Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh

Annie Tarrant, a New Orleans schoolteacher, is trying to make sense of her father's violent death. The killing is blamed on the Candyman, a hook-handed figure who appears when his name is spoken five times before a mirror, but Annie is not convinced the legend explains what happened. Her investigation draws her into the story behind the figure, tied to the death of Daniel Robitaille, a Black man killed in the years after the American Civil War over his relationship with a white woman. The film continues the series begun with Candyman, moving the setting from Chicago to New Orleans.

Bill Condon directed the film, his first feature, working from a screenplay by Rand Ravich and Mark Kruger. Tony Todd again plays the title role, with Kelly Rowan as Annie, William O'Leary as her brother Ethan, Bill Nunn as Reverend Ellis, David Gianopoulos as Detective Ray Levesque and Matt Clark as Honore Thibideaux. It was released in March 1995 and took about 14 million dollars worldwide.

Reception was modest across the board: on IMDb it holds 5.3 out of 10 from roughly 16,000 votes, and on TMDB 5.5 out of 10 from around 430 votes. A critics' rating of 4.3 out of 10 from 33 reviews places it in similar territory. Condon went on to direct Gods and Monsters, Kinsey, Dreamgirls and later films including Beauty and the Beast and Kiss of the Spider Woman.