Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust (2008)

After the ridiculously good time I had with Gingerdead Man, I had to check out this year’s sequel, Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust. While the sequel kept the Full Moon gags coming, I found Gingerdead Man 2 to be even more disjointed than the first go ‘round. However, I did enjoy how Full Moon, in all their self-deprecating glory, poked fun at themselves by setting the film in a failing independent studio that makes bad horror movies. Of course, all the low-brow, toilet humor helped too.

The enthusiastic Kelvin (K-Von), son of the late founder of Cheatum Studios, is trying to keep the family company relevant by staging a comeback with their latest production, Tiny Terrors 9: Purgatory of the Petite. Besides the Tiny Terrors’ ninth sequel, Cheatum also has several other productions simultaneously filming with hopes they will rescue the company from financial ruin…Except crew members and cast alike are all starting to bitch about not getting paid by the studio. In the midst of threats of revolt, Kelvin must play host to a terminally ill young man whose last wish was to be given a tour of Cheatum Studios. More trouble arrives when the gingerdead man is brought on set (seemingly unharmed from the previous film) in a box of sweets. As the killer cookie cuts his way through cast and crew, Kelvin must find a way to stop him before production at Cheatum Studios is halted…permanently.

Plot-wise Gingerdead Man 2 doesn’t have a lot going for it, though it introduces a big cast of characters (you’ll definitely see some familiar faces like cameos from special FX wizards Greg and Frank Nicotero, John Carl Buechler, Kenneth J. Hall, and directors David DeCoteau and Adam Green). These characters are all pretty broad stereotypes of people within the film industry – we have the effeminately gay makeup artist/hairstylist, the first-time actress who got her role because of a BJ (or two), the slutty, ex-famous actress who is now the caterer, the grumbling crew members, the prima donna directors and so on…

The one-line jokes are pretty corny and usually lame, but I still found myself giggling at some of them. While the first film was witty in parts, the sequel relies mostly on toilet humor or silly gags for laughs. The humor that works has to mostly with the independent film industry and Full Moon essentially poking fun at themselves and their own films. The Tiny Terrors movie, in all its awfulness and hilarity (how can you not laugh at a gross “haunted penis” puppet??), is a perfect example of the films people generally expect from Full Moon.

While there are some laughs to be found, it’s surprising that the gingerdead man takes a backseat to all the gags. It takes him a while to start slicing and dicing again and when he does there aren’t very many memorable kills (except for when the gay makeup artist takes a curling iron up the derriere). Also, this time around the gingerdead man isn’t voiced by Gary Busey, but by Krusty the Clown sound-a-like John Vulich, so the killer cookie loses some of his charm.

Still, despite the fact that the Gingerdead Man 2 is a half-baked, I found myself enjoying it! You’ll find yourself rolling your eyes more than once, but its not as bad as everyone has made it out to be. And, of course, it least it features some self-deprecating humor that lets you know that yes, the filmmakers do realize it’s a crappy movie! Still, it is definitely a film that’s not for everyone. Lovers of silliness, randomness and cheese rejoice, but those looking for something that is cohesive need to look elsewhere!

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