punisherversion1 The Gingerdead Man: Directed by Charles Band and Written by William Butler and August White(Pseudonym for Domonic MuirThis was a suggestion by James Cowdrey but I'm not entirely sure it was a serious suggestion. This movie is called The Gingerdead Man and it features a bonkers Gary Busey voicing a sentient cookie trying to murder people. This was never supposed to be taken seriously. The actual gingerbread man is pretty well done and shot in a way to make it as convincing as it needs to be in this situation. This is an extremely short movie. It says it runs at 76 minutes but it has a good ten minutes of credits. It also has this super cheap royalty free casio keyboard music that runs through every single solitary minute of the movie. If it was used a little more sparingly, it would work better to add to the wacky, goofy mood this film is trying for. There is almost no gore and all the gags you think they would use they do albeit poorly. This comes from Charles Band, that great B movie video king who I enjoyed during the 90s. This has a few moments that are fun in that way but not enough. It's schmaltzy. The acting is abyssmal as to be expected. It's also not very funny. It's what you think it is.I give this movie a D.

bowmanblue Now, there's a school of thought which I call the 'Snakes-on-a-Plane' viewpoint – it's where a film's title tells you everything you need to know about the story and therefore, if you can't work out whether you like it or not from that, you don't really deserve to complain if the movie turns out to be not for you. So, armed with my love of cheesy and 'so-bad-they're-good' films, mixed with my enjoyment of the horror genre stories and appreciation for Gary Busey, I figured that the low budget 'Gingerdead Man' would be right up my street.I think it's fair to say that I'm not 'spoiling' the film by letting on that Gary Busey plays (mainly be voicing) a killer who's murdered, but whose soul is sent to that of a gingerbread man (think 'Child's Play' but with pastry instead of a 'Good Guy' doll). Then he returns to reek revenge on those who, er, turned him into something from a baker's window display. I expected daft. I expected ludicrous. I expected low budget. I expected a ridiculously over-the-top performance from Busey. However, I only really got the low budget part.Yes, the film's premise is as daft as it sounds and the budget is so small that the film stock used actually looks worse than you could probably recreate on your iphone. In fact, the budget appears so small that there's only really one location used for the whole film – a pretty bland factory. Not only is the scenery nothing to write home about, but there are only really three cast members. Now, the problem with this in a 'slasher' film is that it doesn't really give the deranged killer many options with who to kill. In 'Scream' the film would be over in about a quarter of an hour with that few 'expendable' characters! Of course the lack of people to murder also equates into a lack of gore and/or creative kills, so don't do expecting too much of the 'red stuff' here.Yes, Busey does do his best with the script and adds an air of sheer manic madness to the proceedings, but I just felt that his best wasn't enough to justify it. Or, rather an idea this whacky could have been so much better with a bigger setting, cast and (gore) effects. I could forgive the awful model of the Gingerdead man himself as that seemed to add to the overall silliness. So, I think I can safety say that I wasn't as much of a fan of the franchise as I thought I'd be. Yes – franchise. Just because I didn't like it doesn't mean that other people agree with me. It seems to have developed enough of a cult following to warrant a fair few sequels, so what do I know? I just won't watch them. I'll stick to viewing Gary Busey on the UK's 'Celebrity Big Brother' to get a true dose of his madness!

Leofwine_draca Back in the 1990s, I used to see video releases from Full Moon Entertainment all the time. These were invariably low budget, extremely cheesy horror flicks, usually about miniature toys, people, or monsters wreaking havoc. I had no idea that Full Moon were still in business, but it seems they are, because here we have THE GINGERDEAD MAN. This is an appalling little horror film, with seemingly no wit, intelligence, or originality to remedy the endless scenes of talking and cheesy horror, and from the start it's obvious that it's a blatant rip-off of CHILD'S PLAY.The film begins promisingly enough with Gary Busey killing a bunch of characters. Busey is one of those actors I find endlessly watchable, but he only appears in one scene here (although he supplies his voice to the rest of the film). He's soon been transformed into an evil gingerbread man (yes, I'm not making this up) which proceeds to wreak havoc inside a bakery.The main problem with the film is the paucity of the budget. This is real no-money stuff, with any cash seemingly spent on getting Busey involved. The whole film takes place on a single set with a small cast of actors, none of whom shine or display any great acting skills. The emphasis is on comedy rather than horror (but with a premise like this it would have to be) and the gore and skills are in short supply. The titular creature is animated by John Carl Buechler, but this is a far cry from the work he did in the '80s and must be one of his worst. Give THE GINGERDEAD MAN a wide berth!

Steve Pulaski The B in "B Movie" stands for Gary Busey in this film. He dominates in this film. If anything, the whole reason a price tag is on this film should be for Gary Busey. He is a great, creepy killer in this film. Even in cookie form. Who cares if the film is bad? Who cares if this film makes no sense? GARY BUSEY IS IN IT! Thats enough for me.This is a strange film, it was a movie I stared at in the video store wishing I could rent it, but no. I was never allowed to rent anything R or PG-13 at Family Video at the age of ten. I saw this, Uncle Sam, Santa's Slay, Jack Frost and it's sequel, and Banned & Exposed: Too Hot for Cable TV! looking me in the face, begging me to rent them. But I couldn't. But the covers were enough, I loved every cover of these films. They were a big tease, but the covers were very cool. With this one, I said "What the hell is this?" I couldn't imagine how this would work.The film starts at a diner where a killer named Millard Findlemeyer (Gary Busey) opens fire on the Leigh family and kills Jeremy (the brother), James (the father), and leaves Sarah (Robin Sydney) and the mother Betty (Maggie Blye). A year later, Sarah is working at a bakery and while making a Gingerbread man, an employee drips blood into the dough and while baking a power surge makes the baked good come to life with Millard Findlemeyer's soul possessed into it. It has an extreme Child's Play feel like no other movie and feels like almost another one in the series.The premise is up and down a lot. The film is only around seventy minutes, but even with the minimal requirement for a movie length, it struggles to keep the movie going. It sometimes drags on for the most simplest of things. I hate that, it's extremely annoying. Though The Gingerbread Man has comebacks and remarks almost exactly the same of ones like Freddy Krueger or Chucky would say. The comebacks/gags are corny and though sometimes amusing, throw off the "scare" level of the film.I also want to point out that shockingly there's a sequel to this film too. The Gingerdead Man 2: The Passion of the Crust was released in 2008. There will also be a third film entitled The Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver that was due for a release in 2009, but maybe coming out this year or 2011. I will try and find the sequel and do a review but after seeing how this film played out, though entertaining, still had various flaws, I'm in no hurry.Starring: Gary Busey, Robin Sydney, Ryan Locke, Alexia Aleman, Jonathan Chase, and Maggie Blye. Directed by: Charles Band.