Tag Line : Evil comes when you call his name

The film starts by re-introducing us to one of the previous films characters, pony tailed university lecturer Phillip Purcell (Michael Culkin reprising his earlier similarly short role), who's in town for the Madri Gras festival to promote his new book "The Legend of the Candyman".

To disprove the myth to the audience at his book signing, he says the name Candyman in the mirror 5 times. This proves to be not such a good idea though, as the Candyman (played once more by Tony Todd) appears shortly afterwards and slaughters him.

The Candyman then goes on to track down some of his descendants who happen to be in the neighbourhood, one of which being schoolteacher Annie Tarrent (Kelly Rowan) who tries to dispel the Candyman myth to her class, only to get her husband slaughtered for her troubles.

Her brother Ethan (William O'Leary), who was present when Purcell got slaughtered and also witnessed their fathers death, gets implicated in the murder and police believe him to be the killer of all 3 victims. Annie however, knowing the Candyman to be all too real, does some investigating and finds that this malevolent monster was actually her great-great grandfather and that her father was trying to stop him when he was killed.

She then sets out to try and discover how her father intended to stop the Candyman, in the hope of bringing the grisly murders to a halt. The answer lies in their family's old house, but as the body count increases, police begin to suspect that Annie could also be involved in the murders.

The film is a worthy follow up but unfortunately, as is the case with most sequels, not quite as good as the original. The film also sort-of contradicts the original tale, which stated that the events that created the Candyman took place in Chicago, although this is explained by saying that many cities have their own Candyman myth.

I first saw this one on Sky Movies back on Halloween 1996, and found it very entertaining. If you liked the original, you should also like this one. Tony Todd is as menacing as ever, and it's good to see that his character has ditched the dodgy furry jacket for this film. Veronica Cartwright also stars in the movie, playing Annie's mother Octavia.

One question which troubles me with this film, is seeing that the Candyman is black, how come all his descendants were white, including his illegitimate daughter Caroline? A bit strange don't you think? Anyway, check it out!

Overall Marks : 6/10.

Other Information.

• Alternate tag line "Dare you say his name 5 times...again!"

• Clive Barker worked on the film as producer, although the story was actually by writers Rand Ravich and Mark Kruger (cool name that!).

• British actress Veronica Cartwright who plays Octavia, may best be remembered for her role as Lambert in the 1979 Sci-Fi shocker "Alien".

• As Annie's brother falls down the steps we see his hair change length, obviously being replaced by a long haired stuntman.

• The music was once again composed by Philip Glass, who also scored part 1.

• Bill Condon also directed the cult biopic "Gods and Monsters". He also wrote the 1981 horror film "Strange Behaviour" aka "Dead Kids".

• Kelly Rowan, who plays Annie, had previously starred in the film "The Gate" and Steven Spielberg's Peter Pan remake "Hook".

Cast & Crew

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