Furry Ladies: Ginger Snaps Back

With Ginger dead and Bridgette the pet of some freaky little girl, what were the producers to do in order to get even more money from this series?  Why, a prequel, of course!  How else did you think that they were going to get both actresses back again?  The film, as my teaser said, takes place in 19th Century Canada.  The whole thing is centered around a trading post that is set in the middle of the woods and only gets supplies once a year.  Unfortunately for them, supplies don't show up- but the sisters do.  This brings up a couple serious issues right from the get-go.  If these are supposed to be the ancestors of Ginger and Bridget, why do they look exactly alike?  Not only that, but why do they also share the same names?  I could be wrong, but I'm fairly sure that I don't have an uncle that is my exact twin (or I'm his) and is also named Alec.  The odds of this happening are about 1,000,000 to 1 (made up number)...which is perfectly fine for the makers of this movie.  Aside from that giant reality gap, is this movie decent?  Find out in my review of...

The film begins with a really long and ponderous bit of narration.  This three to four minute scene explains how the post is stuck waiting for supplies and how their is some sort of werewolf curse in the area.  The whole thing revolves around a girl in red and girl in black.  To make matters worse, it's overlaid over the credits and these ridiculous drawings on old-timey paper.  After the 'this is important' opening, we get to see our two heroines riding on a horse together.  Bridgette complains- big surprise- and Ginger tries to be the strong, older sister who can console.  After some weird editing, the girls see some creature out in the woods.  The pair's day goes from bad to worse when Bridgette gets her foot stuck in a bear trap.  A figure appears in the clearing and Ginger tries to shoo him away...only to get a bola thrown at her...that wraps around her mouth.  That's...kind of a strange weapon, but okay.  The figure is a young Indian who gets the girl's leg out of the trap and takes the pair to the fort.  Oddly, this trap designed to debilitate a bear only cause the girl to limp for the next three scenes.  There is some resistance to the girls being let in, but they refuse to say why.  Oh well, I'm sure it's safe in there...

The fort is full of some bizarre characters that include a Quebecois fur trader, the man's Indian wife and a 'fire & brimstone' preacher that blames the fort's luck on the man's in-breeding with the natives.  Yeah, that makes you an appealing character who I definitely don't want to see die.  The fort's leader is a stoic man who has lost both his wife (also an Indian) and son to some sort of illness, but has no problem letting our heroines wear his dead wife's clothes to dinner.  After that awkward scene, Ginger gets up in the middle of the night and runs afoul of a little werewolf.  Aren't you just the most adorable little lycanthrope?  Just like in the first Ginger Snaps movie, she gets bitten by the thing and begins to transform.  As time goes by, her wound does not heal and begins to grow hair out of the wound.  Gee, I can't see where this is going!  Speaking of repetition, Bridgette helps hide the effects of the transformation from the others and lies about the truth.  It's a good thing because we finally figure out what is going on.  Apparently the fort is surrounded by werewolves and they are blamed for the supplies not getting there.  By the way, if you want to actually see these things, you'll have to wait.  The movie has decided that you aren't allowed to yet and only shows people firing at them from the fort walls- lame.

Things escalate when one of the men comes back in the fort with a wound & goes to see the doctor.  The man thinks that the wound is from a werewolf, so he puts a leech on the man...which explodes!  The doctor ignores that whole Oath thing and shoots him in the head, leading our heroines to not reveal the truth.  Eventually, after more death, they learn about Ginger's bite and try to kill her.  The fort's leader protects her though, since the pair know about his non-dead werewolf son.  After a bunch of deaths, our heroines leave the fort and run into the nearby Indians.  During their trip, however, Ginger and Bridgette get separated in the woods.  Bridgette is given some Indian magic potion and sees 'the future.'  She learns that she has to kill Ginger to save everyone's lives, but she's not happy about it.  She and the young Indian go back to the fort, just before Ginger arrives with a werewolf army.  I love how you mimic both the first and second movies there, guys!  After all of this build-up, the werewolf fighting is actually pretty good, although the things run like apes...which is silly.  The Indian kicks lots of ass and the Preacher is stabbed by the fort leader, who is in turn bitten and commits suicide.  Eventually, life imitates the vision and Ginger is confronted by a knife-wielding Bridgette.  In a Vince Russo-like swerve, however, she stabs the Indian and goes off with the sister.  They parrot the 'together forever' line from the first film too.

This movie is really not that good.  There are some good ideas here, but they're executed in a pretty dumb way.  The isolation of the fort works well for a story like this and there is a pretty big cast on display here.  However, the bulk of them are one-dimensional characters who are just there to get killed.  I mean, what's the point of that Preacher besides setting up a guy you want to see get killed in a bloody manner?  The make-up effects here on par with the previous films for the most part.  The werewolves you see in full-frame are pretty good, but their movement is pretty stiff.  In defense of the movie, it does deliver on the premise that it promises you...even if it's only so-so.  Aside from the giant logic gap of this being a prequel that doesn't set up the first film (the lycanthropy is not a family curse), it's pretty good.  I have to nitpick a few things still though.  The ending of the movie references the first film, but doesn't really make any sense.  In that film, Bridgette kills Ginger.  In this film, she doesn't.  How do these things compare again, movie?  Secondly, why does this qualify as a prequel?  Isn't this just a remake set in the past?  Ultimately, there's one thing to know about this movie- it's not as good as Ravenous.  Everything about it will make you think about that movie (aside from the werewolves) and make you realize how good that one is.  Watch Ravenous instead.

Up next, Blockbuster Trash brings you the sequel to Boogeyman.  Will it be as dull as the last film or find different ways to suck?  Stay tuned...