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#451 – Gingerdead Man vs Evil Bong (2013)
Gingerdead Man vs Evil Bong (2013)
Film review #451
Director: Charles Band
SYNOPSIS: After his many encounters with the evil bong, Larnell has finally defeated her, and opened his own weed shop. Meanwhile, down the street, Sarah Leigh has opened up her own bakery, after putting the horror of the serial killing gingerdead man behind her. Larnell and Sarah Leigh talk about entering into a business agreement to support each others stores, but their respective past horrors return and set out to get their revenge on both of them…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Gingerdead Man vs Evil Bong is a 2013 comedy horror film, and is a crossover of the Gingerdead Man and Evil Bong film series, both made by Full Moon Features. The film brings together – as the title suggests – two villains from their titular horror franchises and pits them against some of the protagonist’s from said franchises. It never gets more complicated than that. The film is structured into a very blatant three act structure, with the first act focusing on the Evil Bong characters, the second act focusing on the Gingerdead Man side, and the third act is the clash and combination of the two. The film leans more towards being a part of the Evil Bong series, as there are more of its characters and the set up feels much more like the films. This is probably because Charles Band, the director of the Evil Bong films, directs this one too. Like most of the Evil Bong films, the film centres on two locations, and a lot of standing around talking, rather than anything actually happening. Some of the dialogue between the familiar characters of the series is fine, but the film also throws in minor characters that serve no purpose other than to push an unfunny joke. The film also fills up its runtime by providing flashbacks from both film series to catch you up on the three films (six in total) before this one takes place, but given that the film’s are a comedy horror that doesn’t really create a coherent narrative and instead focuses on innuendo and jokes, the flashbacks seem rather pointless (a part from to pad out the runtime, which is obviously what their purpose is).
As mentioned, a number of characters from both series make an appearance in this crossover. Larnell and Rabbit are the main characters that appear from the Evil Bong franchise, and they’re more or less how you’d expect them to be. On the Gingerdead Man side, there’s only Sarah Leigh who returns; mostly because everyone else is dead by the end of the films (Sarah Leigh also doesn’t even feature in the third film). With regards to the titular villains, they are their usual selves, and there’s no real showdown between the two; instead, they mostly just trade one-liners at each other when they finally meet near the end of the film. In the bong world, the Gingerdead Man goes ‘on trial’ where he is judged by other talking pastries which makes very little sense, and has even less impact on the story. There’s some smaller cameos from the other films in the franchise (through flashbacks or otherwise) that add a bit of depth, but not much.
While there were no more stand-alone Gingerdead Man films released after this film (or after 2011′s Gingerdead Man 3 to be exact), the titular villain went on to become a recurring character in the rest of the Evil Bong films, where he sometimes works with Evil Bong and sometimes against her, and sometimes just does his own thing. Sarah Leigh also shows up in further films, cementing a weird merger of the franchises. Overall though, Gingerdead Man vs Evil Bong sounds like a ridiculous clash of ridiculous premises, but like the stand-alone films, never lives up to the premise. The villains do very little and attention is focused on scenes of dialogue between characters that never goes anywhere. Then again, it should be what you expect if you’ve watched any of the other films, as they’re al low-budget comedy horrors that never take themselves seriously. This crossover doesn’t stand out from the rest, and fails to offer anything that the other films don’t.
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#447 – Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver
Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver (2011)
Film review #447
Director: William Butler
SYNOPSIS: The Gingerdead Man has been locked up in an asylum, but he is inadvertently freed by animal rights activists, and steals a time travelling device, ending up in 1976. Winding up at a roller disco, the Gingerdead Man decides to engage in yet another killing spree, while the roller derby itself has it’s own problems in the form of imminent closure, the announcement of the roller derby queen, and the niece of the owner finding her love for roller disco to the horror of her aunt…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver is a 2011 film and the sequel to Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust. The film starts off at the Scientific Institute for the Study of Homicidal Baked Goods, where FBI agent Clarissa Darling is visiting the Gingerdead Man, intending to secretly kill him for possessing the soul of her brother, who was killed in the last film. In case you couldn’t tell, this opening is a parody of Silence of the Lambs (Clarrisa Darling/Claire Starling). Before Clarrisa can exact her revenge, a group of animal right’s activists storm the lab in an attempt to free the captives, mistaking the evil pastries for animas that have been experimented on (in particular, thinking the Gingerdead Man is a chimp of some sort with his tail chopped off). The Gingerdead Man makes his escape and stumbles upon a time travel experiment conveniently underway down the corridor, murdering the scientist’s and stealing a remote that allows the Gingerdead Man to travel back in time. This opening is…decent, I suppose. A Silence of the Lambs parody is hardly original and ground-breaking content, but it augments it with some creative designs of the other imprisoned pastries and some humour from the animal rights activists in their mistaken identities. It is also abundantly clear that the emphasis is on comedy rather than horror, so viewers in search of gore will be found.
