Ginger Snaps : Résurrection

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed. * * 1/2 Actors: Emily Perkins, Tatiana Maslany, Eric Johnson Writer: Megan Martin Director: Brett Sullivan.

The second part of the "Ginger Snaps" trilogy picks up after the first one. Bridgitte has infected herself with Ginger's blood who has turned into a werewolf. In order to keep herself from becoming like her sister, she must inject herself daily with monkshood. After barely escaping a werewolf that has found her, she awakes in a clinic that treats all things including drug addiction. With her drugs taken away, Bridgitte can't escape what she is becoming.

I loved the 1st movie and I found the second one to be a worthwhile sequel. While the first one simmered with satire on female hormones and puberty, "Unleashed" is a straight horror film. It's too bad we don't see much of Ginger in this one, but she does turn up as a ghost who warns Bridgitte that another one waits for her. Bridgitte is a lot more confident and a lot hotter than the first one. But although this is her story, the one character that steals the show is a young girl at the hospital named Ghost. Bridgitte befriends this girl because she can help get her monkshood and I'm sure she feels a little bad that all the other patients make fun of her. There is a twist at the end of this movie that I was not expecting, but on my second viewing of it. I don't know how I could have missed it. All the warning signs were shown in the first thirty minutes.

If you haven't seen the first one you could just watch this one alone. It has a good enough story to keep you interested. It's not as fulfilling as the original, but it's a nice desert

Because the second film is so strongly connected to the first, the way this film ends is pretty strange considering how the overall story (from the first film) started. The ending isn't earned, nor does it connect to the overall themes presented and carried along the two films. This would have worked better as a standalone film; as a sequel, if falls a bit flat given how a character we've invested in for two movies and care about is treated in the end. So, while I'm not saying this film is bad (I don't think it is), it's not a good sequel. It's a very interesting standalone film if they hadn't leaned so heavily on the connection to the first film.

Still, the movie had great performances by Emily Perkins and Tatiana Maslany. As much as I didn't appreciate her ultimate goal, the Ghost character was well characterized, and the actress was very versatile in how she played her. A role like what Emily Perkins played (both in the first film and this one) could have EASILY been played vapidly, blandly, emotionlessly (Like Selma Blair in Hellboy or Jennifer Lawrence in the Hunger Games), but she infused just the right amount of emotion into it. You could actually feel for her rather than just watch someone recite lines and act like a living zombie (like a LOT of mediocre albeit successful young actresses have done/do).

If there was anything that I straight-up disliked, it's one nitpick: I don't know if it was a wig or a bad bleach job, but I don't understand why they made Ghost blonde. Maybe she's meant to be "fair" (?), but her hair is very distracting the entire film. It looks terrible and not at all convincing. Seems like it's not a Ginger Snaps movie without a main character having bad hair.

Overall, it's an interesting, entertaining film, but it's docked some points for not being a good SEQUEL.

After the explosively entertaining "Ginger Snaps", I had some doubts that the sequels could live up to the original. But in this one, we are greeted to a wonderful film picking up exactly where the first one left off: now with Bridget trying to stop herself from becoming a werewolf, and escaping from the rehab center she has been placed in.

If you find cutting and self-mutilation to be disgusting, then this is the film you want to either see or avoid. The opening credits are over a scene of Bridget in the bathtub, cutting herself to pieces. She continues to cut herself throughout the movie, as well as give herself injections.

The scenery is fantastic, as rehabs, hospitals and insane asylums are always great places for horror films if you know how to film them. The makers of this film know exactly what they're doing. Add secret passageways and you're set.

The new cast is also wonderful, easily making up for Ginger having a very small role. The cast now has several male staffers working in an all-girl rehab center, leading to such activities as trading sexual favors for drugs. But most importantly is a new character named "Ghost" (presumably because she's almost like an albino) who is fascinated with the occult and death and befriends Bridget after finding out she might be a werewolf.

Some interesting plot twists happen I can't reveal here, and as the wolf blood begins to overtake the human blood, things heat up. And then another werewolf shows up to try and mate.

Oh, heck. Just watch the movie. These guys have taken a worn-out horror staple (lycanthropy) and added such a new dimension to it that it's almost like an entirely new invention. Excelsior!

There are some films that just shouldn't have a sequel.

So, given that I firmly believe this about 'Ginger Snaps', 'Ginger Snaps Unleashed' clearly had a tough act to follow. And y'know, it didn't do too badly.

So by now we've all got the plot - Bridgit mainlining wolfsbane to not become like her sister, passes out in the snowy streets after another werewolf attack and wakes up in a rehab centre. Yada yada, this is IMDb, you can look up the plot summary earlier. But the way it develops...OK, it's no way as symbolic as the first film but it's damn logical. It all makes sense in context, right down to the *deeply* messed up ending. Which in some ways is a drawback because it's a little *too* realistic to always engage; it's a bit dull at times, just like rl. And all the characters are 2-dimensional except for Bridget, Ghost, and maybe the creepy Tyler.

But! Those three? Carry the movie. Emily Perkins is as great as she was in the first film, and Eric Johnson shows us that when it came to Smallville, *Lana* should have left on the bus to go into military. But the real find is Tatiana Maslany, who quite frankly is *terrifying* as Ghost. Which is maybe another criticism; given the ending I shouldn't have worked things out as quickly as I did, but that's not just due to Tatiana, that's also due to other clues in the film. This aside, she rocks as Ghost and it's great to see the kind of character Ghost is lead to the conclusion it does because frankly? Yeah, makes sense. And I really cannot say much more without spoiling it.

So, in conclusion. A lot of holes, not so special second time round, and too few 3 dimensional characters. But he cinematography is ace and very like the first (which makes sense given this one's director edited the first one, and John Fawcett did some unofficial second unit stuff on here too) and I think it's a film that'll grow on me. It's certainly worth a go - 7 out of 10.

Brigitte (Emily Perkins) is going through a transformation that she is fighting, but will not be able to stop. Just when she thinks she is close, she gets locked up in a drug treatment facility. Perkins is fantastic in her depiction of someone who is fighting her own demons while no one can possibly understand them. She makes this movie and she is really fun to watch.

Also impressive is Tatiana Maslany (Eastern Promises, Diary of the Dead) as Ghost. She seems a little flighty at first and we really don't get to know her until the very end. It is that ending where she comes into her own with a surprising twist.

The was a good sequel to the first film, and it picked up right where it left off. Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) even makes a few ghostly appearances.

Well worth watching.