Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed

Plot synopsis:
Set several months after the events of the original film, runaway teenager Brigitte Fitzgerald (Emily Perkins) uses an extract of monkshood to fight the effects of the lycanthropy that transformed her sister into a werewolf and it is now affecting her.The opening credits play over Brigitte shaving the hair all over her body, cutting her arm with a scalpel, then injecting herself with a dose of monkshood, then cutting to Brigitte in a library, where the librarian Jeremy (Brendan Fletcher) clumsily hits on her. When she goes to check out her books, her library card has too many fines owing, and she walks out, leaving the books behind.Back in her motel room, she inspects her latest cut and records the time and state of healing on a page filled with similar entries. Ginger (Katharine Isabelle), her late sister, appears to her as an apparition, saying that she is healing faster and the monkshood is not a cure. It only slows the transformation.Brigitte shoots a deadly second dose of monkshood, and immediately after, Brigitte senses the presence of the male werewolf that has been stalking her, whose identity is unknown. She hastily packs and opens the door to find Jeremy with her library books. However, the additional dose has pushed her into toxic shock. Jeremy gets her in his car and is about to drive her to hospital, when the driver side window is smashed, and the werewolf drags him from the car. Brigitte stumbles down the street and collapses in the snow.She wakes up in a building which is a combination of a rehab clinic for drug abusing girls and chronic care patient facility, located in the only operational section of a large, old hospital. She attempts, but fails to escape. When delivered to the clinic's director Alice (Janet Kidder), she pleads to be released, but is refused. She does, however, manage to palm a piece of glass so she can continue to measure her healing rate. Tyler (Eric Johnson), a worker at the clinic, visits Brigitte at night and offers her some monkshood in exchange for sexual favors. She refuses and he tells her he will not give her the monkshood until she accepts his terms.As Brigitte's healing begins to accelerate, so does her rate of transformation. Ginger's ghost continues to appear, taunting Brigitte as she experiences growing cravings for sex, and to kill, as did Ginger previously. During a group therapy session Brigitte daydreams about being instructed to lie on the floor and masturbate, however it is unclear if the masturbation was a fantasy, since the part about imagining death and blood is clearly in Brigitte's mind. Suddenly jolted back to reality by a vision of Ginger, she draws her hand to her face to reveal her palm covered in hair. Later, and very depressed, she takes her shard of glass and holds it to her throat while looking into the bathroom mirror. However, she does not kill herself.During this time, Brigitte is shadowed by a girl called Ghost (Tatiana Maslany), the granddaughter of Barbara, a severe burn victim who is a patient there. Ghost eavesdrops on Alice in the staff lounge that Brigitte injects Monkshood. Curious about it, Ghost goes through her clandestinely hidden comic book collection and realizes Brigitte's secret. Ghost slips Brigitte a comic book containing the werewolf story. She begins to question her about lycanthropy, and notices Brigitte's ears have begun to grow pointy, Brigitte takes the glass, telling Ginger that she will not die, and cuts off the pointed part of her ear, flushing it down the toilet. Shortly after, Ghost tries to slip monkshood to Brigitte, but is foiled by Tyler. The following night, in despair at her rate of transformation, Brigitte allows Tyler to inject her.By now, it is apparent the werewolf has found her again. After Ghost's dog is found dead and mutilated, Brigitte asks her where the corpse was found, and is told that it was found in the disused crematorium section of the hospital. Upon learning this, Brigitte says she must get out. Ghost offers to show her an escape route, but insists she be taken with Brigitte.Brigitte escapes to the disused crematorium, in the basement, by crawling through air vents following Ghost's trail marks. There, Brigitte meets Beth-Ann (Pascale Hutton) who is high on drugs that she just received in exchange for sex with Tyler. Beth-Ann is killed and dragged away by the werewolf. Shortly after, Ghost arrives and says the escape route is where Beth-Ann was dragged away to. Brigitte and Ghost proceed, but