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Travelling through the 19th Century Canadian wilderness are
sisters Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald, survivors from a shipwreck
which killed their parents. The two young women come across
an abandoned Indian settlement where an old woman tells them
to "Kill the boy, or one sister will kill the other." When
Brigitte gets caught in an animal trap it seems that she will
be attacked by a wolf, but a Red Indian brave calls it off
and takes the two women to a nearby fort where soldiers, Indians
and shipwrecked sailors have banded together in an unhappy
alliance. Suspicion reigns during the day, and at night there
is an onslaught from werebeasts. Then Ginger is attacked and
bitten by a child in the stages of transformation. The wild
dreams and visions come and the girls realise that Ginger's
metamorphosis is only a matter of time...
You
can count on one hand the number of sequels which improve
on the film originals. Ginger Snaps Back isn't one
of them, but it does improve on the previous follow-up, Ginger
Snaps Unleashed.
Back acts as a prequel, telling the story of the girls'
first connection to the bloodcurse in a setting of woods,
wolves and werebeasts. Many of the fort's survivors are understandably
paranoid, and their different walks of life makes for believable
conflict. Even the annoying 'holier-than-thou' priest eventually
gets his comeuppance, though not in the manner you would expect.
On the downside, only a throwaway one-liner half-heartedly
attempts to explain that the original English and French settlers
brought the curse from Europe. But why do the beasts just
congregate in that area? And where have they been up to that
point? Who was the first Canadian werewolf? Perhaps we need
a Ginger Snaps Further Back to explore these queries.
That
aside, there's far more pros than cons to watching this movie.
The sisters are acted with feeling throughout, and the Indian
brave proves to be a multidimensional watchable character.
His companion wild wolf is used simply but to great effect.
If I were faced with a wolf which snarled with that much open
ferocity, I'm sure my heart would stop, if only for a moment.
But it's nice to see because it's natural.
Ty
Power
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