Ginger Snaps - Unleashed [DVD]

The story opens with Brigitte, alone, frightened, on the run, testing her powers of recuperation by slashing her arms to see how quickly she recovers. She is infected by the lycanthrope, by her sister Ginger's contaminated blood. When we last saw her, she had just killed Ginger. Yet here she is, apparently pursued by a werewolf. Is Ginger alive, or does she just live on as a ghostly, conscience-jarring memory?

Brigitte is certainly ill. She collapses in the street and wakes up in a drug rehabilitation clinic. The counsellors and nursing staff can see the cutting marks on her arms and know she has been injecting herself. What they can't understand is what sort of buzz she gets from injecting a poison like wolfsbane. Brigitte is hardly going to co-operate, but finds an ally in the angelic little 'Ghost', whose grandmother is recovering from major burns and lies dressed in bandages like some scared mummy. The scene is set, for here we have Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma', and a wolf at their door. Is Brigitte really pursued by a werewolf? Is it Ginger? Is it all in the imagination? Or perhaps I'm just trying to mislead you so I don't spoil the surprises.

Emily Perkins gives a subdued performance here which stands in marked contrast to the loud, screaming, melodrama of many modern horror movies. She has a haunted look throughout, and conveys a sense of loneliness, desperation, and hopelessness with convincing accuracy. The star of the show, however, is Tatiana Maslany as 'Ghost'. She provides the counterpoint emotion, a wonderfully cynical, sinister innocence in the face of the evil and abuses taking place around her. She is the only one to comprehend what Brigitte is going through: unbelievable though it might be, she is rational, recognises what is occurring, and proves a source of optimism and resilience.

An excellent film, offering another spin on teenage angst and loneliness, but perhaps not quite living up to the immediate originality of the first 'Ginger Snaps'. The film does, however, succeed in creating a new range of characters and relationships. The horror here is sophisticated, character-led, and graced by a plot which twists and turns. The fear is cerebral, not visceral, and relies on good writing, good acting, and good direction - not sensation. The climax ... well, I'll give nothing away by saying that Brigitte is left facing an even greater horror than she imagined was possible! Excellent film, well worth watching more than once, or twice.

The story opens with Brigitte, alone, frightened, on the run, testing her powers of recuperation by slashing her arms to see how quickly she recovers. She is infected by the lycanthrope, by her sister Ginger's contaminated blood. When we last saw her, she had just killed Ginger. Yet here she is, apparently pursued by a werewolf. Is Ginger alive, or does she just live on as a ghostly, conscience-jarring memory?

Brigitte is certainly ill. She collapses in the street and wakes up in a drug rehabilitation clinic. The counsellors and nursing staff can see the cutting marks on her arms and know she has been injecting herself. What they can't understand is what sort of buzz she gets from injecting a poison like wolfsbane. Brigitte is hardly going to co-operate, but finds an ally in the angelic little 'Ghost', whose grandmother is recovering from major burns and lies dressed in bandages like some scared mummy. The scene is set, for here we have Little Red Riding Hood, Grandma', and a wolf at their door. Is Brigitte really pursued by a werewolf? Is it Ginger? Is it all in the imagination? Or perhaps I'm just trying to mislead you so I don't spoil the surprises.

Emily Perkins gives a subdued performance here which stands in marked contrast to the loud, screaming, melodrama of many modern horror movies. She has a haunted look throughout, and conveys a sense of loneliness, desperation, and hopelessness with convincing accuracy. The star of the show, however, is Tatiana Maslany as 'Ghost'. She provides the counterpoint emotion, a wonderfully cynical, sinister innocence in the face of the evil and abuses taking place around her. She is the only one to comprehend what Brigitte is going through: unbelievable though it might be, she is rational, recognises what is occurring, and proves a source of optimism and resilience.

An excellent film, offering another spin on teenage angst and loneliness, but perhaps not quite living up to the immediate originality of the first 'Ginger Snaps'. The film does, however, succeed in creating a new range of characters and relationships. The horror here is sophisticated, character-led, and graced by a plot which twists and turns. The fear is cerebral, not visceral, and relies on good writing, good acting, and good direction - not sensation. The climax ... well, I'll give nothing away by saying that Brigitte is left facing an even greater horror than she imagined was possible! Excellent film, well worth watching more than once, or twice.