The Gingerdead Man winds up in 1976; at a roller disco specifically. Even more specifically, it is the last night of the roller disco before it is closed down. The story centres around the patrons and staff of the disco, in particular the owner’s niece who is forbidden from skating finding a love for it and also love for one of the workers there. It’s a pretty typical story that parodies films like Grease and Saturday Night Fever (hence the subtitle), but the satire never really has any impact, and lacks the originality to stand out in it’s own right. That said, the story is consistent, well-paced, and plays out across the cast of characters fairly evenly, so that everyone contributes something, making their personalities stand out a bit. The Gingerdead Man goes on his murdering spree in the background of these events, until the big reveal, which means his antics never feel like the focus of the film until the climax. The same set-up was used in Gingerdead Man 2, but there it felt more messy because the overarching story (of a struggling film director) just wasn’t straightforward enough. The setting of the roller disco has a simple, relatable story, but also a cast of characters that become recognisable, and have a certain weight attached to their butchering by the evil pastry. The film eventually pushes itself towards the ridiculous, when the owner reveals that she no longer skates because the last time she did she caused Pearl Harbour (long story…), and the Gingerdead Man being defeated by bringing the most evil people from the past to stop him, including Hitler of course. So while the story is simple to follow, it lets itself get silly.
Like any other Full Moon Pictures film, the effects and production are minimal, so there’s never anything flashy or remotely convincing about the effects. There’s a mix of practical and CG effects, and it’s good that it doesn’t rely too much on the latter. The Gingerdead man himself is a lot more goofy looking in his design, and definitely seems less threatening (not that pastry is very threatening in the first place I suppose), but the fact that he rarely interacts with other characters (except when he kills them) means there’s no awkward interactions between the puppet and actors. The CG effects on the gore aren’t entirely convincing, but help give an over-the-top feel to the kills, which is where the comedy comes from in part. While the story is set in a roller disco, it is also pretty obvious that almost none of the cast can roller skate and dance. There is one actor that clearly has experience where the rest of them just move around the floor without trying to fall over. The transitioning of scenes often cuts t this one guy showing off some moves, but never anyone else.
Overall, I am inclined to think Gingerdead Man 3 is the best in the series (so far). It is structured soundly in terms of story and pacing, even if the story itself is lacking and the satire lacks bite or originality. The setting is recognisable, its cast has personality, and lets itself embrace the absurdity of the concept of time travelling evil pastry. It’s never going to get beyond a 3/10 in terms of rating, but it delivers something at the very least coherent, watchable, sometimes funny.
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#443 – Gingerdead Man 2; Passion of the Crust (2008)
Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust (2008)
Film review #443
Director: Silvia St. Croix
SYNOPSIS: At the production of another cheap horror movie, the production team are dealing a myriad of problems that only get worse when the Gingerdead Man turns up in a box of pastry and goes about slaughtering the staff in order to enact and ancient spell to return hi to human form…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust is a 2008 comedy horror film and the sequel to the 2006 film The Gingerdead Man. The film centres around a low-budget film production studio, where their are problems abound with it’s latest production, and director Kelvin Cheatum is trying to keep everything together on set. They are visited by Tommy and his carer Heather from the “End of the Rainbow Last Wish Foundation” (obvious parody of the make-a-wish foundation) in order to fulfil Tommy’s dying wish of seeing where his favourite movies are made. Polly Bonderhoof attempts to bring some peace to the set with a box of freshly baked pastries from her sister, but unfortunately one of those pastries is the Gingerdead man himself, who stumbles upon a spell book that contains a spell to transmigrate his soul into a human body, requiring the blood of six victims to perform it. With this in mind, The Gingerdead Man starts off on another killing spree to accomplish his goal. The film starts off by recapping the events of the first film, but none of the original cast are in this sequel or even mentioned apart from The Gingerdead Man, so it seems pretty pointless to recap those events…unless, of course, it’s to pad out the runtime, which I’m pretty certain is what is happening. Most of the film doesn’t even feature The Gingerdead Man at all, but rather focuses on the other characters who aren’t really that interesting. It’s only in the last act that he becomes the focus of some attention, whereas for the rest of the film he is skulking around in the background talking to himself, and the kills are not a point of interest, which is pretty essential for a slasher flick.
