Turi Meyer’s 1999 sequel “Candyman 3: Day of the Dead” is not just a bad “Candyman” movie. It’s merely a bad movie. Shot on the cheap, poorly written, and boasting some pretty terrible performances, “Day of the Dead” is a mishmash of horror trends, dull slasher set pieces, and a crime plot that one can barely follow.
According to the mythos of the “Candyman” movies, the title monster was once a man named Daniel Robitaille, a talented painter hired to paint a wealthy woman’s portrait in the 19th century. He and his subject fell in love and had an affair. The local Southern racists were horrified by the affair, and assaulted Robitaille, cutting off his hand and coating him with honey so bees might sting him, all before setting him on fire. The plot of “Day of the Dead” surrounds the other portraits Robitaille painted, and a group of vicious gangsters who want to steal them for impish Satanic rites. The film is set in the year 2023 (25 years after “Farewell to the Flesh”) and the main character, played by Donna D’Errico, is the adult daughter of Annie (Kelly Rowan), the protagonist from the previous film.
Robert O’Reilly, known to Trekkies as Gowron, appears as a cop, and there is a small role for the luminous Rena Riffel, director of “Showgirls 2: Penny’s From Heaven.” Overall, however, the film is straight-up shlock, adding nothing to the “Candyman” myth, instead focusing on gore and boobs.
There’s a place in cinema for gore and boobs, of course, but the “Candyman” movies are classier and more intelligent than that.