are separated as the werewolf attacks. Clashing with the beast, Brigitte's leg is broken by the werewolf, but her transformation is so advanced, she heals immediately, and makes her escape after burning the beast in the crematorium.Ghost drives them to a gas station in the clinic car, where Brigitte tends to her wounds. They then drive to Barbara's house and sleep. Ghost explains how Barbara got burned, she tells Brigitte that Barbara fell asleep with her bedtime cigarette. The next day, after Brigitte starts eating a deer caught in an explosion from a trap set up by Ghost, they arrange for Tyler to bring monkshood to the gas station, but when Brigitte wanders inside she discovers the attendant has been slain. While she was away, Tyler had arrived and taken Ghost's car. Brigitte dashes back and drives off. Back at the house, Brigitte's body once more begins to reject the monkshood and Tyler worriedly calls Alice.Ghost tricks Brigitte into thinking Tyler abused her. Brigitte locks Tyler outside, and he is killed by the werewolf. Alice arrives, and is attacked by Ghost, wielding Barbara's hunting rifle. Brigitte figures out that Barbara didn't smoke, she aggressively keeps Ghost against a wall and argues with her, realizing it is likely Tyler didn't abuse Ghost and that Barbara was burnt by Ghost, but is stopped by Alice holding the rifle point-blank to the base of her skull. Alice begins to take Ghost, but is advised not to go outside. The werewolf then howls and breaks a nearby window, and Alice takes Ghost to the attic with her to seek refuge from Brigitte and the werewolf. Brigitte's transformation is almost complete, when the werewolf enters the house. She lures him into a room, and, when Ghost distracts the werewolf by dropping a heavy curling stone, Brigitte stabs him. The werewolf bites her on the arm. They struggle and after she repeatedly bashes its head with a curling stone, they fall into the basement, which has been turned into a pit of death using a set of mattress springs holding a wide variety of sharp objects. Ghost hits Alice with a hammer and sits at the top of the steps to peer into the basement, gun in hand. Brigitte crawls up the stairs, her face half transformed, begging Ghost to kill her. Instead, Ghost locks her in the basement.Ghost is shown illustrating a comic page of herself as a powerful warrior with a werewolf pet. Ghost narrates that Brigitte is getting stronger in the basement and is waiting to be unleashed on Ghost's enemies. As the film ends, Ghost is getting ready to welcome home Barbara as the fully transformed Wolf-Brigitte is heard growing from the basement.

Tags: violence, satire

Review:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:Unleashed" is a pretty smart sequel to my beloved werewolf horror "Ginger Snaps".Brigitte is an addict.After mixing blood with her sister Ginger she has been infected with the virus.Each day the curse grows stronger and she must increase her dosage of injections.When she is found lying face down in the snow after the near escape from another beast,she is thrown into drug rehabilitation-locked behind the doors without her life-saving antidote."Ginger Snaps:Unleashed" is almost as good as the first one.The soundtrack is awesome and creates a creepy atmosphere of desperation and isolation.There is plenty of gore and violence and some really vicious werewolf attacks.The acting is excellent with outstanding performance by Emily Perkins.The film is really tense,so if you liked the original you won't be disappointed.Highly recommended..
The remainder of the film is a tense wait to see which Beast will strike first - the one inside of Brigitte, or the one outside in the woods?This is a damn good sequel, made dark and dreary and totally believable by the performance of Emily Perkins alone.
Infected by the blood of her werewolf sister Ginger, runaway teenager Brigitte (Emily Perkins) attempts to fight off her own inevitable transformation into a slavering, hairy monster through the repeated injection of wolf's bane (also known as monkshood).
Cursed with increasingly pointed ears, haunted by ghostly memories of her sister Ginger (Katharine Isabelle), and hunted by a male werewolf that intends to mate with her, Brigitte puts her trust in weird blonde girl Ghost (Tatiana Maslany), who is fascinated by her condition.The original Ginger Snaps used lycanthropy as a metaphor for puberty, and this follow up continues the theme, Brigitte's gradual transformation into an uncontrollable beast a metaphor for unbridled teenage lust.
