Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust

source: Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust

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 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.

Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust is set at Cheatum Studios where they are filming Tiny Terror's 9, lunch-woman Polly (Michelle Bauer) arrives with a box full of food for the crew including the Gingerdead Man who is in the box for some reason. The Gingerdead Man wants to transfer his soul into a human body & needs to sacrifice six people to do so, with lots of actor's & crew around there's no shortage of potential victims. Meanwhile terminally ill Tommy (Joseph Hines) is on a guided tour of the studio who himself is in fact a failed screenwriter & wants revenge for all the bad films Cheatum Studios have made... Directed by Silvia St. Croix this is less a sequel to the comedy horror film The Gingerdead Man (2005) & more of a send-up of the goings-on on the set of a low budget horror film which you get the distinct idea is a fictional account of the real-life struggles & experiences of Charles Band & his numerous production companies & attempt to get low budget horror films made. In that regard Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust is quite fun for it's first half as all sorts of behind the scenes mishaps & incidents happens with respected actor's lied about the content of the film they have been talked into appearing in, directors who read the paper during takes & as long as the shot is in focus he thinks it's great which includes a cameo from low budget film director David DeCoteau to a rather bitter speech about how internet reviewers kill the films the studio makes which is an obvious dig at numerous sites who trash these sorts of films & I think it's a little unfair since no-one goes into a film wanting not to like it & it can work both ways, for instance look what the internet did for The Blair Witch Project (1999)? To be honest the internet is good since hopefully it forces people like Charles Band to make better films which surely is what everyone wants. The Gingerdead Man character himself plays second fiddle to the low budget film send-ups & he doesn't feature that much in the film anyway. There's a bit of gore, there's a headless body, a chopped off hand, an eyeball hanging out, a ripped out heart & a bit of blood splatter. The sets are cheap but suit the feel of the production & there's loads of nods & references to other Charles Band productions including Re-Animator (1985) & Dolls (1987). The opening credits feature various poster designs for fictional horror films for some reason. Some of comedy evil puppets that are brought to life at the end include sh!t for brains & the haunted * which feel like one time gags & are maybe used a little bit too much & of course they look incredibly silly. The Gingerdead Man effects are average at best & his one-liners aren't particularly funny. In more horror film references a character is clearly seen reading a copy of Fangora. I would have thought the budget for this would have been pretty low, perhaps even lower than the original. A few familiar faces turn up in cameos from director David DeCoteau & Michelle Bauer, the acting isn't that good but everyone seems to be up for it & no-one takes it seriously. Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust is fun when it's poking fun at low budget film making & the constant reference to it but when the story kicks in it loses something. Apparently Charles Band has announced Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver but the IMDb doesn't list it, even as in pre-production.

Fun fact sometimes on the so now of the movie it would say that the movie is called bakery of the word but on most of them they say passion of Crust.

So campy and silly, making fun of itself in a sophisticated yet irreverent way. Lot's of laughs at the screening I attended. Good movie! The production values are up to date, especially considering this movie must have been done on a tight budget. I really liked the intro music, that was a fun song. Over all, a goofy movie that will probably be a real hit overseas. And might even become one of those cult classics here in the states. The writing was really superb. My favorite part, save the really stupidly funny puppets dancing around in that way only puppets can. How do these geniuses come up with this stuff? I mean really, it's so stupid and funny, and smart all at the same time. I guess it's a gift. Strange gifts are given sometimes and these film makers got a bonus share.

While watching this flick, I laughed so hard that my false teeth shot out of my mouth (in the balcony), down to the mezzanine! The acting, director, and writing is audacious and irreverently funny. The film reminded me of a bunch of other films, and the memories made the whole movie even more hilarious, including the sequel title "...Passion of the Crust". I couldn't help but think that the whole story was about resurrecting MGM and its golden age through the vision of (would you believe?) Louis B. Mayer's 'son' (I don't believe that Louis B. Mayer had a son). And, his 'son' reminded me of an Alan Ladd, Jr. trying to bring MGM back to life, complete with 'little munchkin' puppets. This flick is a campy romp--and, on this kind of 'yellow brick road' even Dorothy can come back to life. The casting is brilliant, and I hope that the audience sees more of the cast-members, who deliver their funniest performances. I would be remiss if I didn't give a special mention of Bruce Dent (for his portrayal of Ricki Johnson), and Joseph Porter (for his portrayal of Tommy Hines). I usually hate sequels, as well as remakes, but not this sequel. I absolutely love it! I shall have to bake another batch of cookies. I first started baking them with my dear, departed grandma-ma. I rank this flick a 10 out of 10.

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"

Rarely does a sequel come along that's better than its predecessor (but come on, we're talking about a movie where the villain is Gary Busey ridiculously scaled down to a cookie puppet!). Although it's, sadly, Busey-less, Gingerdead Man 2 delivers the goods. This time around, the Gingerdead Man is set loose in a bad b-movie studio. After a very "Pushing Daisies"-like prologue, viewers are treated to one non-stop spoof of practically everything Full Moon Features has ever done, with a bumbling lead who's obviously modeled after Charles Band (who, if I'm not mistaken, came up with the story). There's some hilariously off-kilter evil puppets, inside jokes, cameos, spoofs and movie references galore, lots of tasteless depravity and gore... I think about the only thing that's missing that one usually finds in a Full Moon movie is the gratuitous T&A (and the movie still works without it). For fans of the offbeat studio, it doesn't get much better than this.

I saw this film and laughed so hard I hurt myself. I swear, at one point I thought I was going to lose an eye from the amount of tears running down my face. The Writing and Directing was audacious and irreverent. They continually raised the bar on each gag and poked fun at everyone you could imagine. Just when you thought you'd "seen it all", they hit you with another outlandish and totally hilarious scene. This is El-Oh-El Funny, people!!! The Casting was brilliant! Kelsey Sanders and Kevan were absolutely dead on perfect choices for their roles as Heather and Kelvin. (This all American clean cut couple rivals even Janet and Brad, in my opinion!) Their performances were wonderfully crafted in the face of an intense amount of dialog and action sequences and a joy to watch. Bruce Dent was an absolute hoot with his over the top portrayal of Ricki Johnson. He used subtle and honest reactions to build a believable character and then ramped it up to like 110 or 220. He did whatever it took to curl your hair. Joseph Porter's portrayal of Tommy Hines was a stellar achievement. I quite honestly thought his performance was one of the best I've seen in an up and coming actor and I can't wait to see what he brings to the table next! (But, No Pressure, Mr. Porter!) If he's not signed yet, someone better grab him quick because he is going to blow up the entire Hollywood scene! A Big "Thank you" to the entire cast and crew for cooking up a seriously funny, no holds barred, take no prisoners movie. I will never again be able to smell cinnamon extract without having to think of this gem!