After the explosively entertaining "Ginger Snaps", I had some doubts that the sequels could live up to the original. But in this one, we are greeted to a wonderful film picking up exactly where the first one left off: now with Bridget trying to stop herself from becoming a werewolf, and escaping from the rehab center she has been placed in.

If you find cutting and self-mutilation to be disgusting, then this is the film you want to either see or avoid. The opening credits are over a scene of Bridget in the bathtub, cutting herself to pieces. She continues to cut herself throughout the movie, as well as give herself injections.

The scenery is fantastic, as rehabs, hospitals and insane asylums are always great places for horror films if you know how to film them. The makers of this film know exactly what they're doing. Add secret passageways and you're set.

The new cast is also wonderful, easily making up for Ginger having a very small role. The cast now has several male staffers working in an all-girl rehab center, leading to such activities as trading sexual favors for drugs. But most importantly is a new character named "Ghost" (presumably because she's almost like an albino) who is fascinated with the occult and death and befriends Bridget after finding out she might be a werewolf.

Some interesting plot twists happen I can't reveal here, and as the wolf blood begins to overtake the human blood, things heat up. And then another werewolf shows up to try and mate.

Oh, heck. Just watch the movie. These guys have taken a worn-out horror staple (lycanthropy) and added such a new dimension to it that it's almost like an entirely new invention. Excelsior!

This should have been entitled, "Ghost-Snaps." Where was Ginger. Yeah, sure, okay she died in the first movie, but c'mon! Rename the movie or something. Jeez! They could have, at least, allowed her more screen time in the capacity in which she -was- utilized.

This was dark and edgy; as much so as the first. Emily Perkins carries her role as Brigitte quite well and with some beautiful style. Most of the major plot elements still intact, this attempt runs seamlessly. Once you discover what Ghost really IS and what she has been up to with her Aunt, you begin to see the movie in a totally different light.

On the second viewing, you see the treachery and the beguiling in those cunning little eyes, but on the first viewing, we knew there was something up with Ghost and her aunt. This was not quite as clever nor was it as fresh as the first, but then again, it was as good as it could have been without Katharine Isabelle.

That is in no way saying that Emily Perkins isn't delightful. She is bright, beautiful and capable. I look forward to her future endeavors with great anticipation. This just should have been entitled something with "Ghost" in it, as she was the main character in this attempt, rather than Ginger OR her sister Brigitte.

As a stand alone movie, it was really quite entertaining. There were some nice plot twists and strong characterization. However, as a sequel to Ginger Snaps, I found it was somewhat lacking.

It rates a 7.5/10 on the "B" scale.

That's a 5.1/10 on the "A" scale from...

the Fiend :.

Some years ago, when I watched "Ginger Snaps," I thought it was one of the best werewolf movies that I had seen in a long time. So perhaps it seems pretty strange that I've avoided watching this first sequel - but I've seen enough disappointing sequels that somehow I was reluctant to risk spoiling my memory of the first movie. Well, I finally bit (pun intended) and watched "Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed." It didn't exactly spoil my memory of the first movie. It's not a bad movie. But it's nowhere near as good as the original.

I found the first movie had an interesting way of approaching Ginger's transformation into a werewolf, setting it in the context of female puberty and the beginnings of menstruation. In a weird sort of way it was a coming of age movie. It was a fresh way of approaching the whole werewolf idea. That was all missing in "Unleashed." This is a much straighter take on the concept. Ginger, of course, is gone - although Katharine Isabelle does take up the role again as a sort of ghost, I guess, who periodically visits Bridgette. Honestly, while it was nice to include her, the presence of Ginger even in this limited way wasn't really necessary. Emily Perkins is again in the role of Bridgette. She does well with it. She's now being stalked by a werewolf, and she's attempting to prevent her own transformation, injecting herself with monkshood - but it only seems to delay the process, and there is a gradual transformation taking place. Things get worse when she ends up in an institution for drug addicts, and is not allowed to have her "medicine."

All that was working well enough. Not as imaginative an approach as the original, but Perkins was doing well carrying the story, and there were enough edge of your seat moments and things that made you jump to make this a decent horror movie. But things do fall apart just a little bit. I personally did not like the character of Ghost, played by Tatiana Maslany. She just didn't appeal to me, and she was too front and centre in the movie, when really Bridgette was the only character in the whole movie that I particularly cared about. One somewhat irritating character aside, this movie did (mostly using the setting of the rehab facility) try to inject some humour into the story. The original was a very successful blend of humour and horror, but this one wasn't able to pull that off. Most of those attempts revolved around Dr. Brookner (Patricia Idlette) - some sort of psychologist or psychotherapist at the centre. But, to me, they didn't come across as funny. Silly more than anything, and forced - often without much connection to the heart of the story. The ending didn't really resolve too much, although it did set up another potential sequel. Strangely, though, the third movie in the series was a prequel of sorts - "Ginger Snaps Back" (which I haven't seen) being set in the 19th century, but still focusing on Ginger and Bridgette.

As I said, this isn't a bad movie, and it has some good scenes and a good performance from Emily Perkins. But overall, I'd still call it mediocre at best. (4/10)