Review of Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004) by Eduardo C — 15 Apr 2010

Boy this one just plain old didn't work. It came close at times, but ultimately falls just short.

Kudos for, once again, taking the series in a completely different direction from the previous encarnations. This is as different from the previous two as they are from eachother. The setting is interesting and the premise, a trader's outpost, low on food, under siege from werewolves is damn near perfect.

The problems, unforunately, abound. The direction is weak at best, and doesn't manage to wring out any tension or pathos. The writing is arbitrarily anachronistic which, along with the humor, doesn't work at all. The performances are universally mediocre to poor, including our two lovely leads who have been great before, doubtless will be again, but seem out of their depth here. The reliance on "native american" mumbo jumbo is a lazy cliché and there are many plot points unexplored and questions left unanswered. The ending is apropriately dark, but never generates the feelings it so desperately wants to, mostly because of the before mentioned plot holes and unexplored plot threads. That it works at all is due more to the previous Ginger Snaps films than anything in this one.

While I can't say I felt bad for watching it (as if I would, with Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle) it was certainly not a good film. It feels much more like a terribly missed opportunity than a worthwhile sequel/prequel/reimagining/whatever the fuck this is.