Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed DVD Review:

It seems that the newest trend in horror films is to first kill all preconceived notions of the creature which the film is about. The characters
in the film almost always seem to make reference to the fact that vampires, werewolves, or any other well known monster, is not like you have seen it in
the movies. Then they proceed to reinvent a classic creature, keeping what elements they choose, and tossing out some well known folklore. The only
problem with this technique is that the films usually all end up the same anyways, as hard as they try and reinvent the monsters.

While Ginger Snaps worked at both recreating its monster, while at the same time being original, Unleashed spends more of its time reinventing the film, and focuses less on the creature. This makes for an unpredictable film, something rarely achieved in horror films these days. Some time after killing her sister the werewolf, Unleashed starts with
Brigitte struggling to fight off her tendencies towards the same. Despite her attempts to kill off the virus with the drug monkshood, she slowly continues to change, as well as see the dead ghost of her sister, Ginger.

There’s also a problem with another werewolf hunting Brigitte down with the hopes of mating with her. The plot thickens, as they say, when Brigitte narrowly escapes an attack from the werewolf, only to be picked up and taken to a drug rehab center.
This serves as a problem in more than one way. Not only is she kept from taking the drug which slows the process of her change, but it also keeps her in one place, allowing the werewolf to hunt her down much easier.

Ginger Snaps 2 breaks even more boundaries of the horror genre than the original did. For most of the film there are no creatures, and no deaths.
Instead it takes it’s time, building slowly, not allowing any real action until the third act. This is a risky move for a film in a genre usually watched for pure entertainment, but it ends up adding a quality of suspense and creepiness which wouldn’t have been achieved otherwise.

There are also minimal shots of the werewolf, and more of Brigitte transforming, which is the area where the makeup artists definitely perfected, as opposed to the werewolf, which seems a little mechanical at times. The last way that Unleashed refuses to conform to standards that the genre seem to hold, is the characters within them. They are all odd and slightly disturbing, especially including our hero, who is inevitably turning into a monster throughout the film. Most horror movies have the prerequisite beautiful people who will have sex and then die. While Unleashed has many characters die, none of them are large breasted women running through the woods. Instead, each character dies despite the fact that they are very intelligent, slightly admirable, while flawed humans.
With the slew of bad sequels to horror film coming out in theaters, it isn’t surprising that a low budget film like this would take a risk, and rise above all of the blockbuster bombs.

I would recommend this film before any horror film which has made a killing at the box office in the past six months.

The DVD transfer looks great, complimenting the fantastic cinematography which adds a great deal to the film. The sound is also surprisingly good,
with a subtle, yet effective score. There are a few special features, including deleted scenes, and some storyboard art, but it isn’t enough to
get excited about. The menus also seem to be greatly lacking, considering how good the actual film looks.

Despite the ways that the DVD is lacking, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, leaves me hard pressed to find many reasons not to rent the film.

Ryan Izay

Site Contents Copyright© The Z Review, unless used with permission.This site has no intention to infringe on the rights of the film owners of Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed and intellectual copyright holders of the movies mentioned herein & hold copyright over the movie, characters, merchandise & storyline.