Jason.but i wanted to talk a little about 'Ghost', played by 'young' Tatiana Maslany, i have written young in lines because when i watched the movie i thought, about 11 up to 14, not older, no way, but she was 19 at the time, unbelievable!!!
but she was so very good as the little innocent girl ghost pretended to be and she kinda really looks like a little cute teenage girl, the kind you normally call friend of your little sister or some sort of that.and the twist at the end with ghost was just brilliant, because you always believed Tatiana her role, but there are a lot of clues earlier.There are some nice Gore effects in the werewolf victims, but it's never on a 'Braindead' level, so it always looks realistic, while Bridgets transformation is as great as Gingers in the first 1, kinda reminding of The Fly, not the original but the gory remake.overall together with the first one my favorite part, i mean normally i'm not a fan of little girls in movies, and i hate it most if the director wants to force you into still liking her after she killed humanity or some sort of that, like the children in 28 Weeks later who have just wiped out our world and humanity, hated them right from the beginning, while i even liked Ghost after we learned about her, i mean it's quite a feat playing at the end a little murder girl and still appearing genuinely innocent, but i think it's the way her illness makes her into believing what she does.overall a great horror movie, with just enough suspense and gore to never get into the way of the story, at the beginning i thought, not a movie like Halloween 2 (great movie)again, were they just systematically wipe out some sort of hospital, but then she escapes and the story goes on and on, just good old story-telling like it should be.TAKE THAT Saw 3-5 (part 1 and 2 had good stories, but from part 3 onwards only Gore because they hadn't really much of a story to tell..
But after an unexpected and tragic demise, Brigitte was left alone, now infected with the "curse" and on the run."Ginger Snaps" was a smart, touching, genuinely scary and often hilarious horror/drama/comedy that transcended horror clichés and proved that a big budget isn't always necessary to achieve a successful story and good scares.
Editing a movie is something extremely difficult and I consider editors as the anonymous heroes behind movies.Of course,directors,producers,actors and cinematographers receive the fame and the glory but a good editor can turn a bad movie into a good one and a good movie into an extraordinary one.For that motive,I like a lot when an editor turns into a director because someone talented is behind the scenes.Luckily,Ginger snaps 2 found a promising talent in editing and directing like Brett Sullivan,editor of the excellent Ginger snaps and,now,director of the sequel.Those people who did not see Ginger snaps 1 should see it to enjoy memorable characters and to enjoy a great horror film which the ideas shown there have the same importance than the suspense and the special effects.In Ginger snaps 1,the screenwriter made an additional subject subject about the menstruation and the waking to the adult life.In the sequel,the screenwriter Megan Martin puts an additional feminist message and how the women have to survive in the society and I love to see a horror film with an additional message.Another great thing I found on this sequel are the touches of humor it has.Ginger snaps 2,with its atmosphere and the performances,keeps in suspense to the spectator and that's something great and unusual on a horror film.The only frailty I found on this movie is that some supporting performances are not good.Luckily,the main performances are excellent:Emily Perkins is brilliant as the desperate Bridget and the young Tatiana Maslany is excellent as Ghost.It's really weird to see a so good sequel.The first one had more impact and it was more fresh but the sequel has a great level of quality in the story and a lot more things.I totally recommend this movie to horror fans.Rating:8.5.
Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed is a smart, hip, and awesome scary werewolf movie that had the spunk to go further than its predesscor did.The performances were gourmet steak and potatoes, and the score has a more Resident Evil beat to it (ima talking the RE game series).
If Emily Perkins's performance doesn't blow us away as it did in `Ginger Snaps,' that's only because it's not as much of a surprise this time around, and Tatiana Maslany's Ghost makes a goofy but plausible addition to the films' world.
