Filmed in New Orleans, and still featuring music by Philip Glass, this replay of the first film fails to stack up. While the first film touched upon fears and tensions between the races, this one seems racist: You're supposed to be scared whenever a black character pops up.
The film opens up well enough. The sole surviving major character from Part 1 (Michael Culkin), a professor who has now written a book about the events in the first film, is killed via the Candyman's hook during a visit to a bookstore in New Orleans.
Aside from that (and the presence of Tony Todd as the Candyman) that's the only link this film has with Part 1. Rowan plays a schoolteacher attempting to clear up her brother's name after he's accused of being a murderer. Her investigation leads her into studying urban legends and, hence, the Candyman, who also turns out to be a popular myth in New Orleans. Naturally, she gets the spirit of the pissed-off slave on her tail.
After the greatness of the first movie, it's a real disappointment to see a sequel like this. But I suppose it was inevitable. There are some films that simply don't warrant sequels, and the first "Candyman" was one of them.
Despite how awful this film was, a second sequel was made, winding up as a direct-to-video release.
