The Gingerdead Man (2005)


Probably the best thing I can say about Charles Band is that he was a lower-budget version of Roger Corman.  His business model was about the same.  Churn out movies on the cheap, some of which resembled popular films of the day or were close to certain properties he wished he had, and make money.  While Empire Pictures was able to get films in the theaters it was Full Moon that initially made Band castle-in-Italy money.  He cornered the direct-to-video market with help from a distribution deal with Paramount.

That deal went south in the early '90s, pretty much hamstringing Band and Full Moon for over a decade.  The death of David Allen, who did many of the stop-motion effects that made Band's movies look more expensive than they were, didn't help.  Although in recent years he has made a bit of a comeback, largely due to the nostalgia for the classic Full Moon movies, things were never again quite the same.  There were also many low points, and The Gingerdead Man is one of them.

Millard Findlemeyer (Gary Busey) is a serial killer that is caught and executed after Sarah Leigh (Robin Sydney), one of his victims, survives and testifies against him.  He vows that he will come for her even in death.  Her baking business is suffering due to Findlemeyer murdering her father (Newell Alexander) and brother (James Snyder), causing her grieving mother (Margaret Blye) to become a full-blown alcoholic.  To add to their troubles she is being pressured to sell out by shady businessman Jimmy Dean (Larry Cedar) who is redeveloping the area.

Shortly after the execution the bakery receives what they think is a regular delivery of gingerbread spices.  It turns out to be Millard's ashes and, activated by the blood from their wrestling-obsessed baker Brick (Jonathan Chase) and a little time in the oven, Millard is back as a killer cookie that begins to take his revenge on Sarah and off anyone else in the vicinity just for fun.

Fun is what is missing from this movie.  It's a ridiculous concept with a good deal of the plot ripped off from Child's Play.  While Busey sticks around to voice the Gingerdead Man, the best scene in the movie is the opening in the diner, where he puts forth a decent performance that one wouldn't expect in as cheap a film as this one.  Unfortunately, for a movie that promises to deliver gore and comedy, it does neither.  The kills are lackluster, what are supposed to be standout weird moments fall flat and the jokes are old and tired.  

It also feels like Charles Band was feeling old and tired himself.  This is one he directed and, I hate to say it that, unlike Corman, the best films to come from his studios were always the ones others did; Doctor Mordrid aside.  The whole thing seems like a cynical starter pack for a new franchise, which it was, spawning a whole slew of films including a crossover with Evil Bong.  I don't know if Busey came back to voice any of those but I would doubt it as, other than the opening scene, his voice work is pretty much wasted on a poorly animated doll.  

Band was certainly hoping to cash in on people that knew the movie was going to be bad and would watch it anyway and, in a way, he succeeded.  Unfortunately, just like the Sharknado films, being self-aware of how bad something is doesn't make it good.  It just means a failure to even do bad right.  The only saving grace, other than the opening, is that the movie is short.  So short, in fact, that the credits at the end scroll at half the normal speed just to try to inch the film toward feature length.  At least Band does a halfway decent song over them. 

The Gingerdead Man (2005)
Time: 70 minutes
Starring: Robin Sidney, Ryan Locke, Alexia Aleman, Gary Busey
Director: Charles Band

 

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