The Gingerdead Man Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.0
Audio		2.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.5

The Gingerdead Man Blu-ray Movie Review

Sweet, sassy molassy...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 20, 2024

Ho ho hoooo-aaaaahhhhh!!!! When a double feature presents itself, kiddies, particularly a low-rent horror double feature, you grab it by the BDs and you run with it. And so, when 2022's delirium-induced The Mean One and 2005's masterfully punned The GingerDead Man popped up on my list, you better believe I'm gonna take advantage. But who will win? The Grinch, as delivered by Steven LaMorte's grimy, gory low-budget sensibilities? Or Gary Busey, courtesy of a campy Child's Play remix for the ages? My money's always on Busey in a fight -- mama always said you never bet against a Busey -- but I don't know. A heart three sizes too small? Or a maniac three recipes shy of a proper bake-off? Who will take the zany Christmas horror movie trophy home and who will be left drowning in their own tears? Read on!

Yippee ki holi-days, mother f***er!

Director Charles Band's GingerDead Man cometh! Or rather serial killer Charles Lee Ray Millard Findlemeyer (Gary Busey), who comes to life as a pint-sized menace when voodoo allows him to inhabit a doll his ashes are gathered after his execution and unceremoniously sprinkled into a gingerbread mix which his mother delivers to a local bakery. But not any ol' bakery. The bakery where the primary witness at Millard's trial, Sara Leigh (Robin Sydney), works with her friends. The hapless kids try to save their shop by using anything at their disposal, in this case turning to the mysterious mix. Mwa ha ha. But things go even further sideways when Sara's friend Brick Fields (Jonathan Chase) accidentally cuts his arm and bleeds into the batch. Suddenly all hell breaks loose. Findlemeyer returns from beyond the grave as a vengeful gingerbread man, bound and determined to kill anyone in his path.

Busey is sadly only in The Gingerdead Man for a few minutes, after which it's all voicework and cackling one-liners for Buse the Moose. It robs the film of some of its verve, not that it had much beyond Busey to begin with. The young actors are decent enough but the script doesn't help the cause. While there are meant to be numerous laughs, most people will groan their way through the already short 70-minute runtime and still think the film was too long. (Hey oh! This guy.) Sydney is the best of the bunch, with Ryan Locke (who's almost a dead ringer for Matthew Lillard) coming in at a close second. But without a colorful, ragtag bunch of victims to be slaughtered -- why not pack the bakery with customers or deliverymen? -- there isn't nearly as much fun to be had as the cover art suggests.

Even the camp is light on polish once Busey's mug exits stage left. Caught between playing things too seriously and toying with grander, crazier schlock, The Gingerdead Man has a hard time deciding what it wants to be when it grows up (into multiple sequels apparently). The kills are Saturday morning cartoonish, while the chases grow sillier and sillier with each passing minute. The flick desperately wants to be a so-bad-it's-good cult classic but doesn't have the stones and can't muster the creative strength to pluck anything truly hilarious or special out of its bag o' tricks. (Mixed metaphors are the best metaphors.) Even the Christmas season fails to lend much to the proceedings, leaving The Gingerdead Man dangling between Halloween and Santa Sunday precariously and without enough in the way of holiday imagination to make it anything more than a joyless, bargain bin loser that isn't remotely the horror comedy it so lovingly longs to be.

The Gingerdead Man Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The Blu-ray release of The Gingerdead Man features a subpar 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer that's so hyper-digitized and artificially sharpened that it borders on pixelated. In fact, cue up the original trailer included on the disc. Is it possible that a trailer looks better than a feature film's high definition redux? Yup. Colors are stricken with a pinkish hue, reds and blacks crush, skintones range from pale to ruddy to flushed, and detail is overbaked to a crisp. Halos appear too, as do several instances of macroblocking and encoding unsightliness. All told, it's serviceable, but the larger your screen, the more your mouth will turn in a downward curl and your holiday spirit will falter.

The Gingerdead Man Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Gingerdead Man doesn't include a lossless audio track, serving up a paltry 192kbps Dolby Digital 2.0 mix instead. Dialogue is clear and intelligible, though tinny on the whole, and effects are decent but under-supported. Music is strong for all its camp, but even then, the soundscape struggles to imbue the experience with weight and presence.

The Gingerdead Man Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Behind the Scenes (SD, 18 minutes) - The best bits involve the design and creation of the gingerbread creature. But all told, featurettes like these make the cheese and camp they accompany a tad more fun. I'd recommend watching it prior to the feature film.

• Blooper Reel (SD, 5 minutes)

• Original Trailer (HD, 2 minutes)

• Full Moon Trailers (HD)

The Gingerdead Man Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

So who wins the double feature showdown? Clearly The Mean One, which is a snazzier horror/comedy (despite all its flaws) and easily offers the better of the two Blu-ray releases. The Gingerdead Man languishes with subpar video, poor audio, and a smaller supplemental package. Skip it -- yes, even in all its Busey-est delights -- and head for greener, Grinchier pastures.