 plot
"His myth has endured for generations. His legacy is
eternal rage. And now he's back... with a vengeance! Candyman:
Farewell to the Flesh continues the tale of the phanton-like
figure who wreaks a terrible fate upon those who chant
his name five times while looking into a mirror and come
face to face with grisly death.
"A victim of unspeakable evil while he lived, the
"Candyman" (Tony Todd, The Crow) has become evil
incarnate in his afterlife. This time, he haunts the city
of New Orleans, where a young schoolteacher named Annie
Tarrant (Kelly Rowan, 187) is struggling
to solve the brutal murder of her father. The locals
insist that he was slain by the Candyman, but Annie is
not convinced...until she unwittingly summons the monster
forth, learns the secret of his power, and discovers the
link that connects her to him. But can she stop him
before he kills again?
dvd review
story
I'm not totally sure if I have ever seen anything of this
series of films before, I have vague recollections of
some sequences, but for the most, nothing. Whether this
foillows on well or not from its first instalment I
cannot say. As it is, Farewell to the Flesh (which takes its
name rather cleverly from a pre-Lent festival), is a
fairly effective horror film of the last decade. With
bigger production values than the old-fare films, the
look of the film is sinister throughout. Constant low-key
lighting and subtle use of warm colours ensure a sense of
fear, and terror. Even the pleasant and normally safe
surroundings of the home are somehow twisted in the heat...
The Candyman himself looks something of a
cross betwen Paul Robeson and Wesley Snipes in Blade. He's never
totally satisfyinbg, but the relentlessness through which
he will attack anyone remotely associated with Annie,
makes the viewer squirm and despise him. It is perhaps
unusual, that whilst we sympathise for his current
situation, and the pain he himself went through in life,
we are repulsed by the monster that he has become.
Its a brutal film, which spares little in
the way of detail in the messier sequences. No doubt it
will satisfy gore hounds, but with its playing on
Bogeyman ideas (like Freddie Kreuger), and its partial
reliance on the first movie, it is not entirely
accomplished. Doesn't help that Annie is so totally
useless either!
transfer
A very good transfer both in terms of sound (stereo only)
and picture. Good clean print, which copes with the
palate of colour quite well.
Design
Fine plain menus, and attractive cover art.
extras
Just the trailer for extras really.
Perhaps a making-of or similar could have been put into
this disc? Nevermind.
Theatrical Trailer
Audio Dolby Digital
Stereo (2.0): English, French, Spanish
Subtitles French, Spanish,
Dutch, Polish; plus hard of hearing subtitles in English.
SUMMARY
Typical 90s horror gorefest. Chilling in places,
terrifying in others.
RJES
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PURCHASE
R2 DVD at Blackstar
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