William Butler started working at Empire Pictures doing make-up effects on films like From Beyond and Ghoulies II. He also had parts in Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Spellcaster, and Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III. Wanting to do more, Butler would submit writing ideas to various studios, but nothing came of them. One idea he had revolved around a killer gingerbread cookie, which he presented to Mad TV, but they said no. Butler decided to take his concept to Full Moon Features, which by the early 2000s was not in good shape. Charles Band liked his ideas, but he wanted to take Butler’s script and rewrite it to be made more affordable. Charlie handed the rewrite to Domonic Muir, who also wrote Critters and worked with him for a few years. After a scrapped 2001 teaser, The Gingerdead Man hit video store shelves in late November 2005.
%
Rating
Synopsis
It’s been two years since Sarah Leigh (Robin Sydney) watched Millard Findlemeyer (Gary Busey) kill her dad and brother. For his crimes, Findlemeyer is taken to the electric chair and vows revenge on Sarah even in death. With her alcoholic mother Betty (Margaret Blye), Sarah runs a bakery and pastry shop that’s on its last legs. One day, a stranger delivers a container full of gingerbread seasoning containing Findlemeyer’s ashes since his body was cremated. Unfortunately, Sarah’s co-worker Brick Fields (Jonathan Chase) gets cut, and some of his blood drips into the seasoning. After the dough’s finished mixing, Sarah makes a giant gingerbread man and cooks it in the oven, which comes alive. The gingerbread man becomes Findlemeyer and stalks Sarah, Amos (Ryan Locke), and Lorna (Alexia Aleman) throughout the bakery. Which of our heroes will survive, and who will fall victim to The Gingerdead Man?
Review
The Gingerdead Man is one of those movies that you’ll love or hate depending on your taste. The movie isn’t sweeping the Oscars, but it doesn’t need to aspire for anything more. Admittedly, this movie is a drastic drop in quality from Full Moon’s peak in the early to mid-90s. Their movies back then were undoubtedly low budget, but they made the most of the budgets they had. However, this has the trappings of direct-to-video movies from the mid-2000s, including one location, low-grade quality, and shoddy digital effects. The acting is pretty shoddy, though Robin Sydney easily shines as the female lead who steps up to the challenge. Of course, the big draw is Gary Busey, who is surprisingly low-key in his on-screen appearances. When he voices the Gingerdead Man, you can tell he’s having fun spouting some ridiculous lines. Though, I would’ve appreciated it if he was on-screen more.
The movie does have some similarities to Child’s Play, but that one at least explained things better. In that film, we were shown how the killer used voodoo to become the doll, and it made sense. Here, it’s not made clear exactly how the whole ritual of bringing the killer back as a gingerbread man works. Granted, this isn’t meant to be a serious horror film, but this leaves more questions than answers. The Gingerdead Man puppet itself looks fine for their budget, especially considering the original Pillsbury Doughboyesque design. There are some reasonably bloody kills sprinkled in, but none are particularly memorable or inventive. At roughly 70 minutes, this movie gets in and out very quickly and won’t take too much of your time. Overall, The Gingerdead Man is a movie where its concept is more entertaining than the movie itself. That said, you could certainly do worse.
Buy The Gingerdead Man from Amazon: https://amzn.to/3osnLDs.
