Pages

Ads 468x60px

Monday, June 4, 2007

Ginger Snaps, Fizzles, and Ends


The Ginger Snaps Trilogy


Werewolf movies are generally a lost art. For every American Werewolf In London there's an American Werewolf In Paris. For every Underworld there's a Van Hellsing. Unlike vampire or zombie genres werewolf flicks generally lay stagnant. Ginger Snaps was a film that I had heard of many times but never seemed interested in. Until one day out of abject boredom I decided to peruse the trilogy

Ginger Snaps A+: A great start to the series. It stars Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins, both no stranger to the horror film genre. Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald are sisters who are complete outsiders. They seem to need nobody but each other even excluding their own parents. This all changes when Ginger is bitten by a werewolf and begins to change. The film actually uses Ginger's werewolf transformation as a metaphor for puberty. The wolves from Ginger Snaps are also not your everyday werewolves. No silver bullets, a wolf can die from hit by a car or stabbed. No transforming every month, once you turn it's permanent. And rather than be transmitted by bite, it can be transmitted by blood or by sex. This film is fun, dark, and all in all a great flick.

Ginger Snaps 2:Unleashed D+ Unleashed, try unwatchable and you'll get a good idea of how awful this film is. Brigitte now on her own is on the run from a mysterious other werewolf. She spends her days keeping her transformation at bay with the help of wolfs bane. However she od's and winds up in a rehab clinic. Brigitte now has to deal with her transformation and the lecherous orderly who could her get her the wolf's bane for a price. Boring what can you say about a "sequel" that leaves hundreds of plot points dangling, a "surprise" ending that can be seen miles away and for some inexplicable reason a group masturbation scene. The only reason to watch is for Emily Perkins who deserved better.

Ginger Snaps Back:The Beginning B Having gone as far as they could with the current sisters the writers reach back in the past. In 1861 orphans Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald wind up at a trading post besieged by werewolves. Ginger is promptly bitten and Brigitte must fulfill a prophecy before losing her sister for good. This was much better than the previous installment and it's good to have Katharine Isabelle back a starring role and Emily Perkins is as flawless as always. I have some issues with the ending which implies that the Fitzgerald clan has had werewolf blood in the lineage for hundreds of years. However Ginger Snaps 1 states otherwise. Other than that good times.