Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust

The Gingerdead Man (sadly no longer voiced by Gary Busey) returns, here he ends up at the fictional Cheathum Studios in Hollywood, who specialise in B-movie horror, science fiction , etc. He goes on another killing spree, however part 2 has more main characters than the original, such as a disgruntled film critic and Gingy is often sidelined in favour of the subplots. I don't use the word "meta" in my reviews but this could be a meta movie: made by Full Moon Entertainment they might be parodying themselves with Cheathum, and the movie critic talks about horror movie tropes etc. I didn't think that this particular Gingerdead Man was as good as the original (which isn't saying much) but I loved Scream Queen Michelle Bauer playing Polly, a sex mad 1980's Scream Queen! Full Moon are known for puppet horror and here we are treated to some good new ones, plus an abundance of horror props. There are plenty of gooey special effects and a cheesy Satanic ritual. However the running time is a mere 73 minutes yet they still padded that out with a recap on the first film and long credits. Even though I preferred the Gingerdead character from the first film I actually think that overall this movie is slightly better.

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.

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"

Regularly amusing and well made horror spoof with Charles Band and some Full Moon Productions buddies in ultimate 'taking the mickey' out of themselves mode. Stand-up comedian K-Von is suitably selfish as a kind of Charles Band head -of-studio who has inherited his father's love of low budget horror films and his studio (cue Albert Band's influence for his son). The Gingerdead Man accidentally finds his way to the studio and causes havoc as would be expected. It is difficult to say much about the film without giving the main jokes away, but for those familiar with Full Moon's output and Band's reputation then this is a hoot. Brother Richard Band provides a good score and some of the most talented Full Moon bunch are involved (think writer William Butler). I suspect that director Sylvia St. Croux is really Band himself and further testament to the sense that he knows how bad he can be (e.g. not paying staff). Ricardio Gill is great in a brief Phil Fondacaro spoof scene (clue: Phil swears about Band a lot). Older British actor Jacob Witkin is almost as good as the similar and great Pupper Master Guy Rolfe (Witkin was actually in 'Puppet Master Legacy'). Kelsey Sanders is an attractive female lead, one-to-watch.

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!