Cinema Connoisseur: Horror film delivers the baked goods

The Gingerdead Man (2005)

Mix two teaspoons of ground cinnamon, a half of a teaspoon of baking soda, two teaspoons of ground ginger, and one Gary Busey portraying a blood thirsty killer, and what do you have? This week's selection, The Gingerdead Man.

Once in a generation a film about a homicidal baked good comes along and captures the public's imagination. The Gingerdead Man is that film for our generation.

The Gingerdead Man posterThe Gingerdead Man opens in dramatic fashion. The Leigh family is being held hostage in a Waco, Texas diner by Millard Findlemeyer (Gary Busey). Findlemeyer kills the father and son, but leaves the mother and daughter Sarah alive. Sarah's testimony leads to Findlemeyer being executed. His ashes were then sent to his mother. Unfortunately for Sarah, but fortunately for the viewers, his mother happened to be a witch.

Findlemeyer's mother finds out that the Leigh family runs a bakery. Not just any bakery. They are actually called The Bakery. Findlemeyer's mother mixes his ashes in with some gingerbread spice mix, and delivers them to The Bakery. This leads to Findlemeyer becoming re-animated, in the form of a gingerbread man. A gingerbread man that is set to go on a killing spree that proves to be both chilling, and laugh out loud (LOL for you kids out there) funny.

Despite being only a few inches tall, this devilishly delicious and demonic cookie proves that when it comes to terror, size doesn't matter. The carcasses pile up as he makes his way toward his ultimate goal, exacting revenge on Sarah. He wields knives, shoots firearms, and even defies all logic by running someone over with a car. All the while though, he somehow never loses his charm. He's like some sort of wonderful combination of Charles Manson and Bill Cosby.

I think landing a major star like Gary Busey to star in the film was a major coup. I'm sure many people picked up copies of the DVD, said something like “a psychopathic gingerbread man — that sounds like a half baked idea….I think I'll pass….wait, Gary Busey is in this movie! I'll take it!” Busey has done some crazy things over the years, but signing his name on the dotted line for this picture was not one of them.

The Gingerdead Man is a must see for anyone who likes a good chuckle, and a good scare as well. If you have ever wanted to see a gingerbread man call someone a whore, this might be your only chance. Well, you may have a few other chances. Due to the overwhelming success of this feature film, a sequel, Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust was released in 2008. Another sequel Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver is also in development. Methinks I shall be reviewing those sequels in the near future, so keep reading the Cinema Connoisseur column for all the latest Gingerdead Man news.