers*

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 ****