Being nothing more than a retread of Bernard Rose's Candyman, this is all rather a pointless exercise in gory effects and lifeless acting. Taken from a short story in Clive Barker's Books of Blood, the tale of an urban myth-become-reality has transferred from Liverpool to New Orleans with no perceptible gain in atmosphere or vibrancy.<br /><br />Look in the mirror and say his name five times, and the hook-handed anti-hero pops up to wreak gory havoc on the living. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Director Bill Condon has nothing more to offer than did Rose, whose original movie at least had the excuse that it was riding on the popularity of other murderous movie villains like Freddie and Jason.<br /><br />The story staggers along with laughable predictability, telegraphing it's final "twist" in pantomimic fashion, with the hook-handed ghoul involved in a nonsensical showdown with the token dreadful leading lady.<br /><br />Sequels invariably fail to live up to the standards of the original and this is no exception. Unfortunately, when the original is a load of blah, you're always going to be on to a loser.