Ginger Snaps Back
New reviews have been few and far between on HoC lately (read: nonexistent). This is partly because we've not seen that many new films, but mostly because lately we've been watching lots and lots of TV (CSI, Bones, Lost, Doctor Who, Smallville, etc) and if I was to review every episode of every show I watch none of you would ever forgive me.
Nevertheless, there are a few films we've seen that I want to comment on. First on my list is Ginger Snaps Back, the third entry in the Ginger Snaps franchise (for more information on which read my review of Ginger Snaps Unleashed).
Ginger Snaps Back demonstrates that even a second sequel can bring something original to the franchise party. In this case the story takes place 100 years prior to the first two films (yes, it's a prequel) and claims to set in motion a cycle of events which will inevitably (or has already been seen to) repeat itself.
That part isn't so successful. I like that they brought both the girls back (Katharine Isabelle was sorely underused in the second film - which couldn't really be helped since her character was actually dead), but they over-egged the mystical cross-generational pudding a little. As a result the ending - designed to establish some sort of spiritual link between this and the first two films - is pretty anticlimactic.
However, the rest of the film I liked. Given what was presumably a very small budget the period setting is gorgeous, and also suitably grungy (period grunge has, I think, finally replaced the pristine Merchant Ivory period mise-en-scene, and about time).
There are also a few creative twists and turns in the script. What could have been little more than a siege drama with werewolves is given a lot more meat on its bones because the writers - and this is a lesson a despairingly large number of writers should take to heart - took the time to build their characters and make them interesting.
Die-hard horror fans might complain about the lack of real scares - this isn't a Friday The 13th popcorn and beer night in - but the werewolf effects are better than ever and there are some entertaining deaths for viewers to tuck into.
Overall, a satisfying finale for the trilogy which manages to neither run the well dry, nor contradict what has already gone before. If only all franchise producers managed to maintain this level of creativity and imagination.
George Lucas - are you listening? Everyone at Twentieth Century Fox - are you listening too?
