The
third and final film (to date) of the Candyman series sort-of follows on from the events of part
2. Set several years later, the Candyman (played once more by Tony Todd)
is now on the loose in Los Angeles, terrorising the Mexican communities
during their Day of the Dead festival.
Of course his real interest is in pursuing another one of his relatives, namely a young artist named Caroline McKeever (played by former Playboy centrefold Donna D'Errico, and it's not difficult to see why she was chosen for the part).
Caroline is actually the daughter of Annie Tarrant, who you may remember from the previous film. Although the Candyman was defeated at the end of that film, it turns out that he is still able to keep popping up and bumping people off because people who believe in his legend keep calling his name.
She believes that if she can disprove the myth of the Candyman she can ultimately defeat him, and so has organised an exhibition of her paintings devoted to the works of the Candyman's former self Daniel Robertille, who as we all know was a former slave, turned painter. Hoping the display will show people for what he truly was, and thereby quell all the urban legends about him.
Of course, as we can all guess, this plan is doomed to failure as the Candyman starts popping up and killing all Caroline's friends and acquaintances, including the unfortunate proprietor of the art gallery where her works are displayed. Then the Candyman comes for Caroline, hoping to take her as his final sacrifice. But of course she isn't too willing, and so more mass carnage ensues. With each murder implicating both her and her new love interest David de la Paz (played by Nightmare on Elm Street's Nick Corri).
Matters are not helped by a group of punk rockers who are worshippers of the Candyman legend, and are trying to summon him up, or the fact she is being stalked by a corrupt detective who is obsessed with her. All in all this is a fairly watchable film, but it is fairly predictable what with most of the story being rehashed from parts 1 and 2. If you enjoyed the previous films, you should enjoy it, but its easily the weakest entry in the series.
On the plus side, Tony Todd is larger than life as ever and Donna D'Errico's enormous talents (so to speak) which are displayed through her skimpy outfits throughout the film are certainly very captivating, but these alone might not be so tempting as to make compulsive watching for the casual viewer.
