Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust

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"

Ever since this title was announced way back, I had been waiting patiently for a chance to watch it, granted the first one was one big pile of drivel, I had always maintained a certain level of hope for an improvement with the follow up.

Sadly to say, and not for the first time, 'Gingerdead Man 2' - The Passion Of The Crust, although at it's festering heart contained a serious good idea, I found my patience beginning to wear very thin as I was treated to a ten minute recap from the original.

Having spent the vast majority of my teenage years viewing every movie that Charles Band had produced, jumping on board with Empire Pictures, and then holding on for dear life with Full Moon Pictures, I have pretty much witnessed the good, the bad and the downright ugly! No matter how bad the proceedings, I will always give over my time for a movie produced by the man himself, but dear oh dear, the last couple of outings have left a lot to be desired, 'Doll Graveyard', 'Dangerous Worry Dolls'.

Now the notion of a movie within a movie has always been an intriguing idea, one such movie that comes to mind was Fred Olen Ray's 'Bad Girls From Mars' starring Edy Williams.

Granted that film was any great shakes, the only thing that kept it afloat was the odd flash of nudity to keep the movie trucking along! with 'Gingerdead Man 2' it was good to see such legends from the low budget film world strut their stuff in front of the camera, make-up maestro John Carl Buechler showed his acting chops as the beleaguered director Orson Biggs! It was also pretty cool to see scream queen icon Michelle Bauer steal some screen time as one time scream starlet Polly Bunderhoof, even twenty something years on, Miss Bauer still looks pretty stunning! At the film's core, was the idea that this low budget film company, Cheatum Studios, you have to love that name have been struggling for some time to make any sort of entertaining movie, and of course through William Butler's screen story, this idea in itself is a thinly veiled mickey take on the financial ups and downs of Charles Band himself.

I guess therein lay the problem for myself, I wanted to enjoy the movie, but it just kept on dragging on and on, getting involved with a myriad of ideas that mainly led the movie nowhere, such is the case with the Full Moon ideas being produced.

A quirky movie at best, and although I know Part Three will fast approach at some point, depending on the budget of course, I really do wish Charles Band would think outside the box and give the Full Moon fans something decent to watch.

My rating is 1 because the Cookie Has Crumbled!

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.

Well i had to rate it 1/10, because there was no 0/10.. i can't call it a movie, or should i call it a 10year old director movie.

B movie? rather call it a Z-movie. After seeing half of the movie, i said to myself thank you very much, i've had enough. Acting is even worse, special FX.. pfff, and lines.. pathetic. this movie is AWFUL!

Budget: 100$ (IMO)

P.S. i didn't see the first part, but some people say that THIS one is better, so i wonder about the first part..

So don't waste money renting it. I rather watch grass grow than this movie again!!