Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)

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!

Fmovies: I liked it a lot, in fact even more than the first movie. I loved the character of Ghost and all the comic book shots and her third person lines. Good ending. One thing they could have done was make the identity of the werewolf clearer. Also when the sister appeared it was kind of forced.. it didn't seem like she was a delusion

"Ginger Snaps" single-handedly raised my interest in lycanthropic cinema, and "Ginger Snaps Unleashed" is a remarkably strong sequel that works for many of the same reasons. Like the thoughtful horror cinema of George Romero, where deeper human issues boil under a more obvious horror surface, "Ginger Snaps" used lycanthropy as a metaphor for puberty and its impact on teenage relationships; "Unleashed" uses it as a metaphor for addiction, with Brigitte Fitzgerald (Emily Perkins--"It"), sister of the ill-fated Ginger (Katharine Isabelle), injecting herself with wolfbane to curb her increasingly wolf-like tendencies. While in a rehab clinic for troubled teens, Brigitte forges a relationship with Ghost (Tatiana Maslany), a precocious girl whose seeming innocence unravels her secret. The new writing/directing team of Megan Martin and Brett Sullivan pick up where the previous film left off, skillfully bridging the two with a bare minimum of rehashed exposition, and the end result is extremely satisfying (though the machinations of "Unleashed"'s final third made me wish the script had tied some thematic/character arcs together better). Perkins, who is becoming a real horror ingénue, plays Brigitte with sympathy and sarcastic bite, and her relationship with Maslany comes close to matching the sense of sisterly love that provided the endearing backbone of the original "Ginger Snaps." "Unleashed" is the rare sequel that does its parent proud.

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed fmovies. This is a genuinely creepy film, with creepy plot, creepy filming and creepy story with several creepy scenes. A sequel inspired by but not a thematic continuation of the first. With most sequels you walk in expecting an extension of the first, all the things that worked in the first film delivered in the second. Seldom does the sequel collect the audacity to march off in a different direction.

This one bravely does and creates and entirely different film, a much darker one spun cleanly from the first.

Apologies to all the nay sayers but this is dead solid perfect.

A cult niche and maybe a lesson on how to do sequels ... get creative people on board to use the engine of unexpected popularity, or expected popularity, for inventive film making.

I'll own this one and the original.

Cool.

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.

This is the only sequel I have seen that could be considered an improvement on its original.

I'm a great Fan of Ginger Snaps and was really excited about this film when i first heard about it, unfortunately when it arrived at the cinema I was to young to see it. I'm sure its always a gamble for people and film fans alike to buy movies on Tapoe/DVD with out viewing them first and for me this was a first. It was well worth the risk of my cash as I loved the film, the casting was especially good this time around ( the DVD showing the auditions in all their glory ) As far as the films go Emily Perkins takes her original part and runs with it, totally convincing the audience that she is trying to break away from her sister and the ghosts of the past.

The special effects and make up are of course grander this time around which enhances the horror side of things, but I my self view this more as a Drama that a Horror film. The suspense is really edgy and makes you want to fast forward to the next scene to see what happens next. As well as the stand allow story of Briditte's new company 'Ghost' making you want more as the plot continues. Even as a sequel this is a hard one to beat. I whole heartedly will you to see it, even if you have not yet view the first one.