Gary Busey didn’t come back for the sequel? Was he holding out for more money or did his wrangler have a hard time tranquilizing him? In either case, much of “Gingerdead Man 2” is still just so damn inexplicable and confusing. Michelle Bauer plays Miss Polly who appears at a local film shoot with baked goods. Inside the box is Gingerdead Man. How did he get in there? Why is he there? Is someone sending him around to kill people? It’s never actually explained or remotely hinted.
We’re given a slight indication that Michelle Bauer’s character Miss Polly is giving Gingerdead Man the ability to move around freely, but then he murders her, so there’s that explanation. Also, I’m not sure why he goes to a movie studio to pull off his latest scheme. In the sequel, there’s some convoluted plan that he has to sacrifice a virgin or trade bodies with a virgin before he goes “stale.” The time he spends on the set involves running around and murdering people. Meanwhile, the sequel takes time out to mock every quirk about “Full Moon,” right down to the claim to fame being movies about puppets.
Set in “Cheat Em” studios, we’re subjected to a young movie director trying to keep his movie studio afloat with a slew of movies in production purgatory. Meanwhile, a young woman appears on the set with a disabled young man who is touring the studio as a dying wish. Much of the in jokes you won’t understand unless you’re versed in contemporary cult cinema. This includes jabs at the “Puppet Master” movies, cameos from film directors like Adam Green and Gregory Nicotero, and the disabled teen Tommy describing David DeCouteau as a directors whose films contain “subtle homoeroticism.”
I’m not sure when this became a satire of Full Moon and why, but most of the jokes work, especially if you find Full Moon to be one of the worst studios in film today. The film becomes such a satire of Full Moon that most of the Gingerdead Man plot is pushed in to the background as the killer cookie just becomes nothing but a supporting character. The finale involving a psychotic film critic rambles on, and “Gingerdead Man 2” ends as nothing but a lackluster follow up with no desire to improve the mythos of the killer baked good. “Passion of the Crust” is mostly forgettable, and clocking in at a little over an hour, it’s just lazy.