Flicking through random TV last night I had the total misfortune to stumble upon Candyman 3: Day of the Dead. Sweet Jesus! What a terrible film. I know she is only cast thanks to her chest but Donna D’Errico is beyond bad as an actress. Her facial expressions resemble someone being gently electrocuted as though she is struggling to squeeze out an expression through the botox. They also decided to just ignore the previous films and create a super weak, cringingly bad back story. It was painful viewing.

The original Candyman was always overrated in my opinion. It was a passable slasher roughly adapted from a Clive Barker short story. There were some nice creepy elements to it and a Wicker Man inspired ending but if it wasn’t for the standout creepy performance from Tony Todd it would not have been memorable.

Candyman 2: Farewell to the Flesh ignored the original film and lost the creepy edge altogether by introducing a stupid flashback explanation of the Candyman as Daniel Robitaille. He was supposed to be the painter son of a slave who had some interracial action with the daughter of a wealthy landowner and got lynched. Actually he got his hand chopped off and then coated in honey and killed by bees. I guess these were creative racist scum. I don’t know who wrote this crap and I can’t be bothered to find out but you can rest assured it is nothing to do with the original Barker story, The Forbidden. 

The whole act of explaining baddie origins is a risky one. If you don’t have a decent back story then the scare factor and the mystique surrounding the character is completely lost. If you make the killer character a good guy who is wronged then you’ve totally messed up. The only example I can think of where this worked was Jason Voorhees. The Candyman is a perfectly decent guy who is brutally murdered. Why that would compel him to appear and kill anyone who says his name in the mirror five times is beyond me. The people he kills are not really deserving of his revenge.

Candyman 3: Day of the Dead goes even further into the nonsensical back story and believe it or not Donna D’Errico’s character Caroline is supposed to be his great granddaughter. She summons him by doing the mirror thing and then in crappy slasher style he appears and kills everyone she knows. It’s bad enough getting killed because you said his name in the mirror but to get slaughtered because you know someone who said his name in the mirror seems really harsh.

The film is a straight to DVD effort and it shows. I’m generally a fan of bad horror as well but this just annoyed me. It is a shame for Tony Todd that he has gotten stuck with this part because once again he is the only remotely threatening presence in this limp, boring sequel. Apparently there is a fourth Candyman film on the way. They obviously feel they haven’t quite flogged this horse to death yet but I’d have to disagree.