Cool as Ice (1991) and Rappers in the 1990s Trying to Be Actors

The late 1980s and early 1990s were a big time for music and movies.  To get more specific, the popularity of rap music was rapidly rising.  Run DMC, LL Cool J, NWA, Beastie Boys, and Public Enemy had each found success by the turn of the decade.  They were changing the musical landscape as the pop music of the 1980s subsided and rock music was stuck in a hair metal rut.  It would only be a matter of time before some of the rap stars would try and breakthrough into different areas of fame.

One of the most common ways for a rapper to break through somewhere else was to turn to acting.  They found their fame in rap and wanted to turn that into a career on the big screen.  Ice Cube was one of the first.  After finding success with NWA through their 1988 album Straight Outta Compton, he took on one of the starring roles in 1991’s Boys N the Hood.  He has since gone on to be one of the biggest rap stars turned actors.

1991 saw another rapper turn to acting.  Robert Van Winkle was a big star at the beginning of the 1990s.  He had released the first hip hop single to make it to the top of the Billboard Hot 100.  You might know him better as Vanilla Ice, and that single was Ice Ice Baby.  When word got out about Ice Cube getting a movie role, it was only a matter of time before a studio decided to toss another kind of Ice into a movie.  Vanilla Ice got the lead role in a movie called Cool as Ice, which was meant to skyrocket him to big screen stardom.  It didn’t.  But it became an important piece of movie history.

Cool as Ice was about Johnny (Vanilla Ice), a biker riding through a town with his friends.  When one of the friends’ bikes broke down, Johnny stayed in town and connected with Kathy (Kristin Minter).  Her father, Gordon (Michael Gross), wasn’t fond of Johnny.  He thought Johnny was working with two crooked cops who had found him and were trying to get money out of him.  It was up to Johnny to keep Kathy’s family safe and prove his worth, all while waiting for his friend’s bike to be repaired.

On a budget of $6 million, Cool as Ice only made $1.2 million at the box office.  The people who had made Ice Ice Baby such a popular song weren’t going to see Vanilla Ice star in a movie.  His other film release that year was a bit role and a song in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze.  That couldn’t save his sinking film stardom, though.  Cool as Ice had chilled any box office heat he had.  He’d make a mini comeback through Adam Sandler by being featured in That’s My Boy, Sandy Wexler, and The Ridiculous 6, but that was the extent of his big screen power.

Ice Cube fared much better that year.  Boyz n the Hood was a well-received and much respected movie about the life of black youth in Los Angeles.  Ice Cube’s performance earned some critical acclaim and pushed him into more film fare.  The film made $57.5 million in North America alone on a $6 million budget.  It was much more successful than Cool as Ice and pushed each of the three new stars into fame.  Cuba Gooding Jr. and Morris Chestnut each went onto success, but the kid who came straight out of Compton fared the best.  Ice Cube is still turning out successful movies with a fourth installment of the Friday franchise and a third installment of the Ride Along franchise in the works.

1991 saw not only two, but three Ice rappers hit the big screen.  New Jack City, a movie I admittedly haven’t seen, came out to some success.  It featured Ice-T in his first major role since the Breakin’ films.  It was the first one to really showcase his acting skills and pushed him into doing some other work including Trespass, with Ice Cube, and a long-running role on Law and Order: SVU.  Ice-T had released three solo albums prior to New Jack City.  His debut album was the second hip-hop album to be hit with the explicit content sticker.  There was no doubt about how influential he was on music in those important years of rap and hip-hop.

Other rap artists also made the transition into film at different times.  LL Cool J went from being an important 1980s/1990s rapper to having roles in Deep Blue Sea, Halloween H20, and NCIS: Los Angeles.  Will Smith broke into acting in the 1990s with Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and a series of successful movies including Bad Boys, Independence Day, and Men in Black.  Queen Latifah, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Common, and DMX all had acting careers as well as music careers.  Many rappers have broken through into the acting world.

