Plot
Kevin attempts to keep his late father's floundering movie
studio afloat by making a sequel to Tiny Terrors, one of it's infamous trashy
low budget horror films. Unfortunately one of the crew resurrects the evil Gingerdead Man who then proceeds to slice and dice his way through the cast
and crew in an attempt to find a human host body in which he can transfer
his soul.
Review
I'll give you the good news first. This is better than
it's awful predecessor. But that's about as far as the good news goes.
Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust should not exist as a feature
film. It's a sequel for fans only but I didn't realise the first film had
any! It was utterly dire. Gary Busey aside, there was nothing to distinguish
it from the millions of little puppets/dolls/monsters/demons films that
Charles Band and Full Moon took it upon the world to monopolise. However
someone decided a sequel was necessary and have unleashed this abortion of a
sequel onto the unsuspecting horror genre. Someone hand me a bin as this
gingerbread has gone well out of date.
One of the first
things I need to address is the running time and how liberties are played
with the paltry eighty two minutes.
It's over six minutes before we get any new
footage in this sequel as it begins with the obligatory flashback to the
best bits of the previous film (including some token shots of Gary Busey to
remind us he has a better agent now). Get
a good look at him because he's not around this time, not even the
presence of his vocals. Following this, there's a lengthy title credits
sequence which only serves to pad out as much time as possible. Couple this
with the overlong credits at the end (another four and a half minutes) and
you've got a film which runs for little over an hour. When the new footage finally begins, one of the
initial sights you're greeted with is that of a haunted dildo. That said,
this opening sequence is rather amusing as it pokes a lot of
self-deprecating fun in the direction of Full Moon Productions, Charles Band and his reputation for
producing scores of these "tiny terrors" horror films in which people have
dealings with pint-sized creatures (Puppet Master, Demonic Toys,
Blood Dolls, Skull Heads, Doll Graveyard, Hideous!,
etc). The haunted dildo is one of these said creatures along with a wizard
doll, a pirate wench puppet and coffee pot with machine guns mounted on it's
side. These creatures are all originally props on the set of Tiny Terrors 9:
Purgatory of the Petite but they're brought to life at the end of film as
the Gingerdead Man sets about trying to resurrect himself as a human. I'd
rather have seen more of them on their own in a standalone film to be
honest. It's this horror film set which makes up the bulk of the story or
lack of it. The Gingerdead Man is more like a passenger in his own film and
the rest of the running time is filled with the satirical day-to-day
happenings of low budget film studio. Effeminate make-up artists. Horny
mature actresses desperate to relive their glory days. Disgruntled special
effects artists. Angry actors demanding to get paid. Directors so into their
own vision for their film that they're unable to see how crap it is. You
know, the stereotypical characters you'll see in any such film-within-a-film.
Anyone with a vague knowledge of Full Moon and their vast film library will
at least find some amusement in what they see here as it's all essentially
one big in-joke.
Oh yeah
and every so often the Gingerdead Man will pop up and kill someone. No attempt is made to explain just how he's
still alive or how he came to be at the studio. I can't remember how the original ended and
nor do I have a burning desire to sit through it again to find out (the
flashback at the beginning here hardly helps matters) so I'm going to go
with the flow and assume that something cool, original and totally out of
the book of horror resurrections happened. He's more annoying and irritating
than ever before, spouting off some truly banal one-liners and acting like a
mischievous kid (albeit one who kills adults!). He does get the best line of
the film when he sarcastically quips "who writes this sh*t?" and I'm
guessing it's up to the viewer to decide whether it's a direct joke at their
expense. But as I've already said, he's an afterthought in the film and the
"hilarious" hi-jinks of the fictitious film crew take centre stage. Veteran low budget horror director David DeCoteau
makes a cameo. It's especially funny as he's known for his horror films
which feature homo-erotic undertones. Cue the sight of him here directing a
film with semi-naked men dressed up as angels. Long time special effects man
(and sometimes director) John Carl Buechler also cameos. Their appearances
are arguably the highlight of a really depressing film.
Verdict
Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the
Crust is a truly juvenile flick which you'll most likely hate with a
passion or absolutely love depending on your frame of mind and mood. I've
never been a huge lover of gingerbread and close contact with this one will
rot your teeth...and brain.