As I said, it's not the out-and-out allegory that the first film was, but there are rich satiric moments, flashes of wit (Brigitte's discovery of her hairy palms comes to mind), and nice nods to werewolf-movie convention, with the finale taking place in a remote cabin in the snowy woods.
I really wanted to like this sequel to what I consider a fantastic horror flick, Ginger Snaps...but came away from this feeling considerably disappointed.
Basically turns out the girl from the first film who survived (Brigitte) has the werewolf disease thing still, and has to keep injecting herself with the monkshood or whatever to keep her from changing.
So you don't know if its a ghost or just her memory playing tricks on her.Brigitte also gets befriended by a young girl at the rehab center and they close together like sisters.The film is kinda gory, not as much as the original film though.
Ginger Snaps 2 starts off with Brigitte landing herself in a rehab clinic after she is discovered overdosing on the poisonous drug that she has to take in order to prevent herself from turning into a werewolf like her sister.
Before too long, Brigitte learns that a young girl named Ghost (who apparently lives in the hospital) is her only friend, but who reads so many horror comics that evidently it's normal for her to say things like "When you close your eyes is it hell you see?" Here's an odd thing about this character - she looks to be about ten years old, but is played by 19-year-old Tatiana Maslany.It seems that Ghosts grandmother was horribly burned in a fire at home, which landed her and her granddaughter in the rehab facility featured in the movie.
Needless to say, it is not taken very well when she explains that if she is kept there, people will die.Ginger makes occasional appearances as a vision of her former self, usually showing up to give Brigitte some useful insights into the changes that are taking place in her body, reprising the satire on female adolescence covered so well in the first film.
Some years ago, when I watched "Ginger Snaps," I thought it was one of the best werewolf movies that I had seen in a long time.
If you want to watch something you wont expect for this ones quite the treat, as long as your into something with a bit of gore, this movie isnt as scary as it could be at times but its a good time to pass just to be endeared to the Ghost character..
The Original For Me Is A Flat Out 10/10, It Was Fantastic At What It Was Trying To Do So Essentially I Went To See The Sequel.Now A Few Things Didn't Make Sense, First Of All The Character Ghost, She Had This Twist And It Ruined The Movie, I Would've Preferred It If She Was The Same As We Meet Her, Other Films Like "Dead Bodies" Suffer From This And Both Films Oddly Enough Have The Same Rating Of 7.I Also Thought Ginger Should've Made More Of An Appearance Being As That This Is Her Film Trilogy, Yes She Died In The First One But She Played "The Bushman Role" To Brigette(That Is A Reference For Anyone Who Reads Comics; Moon Knight Killed Bushman In An Alley And Later Bushman Appears As A Hallucination To Moon Knight To Traumatise Him).Overall This Isn't A Fantastic Movie Yet This Is A Pretty Good 7/10, Soon I'll Watch "Ginger Snaps Back" But Being As That GSB Is The Lowest Rated I Won't Expect A Masterpiece..
The werewolf in the movie looked like a big stuffed animal, which I'm sure it was, and so not scary at all.Finally, the actress playing Bridgette did a good job I thought.
She sent to rehab, with the police assuming monkshood is an illegal drug.Unlike the first movie, Ginger Snaps II is a genuinely creepy film.
Although it does make the film appear more sleek and stylish, the CGI also takes away from what made the first movie so good in the first place.Brigitte's transformation into a werewolf is much different than that of Ginger's.
I was really quite impressed by this movie, sequels usually don't live up to the standards set by the original film, but I think I liked this even better than the original, although I didn't care for the ending.
I would also have to say that the ending is one of the creepiest finales in a horror movie I've seen in a long time...I still shudder thinking about it.If you loved the original too much to go see a sequel, I free you of your fear.
Title: Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed Director: Brett Sullivan Cast: Emily Perkins, Katherine Isabelle, Tatiana Maslany, Eric Johnson Tagline: It only dies if you do Review: After having enjoyed the first Ginger Snaps immensely I decided to check out the sequel which had the same to actresses who played sisters on the last film.