The characters apart from the Gingerdead Man aren’t all that interesting, although they do have some development and a few twists along the way. You can’t help but feel you’re not really interested in them though in comparison to what the Gingerdead Man is doing. It’s never explained how the Gingerdead Man returned after the first one, but since none of the other characters or plot points return, it’s not an issue that is lingered upon.
Being set in a movie studio, I think it’s pretty obvious that this is used as cover to use film equipment and sets as part of the film itself to make it cheaper to produce. Some of the puppets are decently designed and animated, and the sets are at least fairly full of props and scenery to make it look somewhat genuine. One of the big problems is that a lot of the Gingerdead Man’s scenes and the subsequent gore are shot close up (so you obviously can’t see the wires or puppetry), and as such, you don’t really get a sense of action and movement from these shots. The film also makes a habit of having long scenes of dialogue that dissipates any sense of pacing or tension. I think the film is also a bit of a self-commentary on the production company Full Moon Pictures, which itself makes low-budget horror films, but whether this is something average film goers will appreciate is debatable. The film ends with the Gingerdead Man being crucified by the other puppets, which I guess fulfils the subtitle of the movie, but is the only thing that does. Overall, Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust suffers from the problems of its predecessor, but has a more interesting setting and story that ties up all the characters. It doesn’t pretend to be anything other than a low-budget slasher comedy, so you get what you would expect, but with a bit more polish than its predecessor.
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#425 – Evil Bong 420 (2015)
Evil Bong 420 (2015)
Film review #425
Director: Charles Band
SYNOPSIS: Having escaped the bong world, Rabbit sets up a bowling alley to fulfil his dreams. While he is welcoming his guests for the opening night, Ebee, the evil bong herself, along with the Gingerdead man, who is also trapped in the bong world, arrange to travel to the bowling alley and return Rabbit back to the bong world…
THOUGHTS/ANALYSIS: Evil Bong 420 is a 2015 comedy horror film and the fourth film in the Evil Bong film series. Following the last film, where Rabbit was trapped in the bong world, where the evil bong creates illusions to keep people their forever, he decides to follow his dream and opens a topless bowling alley where people can smoke weed. That…is basically the plot of the film. With a run-time of only fifty-three minutes, it’s barely a film at all, and even then it still seems to have trouble filling the screen with content. Most of the first half of the film is just dialogue, with Rabbit welcoming the various guests into the bowling alley. None of these characters are particularly interesting, and only serve as a stereotype to make very specific jokes. You would think that these characters are being introduced only to be killed off later as this is a horror movie after all, but no; none them are killed and only one gets an injury. The whole setup just seems pointless.
Apart from all the new characters that are introduced in the film for no reason, there are a few returning characters, such as Rabbit, who seems to have become the main character of the series now, and Larnell, who is stuck in a love triangle. Of course, Ebee the evil bong herself returns, but spends most of the movie in cut-aways to the bong world, where she engages in trash talk with the “gingerdead man.“ I imagine these scenes are hilarious if you’re stoned watching a bong and an evil gingerbread man arguing with each other, but otherwise they’re pretty uninspiring. The gingerdead man himself is a character from another film series (unsurprisingly called the gingerdead man) made by the same production company, and previously crossed over with the evil bong franchise in the Evil Bong vs Gingerdead Man film of 2013. The character himself is perverted, dirty and a nasty bit of work, but never gets round to killing anyone. The focus seems to be much more on the gingerdead man than the evil bong, which is distracting, and gives the film a different feel than its predecessors. All of the other characters apart from Larnell and Rabbit are however missing from this film, and that makes it feel pretty empty.
The Evil Bong series has definitely not been a high production affair, and Evil Bong 420 definitely continues that. The action is entirely limited to the bowling alley, which is in keeping with the minimal sets of the other films (although they had at least two or three). Someone at least knows how to frame a shot and edit a scene in this film, as even though the dialogue goes on for far too long, at least the camera work breaks up the monotony a little. The CG is pretty bad, but that’s expected. There’s definitely a change in tone with this film, as it doesn’t really make much attempt at a story, and instead just focuses more on being a lot more explicit and crude, mostly in the form of much more nudity and sex jokes. It overall feels a bit tasteless and devoid of any substance (not that there was much to begin with in this film series). On the one hand, I suppose it is appealing more to people who are watching this film while high, as they will have no real concern for the story, but the film still is mostly a lot of dialogue and set-up for things which don’t happen. There’s perhaps one or two funny jokes in the first part of the film, but the flat acting shaves off some of it’s impact. Overall, I think it’s fair to say that Evil Bong 420 is the low-point of the franchise (so far), and is fairly mindless in it’s story, set-up and characters, with an altogether tasteless and crude sense of humour.
