Sorry, I just love this photoshop.

For what it was, Ghost Rider 2: Spirit of Vengeance was much better than the original film, which basically played like a parody of a parody. But it was still pretty awful and definitely didn’t need to be made, except that Nic Cage desperately needed the money to finish building his pyramid tomb. It also didn’t need extra stunt men who had nothing to do with the actual film recording additional stunts for the DVD/Blu-Ray release, but Sony still wanted to dress the Rider up and pray that it could develop a cult following.

Unfortunately, during the filming of those bonus DVD stunts, a stuntman named Michael Gaboff was badly injured when his particular jump went very, very wrong, and now he’s suing Sony for “negligence, peculiar risk, ultrahazardous, breach of contract”, among others. Hmmm, ten bucks says Cage stars in a movie called Ultrahazardous by 2014.

The stuntman, Michael Gaboff, says in the suit filed Friday (read it here) that he was hired in April 2012 as an independent contractor to perform a stunt for the movie’s DVD release that the production teams knew or should have known involved serious risks and failed to take proper safety measures. Gaboff’s suit says he was to ride a motorcycle up a ramp after being set afire and leap across a lake and land in the water. The suit also alleges members of the production teams exhibited “conscious disregard” for Gaboff’s concerns about the risks.

The stunt went wrong and Gaboff landed on hard ground, breaking numerous bones including his lower back and neck and suffering other injuries including second-degree burns. The suit says Gaboff was “rendered sick, sore, lame, disabled, and disordered, both internally and externally and suffered … numerous internal and external injuries, severe fright, shock, pain, discomfort and anxiety.” (Via Deadline)

Naturally, there’s footage of the accident on YouTube and it’s not for the squeamish. I won’t pretend to be some city slicker lawyer type with my fancy law degree from Stansbury or a nice pair of suspenders, so I won’t place blame on one party or the other. But I’m leaning in favor of Gaboff here, not because I have a problem with Sony – I love Sony, they know that – but I’m hoping to discourage any more Ghost Rider movies until they decide to take them seriously. Especially if Cage is involved.