At first glance, this doesn’t feel like some cheap cash-grab of a sequel. Candyman is so loaded with subtext that it would be easy to transform him into an un-interesting, catch-all bogeyman by dropping all of the provocative and challenging ideas established in the first movie in favour of something more generically enigmatic. On the contrary, Farewell to the Flesh actually carries over the majority of the racial themes as well as retaining the grisly imagery and sexual undercurrent that was so present in Bernard Rose’s film. There’s also a lot of effort put in to developing and elaborating on Candyman’s mythology.

Sadly, all of that effort goes to waste when you realise that instead of doing something with all of these rich ideas, the film is just going to devolve into another body count picture. The blonde heroine and the way the narrative unfolds also feels like a retread of the first movie and the more questions it tries to answer about Candyman’s backstory, the less you want to know. Still, Tony Todd’s way with the colourful dialogue is a highlight and the swampy, sweaty Southern atmosphere really registers. It’s no surprise director Bill Condon would soon graduate into bigger, slicker productions.