Ginger Bites Back
Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed
Starring Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle and Tatiana Maslany
Directed by Brett Sullivan
Written by Megan Martin
49th Parallel/Lion's Gate Films

"If you keep me here, people are gonna die."- Brigitte. Ah, promises, promises. The world is full of them. Thankfully, the sequel to Ginger Snaps (that little Canadian werewolf film that could) makes good on its promise to deliver a second clever story about teen girls and their demons.

Admittedly, I wanted to like this film; there aren't enough horror films starring intelligent adolescent girls who keep their clothes on (written by women, no less). So I'm willing to forgive this one's major flaws - like the fact that it's a werewolf movie with hardly any werewolf in it - as long as the girls stay smart and strong.

Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed picks up where the first film ended, which saw the death of misfit-turned-werewolf Ginger Fitzgerald in the arms of her even bigger misfit sister Brigitte, after a monkshood antidote couldn't stop catastrophic lycanthropic change. The sequel finds Brigitte (Emily Perkins) trying to control her own transformation by shooting up the purple poison, which lands her in the Happier Times Rehab Clinic as a suspected runaway addict. She's also being pursued by a male werewolf on the make, one of many reasons she wants to get the hell out of there.

Unfortunately, the carnage Brigitte threatened never happens, and it gets a bit boring at Happier Times. Cue sweet, nosy Ghost (Tatiana Maslany), a fourteen-year-old comic junkie who becomes Brigitte's sidekick. It's only when the pair escapes to a remote hideout does the tension (and body count) rise and we start to wonder just who, or what, is the real evil.

Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed is an indie film, not a blockbuster. But it features the same witty, honest dialogue as the original, with improved music, make-up and werewolf effects (even if we wish we could have seen more of KNB's beast). It doesn't show a lot of blood but has plenty of guts. The mass female masturbation scene is a shocker - talk about hairy palms! My only complaint is the return of Ginger (Katherine Isabelle) as an apparition. She's a sexy drawing card but her scenes are an unnecessary distraction. When Brigitte declares "I'm not like you, G., I'm stronger," she's right. Her character and Emily Perkins' acting are stronger, making Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed an even better film than the first.

Liisa Ladouceur, Rue Morgue Magazine