Ginger Snaps: Unleashed (2004)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

Brett Sullivan

Writers:

Karen Walton (characters)
Megan Martin (written by)

Release Date:

30 January 2004 (Canada)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

It only dies if you do.

Plot:

The late Ginger's sister Brigitte, now a werewolf herself, must try to find a cure for her blood lust before the next full moon while hiding out in a rehab clinic from a relentless werewolf.

Plot Keywords:

Werewolf | Drug Addict | Erotica | Hospital | Disfigurement

Cast

Emily Perkins	...	Brigitte
Brendan Fletcher	...	Jeremy
Katharine Isabelle	...	Ginger
Tatiana Maslany	...	Ghost
Susan Adam	...	Barbara
Janet Kidder	...	Alice Severson
Chris Fassbender	...	Luke
Pascale Hutton	...	Beth-Ann
Michelle Beaudoin	...	Winnie
Eric Johnson	...	Tyler
David McNally	...	Marcus
Patricia Idlette	...	Dr. Eleonor Brookner
Lydia Lau	...	Koral
Coralie Cairns	...	Nurse
Shaun Johnston	...	Jack

Also Known As:

Entre soeurs II: Déchainées (Canada: French title) (DVD box title)
Ginger Snaps 2 (Canada: English title) (working title)
Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (USA) (DVD box title)
Ginger Snaps: The Sequel (Canada: English title) (working title)
Werewolf: Gingersnaps (Philippines: English title)

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence, sexual content, some language and drug use.

Runtime:

94 min

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Netherlands:16 | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Iceland:16 | Italy:VM14 | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Canada:18A | Germany:16 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:M18 | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Canada

Company:

49th Parallel Productions

Trivia:

The movie that Brigitte watches at Care Facility is Nothing (2003) directed by Vincenzo Natali, who was storyboard artist for the Ginger Snaps (2000).

Goofs:

Continuity: The blood on the closet door appears and disappears when Ginger is trying to get out.

Quotes:

Written on psychologist's notepad after Brigitte explains her lycanthropic transformation: Lesbian?

Movie Connections:

Features Nothing (2003)

Soundtrack:

(Make me do) Anything you want

An amazing re-interpretation of the 'sequel'

In most horror series, the sequel serves as little more than a comfortable regurgitation of the original. The 'final female', in all her puritanical and tomboyish glory, re-defeats the male antagonist, is won by the boy (or else walks in the sunset alone, retaining her amazingly puritanical and tomboyish glory)and, in the next installment, either falls victim to the antagonist, or, in the case of 'Elm Street' has a baby briefly terrorized by him; or she disappears, her textual value intact if not explained. The exceptions: Ripley (she ALWAYS defeats the antagonist, even when she dies) and Bridget (ok, there's probably other examples, and I'll be the last to proclaim the two aforementioned as the exclusive exceptions to the generally accepted rule).

I read some reviews of the film, not necessarily on IMDb, and often without the intellectual or common-sense interpretation of the IMDb reader, that criticized the film as lacking the strength of the original; of course, one even interpreted the 'masturbation' scene literally, and I guess that immediately drops it out of the legitimate critical analysis.

I personally found the film to be, on a complex, real-world level, realistic, insofar as lycanthropy can be said to be 'real world'. The storyline itself followed a linear logicality rarely seen in the horror genre; in fact, and I lack a HIGH degree of suspension of disbelief--my degrees are in sociology, psychology, history--I was able to read and understand the behaviors of the characters as realistically legitimate.

Human behavior is rarely as coherent as that of the average horror film protagonist or antagonist; Bridgit, Ginger, and Ghost are, realistically, incoherent. Anyone with a relationship to a human being between 8-17 years of age can see behavioral parallels to the characters. And maybe that is what makes so many reviewers unsettled, the stripping of the level of disbelief; or the fact of it being from the viewpoint of a female protagonist who isn't put out there as eye-candy. To extend that thought, we could go the route of the average feminist scholar and blame such negative criticism on an overwhelming INABILITY to connect with the characters based on the limited vision of the average white,narrow-minded, middle-class, 18-30 y/o male to look outside box, but that would disregard, unfairly, the growing role of the female viewer in film consumption. I guess I didn't verify the sex and/or gender of the critics.

10 stars, 5 stars, 2 thumbs WAY up; whatever clichés as are necessary to verify my approval are overwhelmingly there.