Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust

The first Gingerdead man film from 2005 wasn't a good movie. With elements that were barely passable, it was hard to like anything about it. The acting wasn't believable, the special effects were cheap and the villain was wasted. Plus, the only main attraction for watching the movie was to see Gary Busey act as himself and voice the chunky funny gingerdead cookie man. But apparently, either there was a small fan base that demanded a sequel or the release of the 60-minute film gained enough money to render a sequel. Not sure which is the case but here we are the next installment - and it doesn't improve much at all.

This next chapter of the wisecracking serial killer cookie brings us to a troubled film studio that can't cut a break in problems. Its whole crew is a bunch of misfits that don't cooperate and could care less who they're working with. Leading this poor operation is director Kelvin Cheatum (Kevan Moezzi), who smiles like he's never heard of bankruptcy being a bad thing. However, it's not until a package of baked goods come on set and inside lies the dangerous gingerdead man. So my question is, how did he come back to life? How did he get all the way to this set? It was clear to why the gingerdead man needed victims, but why was it necessary to get his victims from this specific studio set? Viewers won't understand.

As for acting goes, Moezzi isn't a good actor at all and perhaps that's how his character was supposed to be written, but I found the first movie better because at least the actors tried to make their characters seem real. And they knew fear when problems arose, but here Kelvin is just a grinning emotionless shell of a character. The new voice actor behind the gingerdead man is okay but Gary Busey at least would've still been more appreciated. However, viewers may enjoy Joseph Porter's performance as Tommy. He gives his character a unique spin that even I was not expecting. That is one plus.

And the last two pluses are the special effects and violence. Considering the first film had bad special effects and a very small amount of violence, the improvement is noticed and it looks better to be honest. Sadly this doesn't help improve its overall score. The overall writing isn't good either. In fact, the title to the film only ties into the story at the very end. It's cheap, lazy and insulting to think that's how a story is told. There has to be a lead up to this kind of result, but instead it's just inserted last minute to stay true to the title. Not even the music helped this time around. Just another cash in is all it is.

This sequel has extremely loose continuity and bad acting. Even with improved special and practical effects, the character development is feeble and its plot is hardly even there.

I basically love any and all movies Full Moon releases, so yea I liked this movie. I like that it was set on at a movie studio - obviously one just like Full Moon.

This was campy fun, with some gore, and a nice stupid twist right at the end. Oh, and it also had a dose of Satanism! Which, for me, anyway is something that is near and dear to my heart. In a way, this whole movie is kind of a spoof of Full Moon productions. It also touches a lot on the whole internet driven movie fandom as well as what its like to run a low-budget movie house. Oh, did I mention there is a crazy gingerbread man running around killing people? That alone makes this 100% of awesome.

The sequel nobody asked for, from Full Moon. Despite the lack of Gary Busey I felt this one was a slight improvement over its predecessor, although that really isn't saying much. There's a certain amount of self-referentiality to the production which sees the titular menace turning up at the shoot of a low budget B-movie and proceeding to wreak havoc among the cast and crew. It's inane and cheesy throughout, with cheap gore effects and absolutely horrendous acting: par for the course for Full Moon, then. Incredibly, a further sequel followed before a collaboration with the similar stoner comedy EVIL BONG series.

If you haven't seen the first Gingerdead Man film (trust me you didn't miss much), you needn't worry the entire thing is recapped in the first few minutes or so of this one. Nope Gary Busey isn't in this one, but he isn't missed much as the Gingerbread man is pretty much a background character in this movie, most of the story is on the satire of the happenings of a Full Moon-esquire studio. Filled with in-jokes and b-movie mainstays both in front and beyond the camera sending themselves up, this film was indeed a cut above the previous one and my preferred film starring the Gingerbread Man of the three that he's been in (he made a cameo in "Evil Bong" as well)

My Grade: C+

DVD Extras: A promo for Full Moon website; Trailer for this movie; and trailers for "Dangerous worry dolls", "Evil Bong", & "Decadent Evil 2"

Gingerbread Man 2 (2008) is available for free on Tubi and continues our tale onto a Hollywood movie set where they make...really bad movies. Can the failing movie studio finally do something right and stop the Gingerbread Man or will he be the straw that breaks the studios back? This horror movie is directed by Silvia St. Croix (Corona Zombie) in her first major motion picture. I actually enjoyed that the film didn't take itself seriously across the board - the characters, action scenes and lines all fit the content perfectly, like a comic book in a way. The Gingerbread Man lines were hilarious. The cast was bad but fun and includes Michelle Bauer (Sexual Witchcraft), Michael Deak (Deja Vu), Travis Joe Dixon (NCIS) and Junior Hoang (Watchmen). Overall this is a film you watch for entertainment value, like Killjoy, and keeps you laughing throughout. I'd give it a 5/10.