One final rapper that should be mentioned for their influence on the 1980s and 1990s rap scene is Tupac Shakur.  His death in 1996 ended his career prematurely.  He rose to fame in 1991 as a part of Digital Underground and got his big screen debut later that year as part of the band’s small role in Nothing but Trouble.  Then he went on to some well-regarded work in Juice in 1992 and his acting career looked like it would blow up.  He had a few other roles before he was shot and killed in 1996.  His music and acting has remained respected throughout the two decades since his untimely death.  He never got to have the great, long career that everyone expected.

1991 was mostly about the rappers named after frozen water.  Ice-T, Ice Cube, and Vanilla Ice had major movie releases that would, hopefully, change the trajectory of their careers.  Ice-T and Ice Cube managed to make a career out of their acting performances.  Vanilla Ice, however, didn’t find the same success in movies or television.  He ended up doubling down on his music career, which imploded in the mid-90s under the weight of a major drug addiction.  His career never recovered.  But we still have Cool as Ice.  We still have a couple of Adam Sandler movie performances.  And we still have Ice Ice Baby and Go Ninja Go.  He left his mark on the entertainment industry.

Rappers have been branching out into acting careers since the 1990s.  The three Ices are only a few of the rappers to dip their toes in the film industry.  They made their name in the music world and wanted more.  They wanted to be even bigger.  People knew their voices.  Through their acting, people would come to recognize their faces.  They were multifaceted talents and the world would know.

The world will also know these notes:

• Nothing But Trouble (week 267) got a mention in this post.
• Vanilla Ice has made two other Sunday “Bad” Movies appearances in Sandy Wexler (week 231) and The Ridiculous 6 (week 344).
• Jack McGee returned in Cool as Ice after being in New Year’s Eve (week 57) and Showgirls (week 170).
• Candy Clark reappeared in the Sunday “Bad” Movies after appearing as far back as possible in Starcrash (week 1).
• Kevin Hicks was in Iron Eagle IV (week 90) before ending up in the Sunday “Bad” Movies with Cool as Ice.
• Finally, Sandy Lassick was in Squanderers (week 245) and Cool as Ice.
• Have you seen Cool as Ice?  What do you think about rappers who became actors?  I know I missed a few of them.  What do you think about Vanilla Ice’s career?  Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.
• Twitter and the comments are places where you can tell me which movies I should be checking out for future Sunday “Bad” Movies posts.  Tell me what movies you know that I don’t that I should see for the blog.
• Follow the Sunday “Bad” Movies Instagram account.  I’m going to be starting some stuff up on there soon, after about two weeks of dormancy.
• Now let’s talk about next week.  We’ve got a big week coming up.  That’s two weeks away.  Before that, there’s next week.  Week 349.  And with it, another movie.  That movie is one that I’ve seen a few times.  I just can’t stay away from it.  Balls of Fury is the topic next week.  I’ll see you then.

Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong (2013)

When you look back at the history of horror, a few names stand out as influencing what would come after their work.  Alfred Hitchcock, John Carpenter, Wes Craven, Kevin Williamson, Stephen King, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Dario Argento, and H.P. Lovecraft are only a few of the names that come to mind.  One person who tends to fly under the radar but has greatly influenced the horror genre is Charles Band.

His career began in 1973 when he directed and produced a movie called Last Foxtrot in Burbank.  It was a spoof of Last Tango in Paris.  Not horror, but a foot in the door for filmmaking.  Charles Band would go on to found a few different production companies, including Empire Productions and Full Moon Features.  Through those companies, he would create long lasting franchises that have since become cult hits.  The most famous would likely be the Puppet Master franchise, which has included more than ten films.  But there have been many more.  Trancers began in 1984 and lasted six films.  The first two Ghoulies movies were made with Empire Productions.  Subspecies, Killjoy, Demonic Toys, Witchouse, and Decadent Evil are a few of the other franchises that have found their way through Charles Band’s production companies.

The new millennium saw two franchises reign within the Full Moon Features productions.  The Gingerdead Man was released in 2005.  Gary Busey voiced a dead serial killer whose spirit had possessed a gingerbread man in the first film of the franchise but wouldn’t return in any subsequent outings.  Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust came out in 2008 and took the action out of the bakery setting of the original.  Instead, it was a comedic tribute to low budget filmmaking, taking place in a small Hollywood studio.  2011’s Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver saw the Gingerdead Man going back in time to a 1970s roller rink to be involved in a story that took more than a few beats from Carrie.

