Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning

Director: Grant Harvey Grant Harvey

Overview

"Bridget (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) are back in Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, a 19th century prequel to the first two successful entries in the Ginger Snaps film series. The film finds the doomed sisters wandering the wilderness when they stumble across a broken down outpost whose supplies have been cut off for nearly two months. Sadly, while they've been waiting, they've also been dying -- not of starvation, but from werewolf attacks. While Bridget recovers from an unfortunate encounter with a bear trap, the two lone women in the camp are faced with growing hostility stemmed from the fire and brimstone preacher (Hugh Dillon from the Canadian punk rock band the Headstones) and a dangerous secret that lands Ginger back in werewolf land once again. With tensions rising as the bloodthirsty creatures try to break down the fort walls, how will the group react when one of its own starts becoming the one thing that they want to keep out?"

Product Details

Release Date:	09/07/2004
UPC:	0031398162773
Original Release:	2004
Rating:	R
Source:	LIONSGATE - 600000-AEC LGE
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:34:00
Sales rank:	26,987

Special Features

Closed Caption;Deleted scenes with optional commentary; Director commentary; Director's video diary; "Wolfboy" special effects make-up and stunt rehearsal featurette; "Blood, Guts and Fire" death scene featurette; Production design walk-through; Costume design; Behind the scenes sneak peek; Fun on the set featurette; 5.1 Dolby Digital audio; 2.0 Dolby stereo audio; 16:9 widescreen version; English and Spanish subtitles

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Emily Perkins	Brigitte
Katharine Isabelle	Ginger
Nathaniel Arcand	The Hunter
JR Bourne	James
Hugh Dillon	Reverend Gilbert
Grant	Actor

Technical Credits

Stephen Massicotte

Christina Ray

Grant Harvey	Director,Producer
Steven Hoban	Producer
Stephen Massicotte	Screenwriter
Christina Ray	Screenwriter

Editorial Reviews

After the strange disappointment that was Ginger Snaps 2, the series semi-successfully shifted its gears with this prequel
evisit of the first film set back in the 19th century. Working more like a Grimm's Fairy Tale than a straight-up horror flick, Grant Harvey's directorial debut is a stunning piece to soak up, realized with an eye that his Canadian sensibilities bring to his country's gorgeous setting. Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins return to their roles admirably, although Perkins does tend to get the short end of the character stick in this one. The pair injects small amounts of modern flair into this period piece that act as a nice bridge between the film's universes, but are more than off-putting when certain contemporary profanities are uttered. Eventually, what makes Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning work best is the setup -- a colonial outpost besieged by werewolves. Add a little bit of bloody Indian mysticism in there and you have a tasty fright flick that's finely executed with an ensemble cast that's more than capable of handling the material. Just like most werewolf flicks (and the rest of the series), the creature effects supplied by the respected KNB Effects team do come off as a little goofy, with the four-legged beasts resembling circus performers with stilts for front legs (probably because they are!). Thankfully, they are hidden well by some quick cuts that work well here, but tend to be a little much when thrown in for flashback reasons. Unlike previous films, the feminist slant is played down, as are most elements of the cunning use of black comedy, replaced instead by atmosphere and in-your-face creep-outs that are certainly effective, but just a tad shy of what drew fans to the original film.