Too much of everything

Simply A Masterpiece

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

The original Ginger Snaps was a masterpiece, and the second was more hollow, but entertaining on its own right. However, this third one is at least weird.So, there were two movies, and they wanted to sell them in a DVD-box of a trilogy. So they needed a third one. However, the second movie ended in a way that's impossible to continue. I'm happy they at least admitted this, unlike other sequel-makers (like Highlander and The Crow). Instead of making a kind of a spin-off instead, however, they decided to make a prequel. Not a wise choice, and here is the result.We go back to the early 19th century, to the supposed beginning of the werewolf-curse. Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald from the originals had ancestors, also called Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald, who even looked exactly like them. At least that's the idea that generates the least retrospective plot holes. Still, upon meeting them in the first minute of the movie, you are already in a state of head-scratching. They come across a trader fort under siege by werewolves, and get stuck there with a bunch of weird people.So, after the first movie's ingenious metaphor of growing up, and the second one's less original, but still somewhat fresh conflict of one's environment sabotaging one's survival out of stupidity, this flick presents the much more overused horror trope of the isolated house, or fort in this case. This hurts the movie a lot, because it feels familiar, while Ginger Snaps supposed to be fresh, like something you haven't seen before.Humor is also gone. The first movie's sick and twisted humor was reduced in Unleashed to a few jokes, though those were truly perverted and still funny. This one lost it all.I wouldn't say it's a terrible movie. The effects finally got realistic (as the soul fades from the trilogy, the creatures get more and more solid). The chemistry between the sisters is still there, and it's still good. This is the saving grace of the movie, because all other characters are shallow. The hunter's potential is never used to its full, the fort's inhabitants have been used in millions of other movies, with only the captain and the truly entertaining priest showing something beyond the clichés. Admittedly, the shot that opens the climax, when Ginger lets the werewolves into the fort is the most beautiful scene you'll ever see in any Ginger Snaps film, but this is not enough, as a Ginger Snaps film should be way much more than a few cool scenes and loving sisterhood.The main issue, however, is the way this movie treats the originals. When I watched this, I felt it was made by people who never saw the first movie. So now there is a curse that strikes down ten generations later? The whole werewolf problem in the first movie was a result of bad luck! It had nothing to do with the family being cursed! Also, to fill out the runtime, the sisters get a new quest to save the bitten Ginger: kill the werewolf who bit her. Then the curse will be gone. What??? In the original, the werewolf that infected Ginger was dead within five minutes. And in Unleashed, Brigitte carried an infection she got from Ginger, whom she killed in the first movie. Based on the logic of Beginning, at least the sequel shouldn't have even happened, but even the original is questionable. And why do ancestors of the original sisters look exactly like them? Why do they have the same name? Why doesn't Ginger transform like in the original? Why does this 'curse' strike only almost two centuries later?All in all, this movie is acceptable only if watched BEFORE the original. It will still raise plenty of questions, but less than if you see them in the convenient order. It could work if it wasn't set in the universe of Ginger Snaps. This way, however, it is like a family of police members having a criminal child.

The camera work and direction and editing were well done, however the two characters and dialog were completely unbelievable. Terrible dialog and diction that belongs in the 21st century. They really needed a language and diction coach, unless they were going for the time-traveling spoiled teenagers angle. I fully expected some twenty- something dudes to show up with a six pack and a pickup truck to save the day.Synopsis: Two girls, lost in the Canadian woods, come across a destroyed native village, where an old woman speaks a cryptic prophecy and hands them necklaces. A handsome young native hunter shows up to guide them to a trading post, where they meet more stereotypical characters in the priest, the old doctor, several disposable "red-shirts", the misogynistic lieutenant and kindly commanding officer who has dirty secrets regarding the werewolves that have been trying to wipe them out for several months. Racial tensions just happen to come to a climax, while everyone is having a nice dinner, and profound words are spoken regarding equality, and the fight is over.Later that night, one sister in her nightie (yes, a nightie) follows the sound of crying to a locked up boy who bites her, and of course tears off her necklace for the commander to find later, then escapes into the fort to cause several moments of drama and moral conflicts between the soldiers. The sister starts to turn, and in the midst of a werewolf attack (which started when she opened the gate), everyone ignores the obviously sick girl, the commander kills to protect his secret that apparently almost everyone knows already-that the werewolf kid is the commander's son.The CO feels guilty over his wolfie son and shoots him, but protects the girls. When the girls are kicked out of the fort, they wander through the woods, until they meet another native from the fort who guides them to a cave, where they meet again the hunter and the old woman who sends Bridgette on a hallucination/prophecy trip which is obviously misleading the audience.Bridgette wakes to find the old woman dead, wolfie sister gone, and the handsome hunter telling us all and Bridgette what to maybe expect in the next few scenes. Leading her back to the fort, he betrays her, because the moral here is that handsome boy doesn't mean nice boy. The dramatic and waffling tension over who is good/evil, sane/insane, moral/immoral etc continues as they countdown for the wolfie sister to return with her pack, and wipe out everyone in the name of avenging all the wrongs done to her. Oh. So they were all evil and needed to die? Just the sisters escape, as the fort burns down.Touching ending with the sisters once again swearing "together forever". I'd watch your back Bridgette. She looks hungry.

I haven't seen the first two films in this series, but that is unimportant as this third film takes place 200 years before the first one.I am always drawn to films about werewolves and vampires. The shapeshifters have always intrigued me and the overt sensuality of the films is a plus. I say sensuality, as there is not sexuality in the roles of the two sisters, Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigette (Emily Perkins). They just exude sensuality in their every move and manner of dress.Other than the two stars, and some Native American legend, this is pretty much just the same werewolf film you have ever seen in a different package.I am now ready to watch the first two.

Trying to be clever with a double meaning title, somebody named this horror movie after a cookie, which suggested that it would be a horror satire. It isn't. Better than average for a Sci-Fi channel offering, the movie actually is pretty adept at telling its story, which finds some new slants on the werewolf theme.The acting is above par from this cast of unknowns, who all make the story interesting and believable. The scripting gives both logical foundation for what happens later, yet darts into some surprising directions you might not expect. Although there's a pretty high body count, and the identities of who's going to get it are usually obvious, the story is unique enough to make that problem not matter much.There are several subplots that are weaved together rather professionally, and the relationship of the sisters and how it relates to the everything else that is happening is told well and acted out well. The story is ripe with legends and character interaction that keep things moving along at a brisk pace for the most part.Minor problems: the clichéd cleric guy who spouts out "Witch! Witch!" accusations; a very poorly written character, and the soldier boy bullies at the fort; also a cop-out cliché to set up some unnecessary conflicts. People who find themselves in a life-and-death situation pull together, not apart, as depicted here.Low budget, but usually good. A pretty decent flick for fans of werewolf and zombie movies.