The other franchise was Evil Bong.  The 2006 original had a group of friends find a bong that would transport them to a different dimension when they took a hit from it.  That other dimension would eventually drain their lives.  The sequels, 2009’s Evil Bong 2: King Bong and 2011’s Evil Bong 3D: The Wrath of Bong saw the characters team up with the original evil bong to take down newer, stronger evil bongs.

Following each franchise hitting the three film mark, Charles Band found a new way to move forward.  He brought the franchises together.  2013 saw the release of Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong, a crossover that had the two villains going up against one another.  Though they didn’t really go up against each other.  They were kind of just doing their own thing and both going after the same humans in different ways.  Larnell (John Patrick Jordan), Luann (Robin Sydney), Rabbit (Sonny Carl Davis), Velicity (Amy Paffrath), and Eebee (Michelle Mais) returned from the Evil Bong franchise, while Sarah Leigh (Robin Sydney) and The Gingerdead Man (Robert Ramos) returned from the Gingerdead Man franchise.

The story was pretty simple.  Larnell opened a new head shop.  Down the street, Sarah Leigh opened a new bakery.  Larnell thought it would be a good idea to team up so that people would get the munchies at his place, then fill themselves up at the bakery.  Their plan was interrupted when the Evil Bong got loose and the Gingerdead Man returned to kill people.  They took the Gingerdead Man into the bong world and escaped while he was still trapped in there.

A fine line must be trod to have a successful crossover film.  Two franchises are coming together to make a continuation that works for both.  A basic knowledge of each franchise is needed to give a background of the characters who are now interacting for the first time.  An audience won’t get the most out of their experience if they don’t understand the characters’ motivations and how that put them in the crossover situation.

The best way to do this is to sprinkle in bits and pieces about what happened in the previous films.  It’s tough to do without the writing feeling forced.  Audiences don’t want a full recap of what happened in each franchise.  They want just enough to understand the characters before getting into a new story with them.  Otherwise, they could just be watching the other movies instead of the crossover.  Even with the promise of the characters and franchises coming together, a recap feels like wasted potential.

Freddy vs. Jason did a fairly good job of bringing the horror characters together.  There was enough background to clarify who the two horror villains were.  Freddy was in Hell and wasn’t a threat because the Springwood teenagers weren’t having nightmares about him anymore.  His power came from their dreams.  Without dreaming of him, he had no power.  Jason was roped into it through Freddy’s manipulation.  Freddy used Jason’s memories of his mother to push Jason into killing the teenagers of Springwood.  Through those story elements, audiences could understand the characters.  Freddy attacked teenagers through their dreams and Jason was a serial killer who was extremely attached to his mother.

Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong wasn’t as graceful with the backgrounds of the characters.  The backgrounds became a detour from the story being told.  Larnell explained the plot of the three Evil Bong movies to his employee, String (The Don).  This involved an on-screen recap of the series through archive footage.  The same thing happened with Sarah Leigh explaining the first Gingerdead Man film to her coworker.  There was archive footage from the movie used to show what happened.  Luckily, Sarah Leigh wasn’t in the other two Gingerdead Man movies, so they didn’t get recapped as well.

The problem with these kind of recaps are that they feel so out of place in the film.  The story comes to a dead halt as a recap of other stories takes over.  Instead of moving things forward, the audience is forced to look back at what has already happened.  All that is needed to make a crossover work for people coming from either franchise is to establish the characters in a way that highlights the past without making that the sole focus.

Had Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong focused more on character dynamics, it could have kept a good pace and not felt like it was deviating from the story for a recap.  The character dynamics that existed were good.  The way that Larnell reacted when Rabbit came back fit both characters perfectly.  Saying that bad things happened whenever Rabbit showed up was fitting for both characters.  There didn’t need to be a full archival footage recap.  They could have had a conversation, sprinkled with jokes, and it would have worked fine and kept things moving.  That could have worked with Eebee as well, who was locked up in the back room.  Character interactions work better than recaps for something that audiences already had a chance to see.

