Thursday, June 10, 2010

Furry Ladies: Ginger Snaps 2- Unleashed

Four years after the surprise success of the original film, a studio decided that more money could be made.  As a result, they said 'Hey lady who plays Bridgette- you get a starring film!'  I mean, let's ignore the obvious thing: the movie was called Ginger Snaps and this film does not star Ginger.  I suppose there is some 'snapping' involved here and something is 'unleashed' at some point.  If you're asking for more of an explanation, you're looking at the wrong film series, mister!  The story focuses on Bridgette trying to survive in the wake of all that happened to her with her sister and all that.  That's good enough, but the movie finds a way to mess that up.  How?  Well, I'll let you see for yourself in my review of...
The film begins with a fairly-short recap of the first film told in narration.  What- you didn't feel like spending five minutes doing it?  Wait- why am I complaining about that?  Anyhow, the first major 'screw you' to the audience comes from Bridgette, who explains that wolfsbane does not actually cure lycanthropy.  Okay, so that means that the Ginger's boyfriend is still out there killing people?  Thanks a lot, Bridgette!  We see Bridgette holed up in a motel Leaving Las Vegas-style, cutting her forearm and measuring how quickly the cuts heal.  This is apparently how she tracks her rate of transformation, but this bites her in the ass.  It's also amazing to see how organized a 19-year old who is living out on her own with no money can be!  By the way, they never really explain where her parents are here either.  The second middle finger to the audience comes in the form of Ginger, who appears to Bridgette as a ghost...or something.  All I know is that she randomly appears, says something negative and then vanishes.  You are the worst person they could have gotten for a remake of Quantum Leap!  After this depressing state of events, we see Bridgette try to check out a bunch of books on magic, but get denied for owing too much to the library- thrilling!  Back at her hotel, she injects more of the poisonous plant and her body reacts badly.  Fortunately for her, the library worker shows up to help.  Unfortunately for him, a werewolf shows up and kills him.  That's a lesson for you, Bob- don't help junkies!
Our heroine wakes up in a rehab clinic, which seems kind of obvious.  The track marks on her arm (they don't heal, apparently) and the cuts on her wrist are misinterpreted by them as signs of her junkie issue.  The problem is that they won't let her take her 'non-cure' which means that she is going to transform into a werewolf at some point.  In her first therapy session, she learns that the head woman has a previous history of drug use, still smokes and has tattoos.  She warns the woman that 'people will die' if they don't let her go, which gets her locked up.  By the way, this interesting character disappears after this scene and only shows up at the end- hurray?  She runs afoul of a group of young women that are also in rehab, although they really don't have any interesting traits.  I guess they were trying to replicate the 'bitchy blond girl' from the first film...and they fail.  Bridgette has one scene where she punches a girl for blocking the television and never really interacts with them again.  This does, however, set up a story arc with her and a strange girl that hangs out at the place.  She's apparently related to the young man who is the main worker at the facility...who's played by that guy from Flash Gordon.  He's a bad dude, trading sexual favors for drugs.  You're still employed, how again?  Speaking of ridiculous, Bridgette has a dream sequence where she imagines a therapist teaching a class to masturbate...which ends with Bridgette pulling her hand out of her pants in a transformed state.  Big-Lipped Alligator Moment?
I suppose you're wondering what all that stuff in the beginning with the werewolf chasing her is about, huh?  As Bridgette explains to the little girl, the creature is apparently after her and wants to mate with her.  Yeah, that's why he did nothing after he killed the librarian, huh?  The girl is kind of crazy, who is obsessed with comic books and is there due to her aunt being burned in an 'accident.'  When dogs near the building start to die (including the girl's), she believes Bridgette and helps her escape, leading to a mildly-thrilling chase scene.  They get away and hide out at the aunt's house, which is well-stocked with supplies and not full of homeless people.  The girl sets up a scarecrow with a bunch of chemicals that will ignite in order to kill the beast...but this actually kills a deer...which Bridgette begins to eat.  Your plan was fool-proof.  Eventually, 'Flash' shows up and tries to help, which doesn't end well.  The little girl accuses him of attacking her, so Bridgette leaves him outside for the male werewolf to kill him.  This turns out not to be true, as our heroine grills her about the truth.  The female counselor shows up (I told you so!) and helps them fend off the beast.  After all of the build-up, this guy goes down easy!  The little girl kills the counselor with a hammer and locks Bridgette in the basement to finish turning.  The End.
Wow, you really should have left well-enough alone!  This film tries to capture the magic of the original by getting the cast back...and fails.  Ginger shows up in imaginary bits, while Bridgette mopes...but as an adult.  Seriously, what was the point in having the character of Ginger show up at all?  I mean, besides you trying to make the film seem relevant and so you can bill the actress as being in the film.  In defense of the actress playing Bridgette, she is the best thing about the movie.  She is much easier to relate to here, if only because everyone else in the film is so bizarre!  For example, 'Flash' complains about being suspended when the girls escape the facility.  Dude, you were getting a B.J. from a girl in exchange for giving her cocaine!!!  The plot of this movie is just plain ridiculous, trying to mix a werewolf movie with Girl Interrupted!   The whole thing hinges upon you believing that authority figures are stupid and that nobody ever checks into things that are easy to notice.  Bridgette, for example, figures out the girl's lie about the aunt 'smoking in bed' when the fire started by looking at a little homemade sign about not smoking in the house.  Did the police never check this thing?  Let's not forget the bullshit they throw in like retconning the idea of the 'cure.'  My biggest gripe is a little one in the grand scheme of things: why the hell is that male wolf that's chasing her?  Unless I mentally-blocked it out, they never say!  I guess having partial lycanthrope traits is like Axe body spray for male werewolves and they just stalk girls for miles and miles.  With the exception of a few bits, this movie just plain sucks.
Up next, with our series' characters written into a corner, what is a movie studio to do?  Why make a prequel set in 19th Century Canada, of course!  Stay tuned...

1 comment:

  1. I really want to watch this one with the commentary on in the next round, because I just dont get it either. It is shot superbly, and Im sure that there are many underlying metaphors that were expanding upon the original, but they do nothing for me. Now, if this film had only been made in the 80s...

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