10 Awesome Horror Movies With Disappointing Sequels

Were Candyman sequels ever a good idea? Either way, they indeed happened, and it's kind of astonishing how dramatically downhill they spiralled. 1995’s Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh is another example of a horror sequel forced out by producers against the original director’s wishes.

The themes of race, marginalisation and the power of storytelling fell by the wayside. Instead, what we got was a cheesy, unambitious mess that relied more on blood and guts than creeping dread, although Tony Todd reprised his role as Candyman and Philip Glass’ unsettling score returned.

This was followed by the even worse direct-to-video Candyman 3: Day of the Dead (1999), a hokey re-tread whose amateurish cheapness oozed off the screen. Both sequels suffered from the lack of Virginia Madsen, and this one from a lack of Glass' score, but at least Todd stuck around for Day of the Dead, even if he later admitted the third’s failings.

Nia DaCosta’s legasequel Candyman (2021), produced and co-written by Jordan Peele, wisely ignored the previous sequels and was a massive step-up, but still stumbled over its ill-defined characters and rushed pacing. Most of all, there just wasn't enough Tony Todd, who only appears for a few seconds in the final moments. At least the other sequels knew to keep him around.