Crossover movies can get audiences very excited.  They want to see two, three, or more of their favourite characters come together in a new story.  Charles Band brought the Evil Bong and Gingerdead Man franchises together in 2013.  It was a lackluster meeting of the two characters that didn’t really tell much of a new story.  It did, however, lead to a pairing that never really went away.  The Gingerdead Man franchise was done.  The Evil Bong franchise went on for, currently, four more films.  The Gingerdead Man and Sarah Leigh appeared in the sequels.  It was basically a franchise that came out of the crossover, but with the Evil Bong name instead of the crossover name.

Charles Band has built much of his career through franchises.  There have been bigger, more successful franchises than Evil Bong and The Gingerdead Man.  Notably, two new Puppet Master movies came out last year.  He has made a massive impact on the horror film genre through his work over the past four and a half decades.  Names like John Carpenter and Wes Craven are often named as the most influential figures in horror filmmaking.  Charles Band might not get the same recognition, but he has definitely had nearly as much of an impact.  Particularly in the lower budget area.  The man is a living legend.

Let’s get the notes out of the way and get out of here:

• The movies that led to Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong were Evil Bong (week 52), The Gingerdead Man (week 69), Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104), Gingerdead Man 2: Passion of the Crust (week 252), Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong (week 271), and Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver (week 302).
• Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong was directed by Charles Band.  He also directed Evil Bong (week 52), The Gingerdead Man (week 69), Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104), and Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong (week 271).
• Robin Sydney made her return to the Sunday “Bad” Movies with Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong.  She was previously in Evil Bong (week 52), The Gingerdead Man (week 69), Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104), Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong (week 271), and Gingerdead Man 3: Saturday Night Cleaver (week 302).
• Mindy Robinson was in Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong.  She could already be seen in The Coed and the Zombie Stoner (week 102), Chicks Dig Gay Guys (week 145), and Samurai Cop 2: Deadly Vengeance (week 241).
• Gary Busey was in the archive footage of Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong because he was in The Gingerdead Man (week 69).  He was also in Drop Zone (week 132) and D.C. Cab (week 293).
• Tommy Chong was also in archive footage in Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong after appearing in Evil Bong (week 52) and Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104).  He was also in The Wash (week 303).
• Three people were in Evil Bong (week 52), Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104), and Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong (week 271) before appearing in Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong.  They were Sonny Carl Davis, John Patrick Jordan, and Michelle Mais.
• The mouth of Gingerdead Man in Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong was played by John Karyus, who had previously done work in The Summer of Massacre (week 26) and Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead (week 84).
• Velicity was played by Amy Paffrath who was reprising her role from Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104) and Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong (week 271).
• Michael Sheppard voiced King Bong in Evil Bong 2: King Bong (week 104) and was in the archive footage used in Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong.
• Peter Stickles played Alistair in Evil Bong 3: The Wrath of Bong (week 271) and was in the archive footage in Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong.  He was also in Showgirls 2: Penny’s from Heaven (week 170).
• Masuimi Max made her return to the Sunday “Bad” Movies this week.  She was previously in Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (week 110).
• Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong was the second appearance for Victoria De Mare, who was in Aliens vs. Titanic (week 283).
• Finally, Peter Donald Badalamenti II was in both Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (week 310).
• Have you seen Gingerdead Man vs. Evil Bong?  Have you seen any of the movies in either franchise?  What do you think of crossover movies?  Tell me all of your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter.
• You can use those outlets to also tell me about what movies I should be checking out for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  Give me ideas.  I could use them.  I know a lot of bad movies, but there are some I’ve never heard of and you can open my eyes to them.
• Check out the Instagram account for the Sunday “Bad” Movies.  Do it.
• Now for next week.  There are a lot of bad movies that I’ve not watched for this blog.  Some of them, I’ve seen before.  The classic bad movie coming up is one of those movies.  It came out in the early 1990s and starred a rapper from the time.  That movie is Cool as Ice, the Vanilla Ice movie.  Check out what I have to say about it next week.