The Ginger Snaps Trilogy — The Ginger Snaps Trilogy( Blu-Ray Boxset)
Released in the year 2000 the original Ginger Snaps was somewhat of a game changer- in both werewolf films and teen coming-of-age horror dramas. It centred around two death-obsessed teen sisters- who one night encounter lycanthrope, with one of them coming out the worse for wear. The film cleverly blended gore, dark humour, and teen movie satire- with moments of brutality and touching emotionality. In 2004 it was followed by two sequels Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning- which featured returning cast members, and unlike many horror sequels are fairly well thought-of. Here from Second Slight Films is a new Ltd edition Blu-ray box set of the trilogy- featuring a great selection of new and archive extras, a one hundred and twelve-page inlay booklet & five art cards- all packaged in a ridged slipcase.
So, the first disc in the set takes in the original Ginger Snaps film from 2000. It’s a Canadian production and was directed/ co-written by Edmonton, Alberta, Canada John Fawcett- with his writing partner on the film been Halifax, Nova Scotia Karen Walton. Fawcett has an impressive (to date) fifty-three credits to his name- taking in forty-nine TV credits- be they series episodes, or TV movies. His three features take in teen crime drama The Boys Club (1996), the film to hand, and ghostly psychological horror The Dark (2005). Ms Walton has sixteen writing credits to her name- taking in TV series episodes, TV movies, and the second Ginger Snaps.
The film focuses on teen sisters- Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) who’s just turned sixteen, and her year younger sister Brigitte (Emily Perkins). Both girls are very close, and both are rather death-obsessed outsiders in high school- with the credits taking the girls disturbing & gory re-enactments of deaths & suicides, which after they play, we see they are being shown in a high school classroom- with their teacher left rather flabbergasted & cross. The girls live with their quirkily overbearing mother Pamela (Mimi Rogers), and their more subdued but often eye-rolling father Henry (John Bourgeois).
Both girls are often ostracised /mocked by fellow students, and at home, their henpecking mother is often embarrassing the pair openly discussing why they haven’t started menstruating. Meanwhile, something is killing dogs brutally in the neighbourhood, and we often get to see the gory aftermath of these killings.
One night, after being told not to go out by their parents, the girls are in a local park- Ginger looks down at herself, realizing she has suddenly started her first period. Then all of a sudden something huge rushers through & grabs her- brutal ripping at her body, as it throws it around like a life-size doll. Brigitte rushes into the fray- bashing the on-all-fours man wolf away- rushing off it runs into a road to be hit by the van of living in a large greenhouse older teen Sam played by Kris Lemche- who a few years later appeared in the ahead-of-it’s time big brother horror thriller My Little Eye. The beast is left manged & seemingly dead.
The girls rush back home- with Ginger’s deep claw scratches seemingly healing as they watch. And from here Ginger slowly but surely starts to change over the next days/ weeks- moving more towards her werewolf self. She hooks up with a frat boy, giving him more than he expects, there’s folk killed & dumped in freezes to be later hacked out with fingers left behind, teachers brutally ripped up, with the tension & blood/ gore level notching up as we go along.
Both Isabelle & Perkins make for believable siblings- the first fitting her name is redhaired, and is the more outspoken of the two. With the second being more frail, timid, and unsure of herself. With each given a role to get their teeth into. The only other memorable/ more drawn character here is Sam/ Lemche- who defriends Brigitte. Rogers gets some nicely cringe-inducing lines early on, and later she rather comes into her own.
The film aptly manages to balance its teen drama/coming-of-age elements- with the horror, and often very dark humour side of things. It plays around the one hour & forty-eight-minute mark, and normally this would be a tad too long for this type of thing- but it never outstays its welcome moving towards a very bloody & kind of tragic resolve. All in all, Ginger Snaps stands as one the better teen horror films- with its darkly comedic, at points icky/cringe-inducing edges really working well.
Extras on this first disc we get a good mix of new & archive stuff. So first for the new stuff- we get a commentary track from Mary Beth McAndrews and Terry Mesnard who are from the Scared For Life Podcast. They begin by talking about the cold open- which initially presents a normal suburban scene- as a mother sweeping up leaves, and a young child is playing in its sandpit- it suddenly finds something bloody & red. They talk about the way the sister's basement bedroom looks like a prison cell with beaded curtains- with their beds looking like they are from a 19th-century asylum. They discuss how from the credits onwards the film rejects the concept of how women are meant to be presented. They chat about Mimi Rogers portrayal of the pair's mother, and how she plays it like a drag performance of a 90’s mom. They discuss the connection between the female period & the werewolf cycle. Later on, they point out great moments of great fiery examples of female femininity from Isabelle as Ginger, and when feminine tropes are weaponized by both girls. They point out moments of witty dialogue, and we find out it took seven to eight hours for Isabelle's prosthetics on. It’s an okay track I guess- though much of it is down to commenting what’s on screen- so places it’s a little tiresome.
Otherwise, on the new side, we get the following new on-screen interviews. A Blood Red Moon (26.44) with director John Fawcett. What Are You Wereing?( 24.39) with producer Steve Hoban. The Art of Horror (20.53) with Storyboard Artist Vincenzo Natali.
Moving onto the archive side we find the following: two commentary tracks- one with director John Fawcett, and the other with writer Karen Walton. Canadian Uncanny: Stacey Abbott on Ginger Snaps. Ginger Snaps: Blood, Teeth and Fur. Growing Pains: Puberty in Horror Films. The Making of Ginger Snaps. Cast Auditions and Rehearsals. Deleted scenes with optional director and writer commentaries. Production design work. Creation of the Beast. Trailers and TV Spots
Moving onto the second disc, and we have Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed from the year 2004. This was directed by Brett Sullivan, and it was written by Karen Walton & Megan Martin- who has only one future length to her name romantic comedy The Right Kind Of Wrong (2013), though she had nine TV credits. Sullivan has thirty credits to his name- though are mainly TV series, with his only other feature-length credit being The Chair (2007) which was a supernatural thriller.
