Starring - Kevan Moezzi (Firmly Legal, Disaster Date), Kelsey Sanders (Mad Men, iCarly), and Joseph Porter (Detention of the Dead, Mega Piranha)
Release Date - 2008
Genre - Horror/Comedy
Tagline - "Freshly baked terror!"
Format - Bluray (Personal Collection)
Rating (out of 5):
I remember buying the DVD set at Walmart in their $5 dollar bin and taking it home. I didn't watch it right away but several weeks down the road I found an actual box set from Full Moon in a Gingerdead Man sleeve for cheap and grabbed it. It was then that I decided to finally watch them. I struggled through the first film but when I saw that the second film was directed by William Butler I was sold. Butler was a huge part of my childhood after appearing in Savini's Night of the Living Dead, Ghoulies II, Friday the 13th Part VII, and Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre Part III along with all his work in the Power Rangers franchise. These movies, along with the Power Rangers, would be playing at any given moment in my home during my teenage years. I'm a huge fan and I hate myself for not knowing he had directed this one for Full Moon.
The film follows a small production company after it has switched hands recently when the original owner's son takes over. He has spread himself too thin with multiple projects going at once and is nearing financial ruin when a sick teen from a charity organization makes his dying wish to visit his favorite film studio before he passes. However, as they explore the studio and meet the cast and crew of the many projects being shot, they realize that the young man pretending to be ill has a more sinister motive. To make matters worse, a killer gingerbread man is wreaking havoc on set as well.
If you completely remove Butler's name and I went into this one completely blind as to who was behind it, I would still say this sequel is a better film than the original. I don't mean that in a negative way but I know many of you will say I'm being biased because I am a fan of his. I get that and completely understand where you are coming from but honestly, this film IS better than the first. Trust me, I wanted to love the first film but its an awesome idea that just doesn't do it for me. The acting in this one is exactly what you would expect. The performances are a bit campy and cheesy but I really liked the characters. I love low to no budget films with memorable characters and the cast does a solid job at bringing them to the screen. The story for this one is a lot of fun but doesn't really fit the baking theme. With that being said, I'm completely fine with that in this case. The first film didn't fully embrace the baking theme with the deaths which was a bit of a let down. In this follow up, that is completely abandoned and now follows a story that almost feels like a parody of Band himself and his Full Moon studio. I loved that aspect and the twist with the sick teen. On the flip side of that, the film could have featured any killer in the Full Moon library and it would have worked. Finally, the film has a lot of deaths with some practical effects and some visuals. With that being said, I loved both. The visuals are campy but that adds to the wild story. The kills are not as gory as I would have liked but they did have some fun practical effects. Overall, Gingerdead Man 2 is a bit of an improvement over the first film. It's just as campy but the humor seems to find its mark in this one and the story is a lot more fun. Check it out.
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