Werewolves

Werewolf of London



Released in 1935, Werewolf of London was the first werewolf “talkie” werewolf film ever made. It was one of the first films in the Universal monster series, and while not as good as The Wolf Man, it still holds up pretty well today.

Like a lot of the thrillers of the day, it relies heavily on dialogue and mood. And it has some great dialogue, such as, “You are foolish, but without fools there would be no wisdom". But it’s technical aspects were very good for it’s time too. Particularly the way the transformation sequences were handled, and a very clever telephone montage.

Ginger Snaps and Ginger Snaps: Unleashed




Ginger Snaps: Unleashed another werewolf movie, is the sequel to Ginger Snaps, part of the recent trend of what I call "alternative horror", horror flicks featuring the alternative aesthetic, made outside the Hollywood system and often involving twisted takes on traditional horror material; a subgenre that was kicked off by the success of The Blair Witch Project. These films, part Hammer Horror, part Heathers play equally well in the arthouse and the drive-in.

Without spoiling too much, the original, Ginger Snaps, was kind of like a modern take on the camp classic I Was A Teenage Werewolf, but instead of serving up a cheesy Teen Wolf comedy romp, Ginger Snaps went straight for the jugular (pardon the pun), dealing head on with the concept of lycanthropy as a metaphor for the changes of puberty. But, here the Michael Landon role is a teenaged girl named Ginger, which reinforces the metaphor as she and her younger sister struggle to deal with the changes wrought on their relationship by the onset of Ginger's "curse". And the thrills just pile up as teen angst gives way to adult horror.

Ginger Snaps: Unleashed picks up where the first movie left off. Ginger's sister Brigitte, now infected, struggles daily to keep from being overwhelmed by the curse. Eventually her strange peccadilloes land her in a rehab clinic where she is forced to deal with a host of unseemly characters, including Tyler, a perverted intern and a hostile ward of the hospital called Ghost. To make matters worse, Brigitte is being pursued by another werewolf, which makes her and everyone in the hospital a sitting duck. With the help of Ghost, Brigitte plans to escape to the wilderness, and an inevitable showdown with the beast out there, as well as the beast inside herself.

Sequels, almost by definition, can't be as groundbreaking as their predecessors, but Ginger Snaps: Unleashed covers enough new territory to make it a worthy successor, and a solid standalone feature. The increased production values may in fact put it in the rare category of sequels that outdo their originals. Despite Hollywood's slick silver bullets like Underworld, Canada's Ginger Snaps series alongside the recent UK film Dog Soldiers proves that the werewolf mythos are alive and well in the 21st Century.