The film picks sometime after the first film- and focuses solely on Brigitte- who is once again played by Emily Perkins. She has lycanthrope disease running through her veins- though she hasn’t started to change. She keeps this back by injecting wolfsbane into her arms, just like a heroin addict. When we meet her, she is moving from place to place- trying to avoid something that is following her. She’s put up in a low-rent hotel cutting herself, and writing down how long it takes to heal- to indicate how far she is away from the change.
One night she lands up passing out in the snow- she wakes up in a hospital bed, in a locked room. And we find out she is in a female drug rehab/ psychiatric facility- as they believe she is a junky. She of course is now somewhat panicking as they taken away her wolfsbane- and she is counting down the days/ hours until she fully changes.
In the facility, she befriends blond pre-teen Ghost (Tatiana Maslany) who is somewhat quirky, as well as a little manic- half living in a fantasy world of comic books. Also in the facility is Tyler (Eric Johnson) a male nurse who is giving the patients their hits for sexual favors- and he has his eyes on Brigitte.
There is less dark comedy/ bad taste quirkiness in this film- been more of a grim drama-come-horror film. The deep snow-bound locations are filmed well, and add to the tone of the film. As the film goes on we get some quite brutal gore, oh and there is also a fair bit of skin cutting too.
Acting wise the cast is all well placed & realized- Perkins really comes into her own her- moving from a worried junky to an empowered & tough young woman. The film plays at the one hour & thirty-four-minute mark- nicely build up pace & tension as it goes along, moving towards a nicely twisted resolve. So, all in all, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed is a worthy sequel- it nicely continues the first film story in a believable/ not contrived way, as well as adding in its own cold & grim edges.
On the extras side of this disc, we get two new things- two interviews. Girl, Interrupted (24.19) Brett Sullivan. The Bloody Lunar Cycle (20.37) with writer Megan Martin. With each giving a good insight on how/ why they came to the project.
On the archive side of things, we get a director's commentary. Behind the Scenes. Deleted scenes with optional director commentary. Audition tapes, and storyboards
On the third and final disc, we have Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, which is like the second film from 2004. It’s set back in the 19th century with both sisters back together again- with the film coming off as a blend of drama, fort set western, and horror film.
It was directed by Thompson, Manitoba, Canada-born Grant Harvey- to date, he has five features to his name, and thirty-eight TV series episodes/ etc. His features go from breakdown-on-a-roundtrip comedy American Beer (1996), action comedy with Tom Green & Crispen Glover Freezer Burn: The Invasion Of Laxdale (2008), and supernatural-tinged thriller How We Ended Us (2023). Though also he was the assistant director on the original Ginger Snaps
The film kicks off with Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) & Brigitte (Emily Perkins) in the middle of a snowbound forest- coming across a blood and ripped teepee. They panic due to a sudden movement, and Brigitte’s leg gets caught in a bear trap- along comes half-bred tracker Hunter (Nathaniel Arcand)- who pulls her out of the trap. He takes the pair to a nearby fort which on its outside has huge claw rips on its walls- and you guessed it’s constantly under attack by werewolves.
In the fort, we find stern, staunch, and side-boarded holy man Reverend Gilbert (Hugh Dillon), Twitchy, sweaty and balding medical man Doc Muphy (Matthew Walker), and sadistic soldier James( JR Bourne). With the fort been led up by moustached, kind-if-slightly mysterious Wallace Rowlands (Tom McCamus).
Once again there is really little or no humour here- with the whole thing coming off a relatively gritty blend of drama, western, and horror film. Unfortunately, the plot/ unfold of the whole thing is fairly predictable- sure it’s nice to see Isabelle & Perkins, and they play off well together- though you can pretty much figure out what will happen.
The blood/ gore quota picks up over the film's one hour & thirty-four-minute mark- with your standard deep blood claw slicing’s, a few gunshots to the head, and the best-looking werewolves of the series. Though I’d say the most memorable scenes come from when a leach is put onto someone cursed with lycanthrope, and it starts to balloon/ mutate.
Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning is a passable enough sequel - and certainly better than a lot of third films in horror franchises. It’s just a little bit predictable, and unlike the other two films- doesn’t really do anything special or original with its runtime- been a fairly standard period drama, western, horror blend.
On the final disc on the new extras side, we get two interviews. Snap! (22.55) director Grant Harvey. Girls on Film (19.58) producer Paula Devonshire. And once again we get a good insight into how/ why they came to the project, and what they recall from their part in the film. Then on the archive side, we get a commentary track from director Grant Harvey. The Making of Ginger Snaps Back. Deleted scenes with optional director commentary. Grant Harvey’s Video Diaries.
In summing up the extras over the three discs- there is a good selection of new stuff, and worthy archive extras. I guess the only big miss here is there are no interviews with either of the two leads, as it would have been great to get their input/ feelings about each of the films, and what they think about the trilogy twenty years on. The prints for each of the films all look full of clarity & depth- but you really expect that, as all three films are(relatively) recent.
In finishing The Ginger Snaps Trilogy is another classy, well realized and presented boxset from the folks at Second Sight. And I’d say if you are looking for something a little different/ more edgy in the werewolf genre- then this is the boxset for you.