Like for example the little girl who plays "ghost" she was an interesting character and one of the coolest things about the movie.
The character of Ghost is the only thing original that this movie has to offer, aside from her and the sub plot with her grandmother, there's nothing new in Ginger Snaps 2.The problem with the movie is that for the longest time it just draaaags.
After surviving an attack from it, Brigitte is picked up by the police and taken to a rehabilitation clinic where she meets a whole host of new characters, including, most notably, a young weirdo called Ghost.Making a welcome return from the first film is the parallels that are drawn between turning into a werewolf and being a teenager.
Unfortunately, Katherine Isabelle who played Ginger in the original film isn't in this film as much as most viewers would like, and she serves the plot in more of an advisory capacity (much like the ghost in American Werewolf in London) and this doesn't allow her much screen time (although this will hopefully be rectified in the prequel; Ginger Snaps Back).
One thing that this film definitely has over the original is the werewolf effects; they were terrible in the first film and really let it down, but here they seem to have taken influence from Dog Soldiers and look much better for it.The new cast of characters don't make up for the relative loss of Ginger, but nevertheless; they're largely well done.
The film's more interesting when it focuses on the supporting cast, from the young blonde girl Ghost caring for her badly burned relative to the sleazy staff members.GINGER SNAPS: UNLEASHED incorporates a number of different genres into its story.
I should start by saying that the original "Ginger Snaps", a quirky and fun Canadian teenage werewolf film from director John Fawcett, is one of my favorite movies.
If the first film was like visiting a beautiful beach on the ocean, then this film is more like visiting a crummy local park near a lake- yeah, it's fun, but it ain't as much fun as the ocean.This time, Brigitte (the gorgeous Emily Perkins) has been living alone, after coming to a startling realization sometime after the first movie- the Monk's Hood Syrum she concocted doesn't cure the Lycanthrope "curse" like she thought it did, so when she swapped blood with her late sister Ginger, she infected herself with an incurable disease.
This just should have been entitled something with "Ghost" in it, as she was the main character in this attempt, rather than Ginger OR her sister Brigitte.As a stand alone movie, it was really quite entertaining.
That is what makes great horror films scary!Some of the humor that made the first Ginger Snaps such a great movie is still intact.
It is devoid of heart, human connections, a second metaphoric story lying underneath,sympathy, menstruation, plot formed by conversations...it is a conventional werewolf film, even just a conventional horror film in general, with lots o' action and gore, a spooky plot that is easily resolved with a nice done before ending (lock them in the cellar, that always works!) But, I for one, loved the original Ginger Snaps because it was unconventional, the characters were deep, the violence only when needed, a whole neat idea about women's periods being linked to werewolves, two strong female leads and an ending that was scary and sad at the same time.
Brigitte (Emily Perkins) is alone, after killing her sister Ginger (Katharine Isabelle), and injecting a substance called monkshood to delay the process of transformation in a werewolf.
This film incorporates both of these formulas into an excellent, engaging horror story.Ginger Snaps is probably the first great werewolf movie to have a worthy sequel, and if that wasn't enough they had to go and do it again a third time.
I know we have a Prequel, which I have yet to watch, but it seems to have little to do with the other two movies.Call me dark if you like, but just ONCE I'd like to see someone embrace their werewolf side as Ginger did and LIVE at the end.
In the sequel to the cult horror hit "Ginger Snaps", Brigitte(Emily Perkins) finds herself transforming into the same monster that killed her sister.
Ginger Snaps 2 is a worthy sequel to an outstanding werewolf film, and is worth a look..
Since we all know Ginger died in the first film, this is completely Brigitte's movie.
SpoilersIf I am not mistaking, "Ginger Snaps II: Unleashed" starts where the last film ended: Brigitte(Emily Perkins) has begun her transformation process into a werewolf and she is desperately trying to avoid turning into the monster her sister had turned into.