Review: The Ginger Snaps Trilogy – Standard Edition Blu-ray

The first Ginger Snaps is a true Cult classic horror film, which received a small UK theatrical release in the UK in 2001. Anyone who says they saw it then is a liar. Finding its audience in the VHS rental market with an audience sold on its snappy Buffy-ness, gore, and its feeling not like anything else, Ginger Snaps grew a small but devoted fanbase, spawned two underseen sequels, and, while still not massive, has gone on to receive the recognition it deserves, being given its flowers in Top Whatever lists in the likes of Time Out and Fangoria.

When Second Sight Films released the trilogy as a Limited Edition box set it swiftly sold out, but now those of us who didn’t get to get their claws into it then, have a second chance, with a Standard Edition being released on 25 May containing the discs and wealth of extras in a normal Amaray box.

Impressions:

• I am not a snob for box sets and slipcases and such, but a trilogy like this without a booklet and in a flippy-flappy plastic case does feel anticlimactic.
• All three films have stereo and surround audio options. We played the 5.1 for each and there were zero issues with any. The bass was good, the surrounds were active and dialogue was clear throughout.
• We did note that the audio for Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed was noticeably lower in volume when playing one film after the other and changing no settings.
• The video encoding was also flawless across the board. A lot of collectors won’t touch a Blu-ray now that 4K exists, but all three films looked great, no TV tweaks were required, the grain was retained without being distracting, and colour was crisp and balanced on all three films.
• The menus are very basic cookie-cutter designs, which, having grown up with and worked in the heyday of 3D motion menus and such, is still always a drag, especially on a film from the early 00s.
• This does not affect enjoyment, but the extras being presented in a horizontal scroll, instead of altogether on a menu to be picked from, is a pain.
• The backhanded compliment of the above is that it is only because there are soooo many extras that this is even an issue.
• There are heaps of extras, but none of the newly commissioned ones features any of the cast, which is always a huge shame and disappointment.

“United against life as we know it.”

Ginger Snaps

Gothy outcast teenage sisters, Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald, are doing their best to survive growing up in a dull Canadian suburb. But, at least the prowling Beast of Bailey Downs is eating the occasional dog, and they have their hobby of photographing each other in graphic staged suicide scenes to keep them out of trouble. UNTIL ONE NIGHT.

Ginger is attacked and bitten, and as she slowly starts to become more dangerous, Brigitte attempts to find a cure alongside the local drug dealer, while the girls’ mother (a scene-stealing Mimi Rogers begins to suspect something.

Tying the curse of lycanthropy to the curse of menstruation, and tying the transformation of turning wolf to Ginger turning into a woman interested in sex and now receiving attention from the opposite sex, is what makes Ginger Snaps interesting, but it is the craftsmanship of the film that elevates it and makes it special.

Both leads, Emily Perkins and Katherine Isabelle, are excellent and as convincing a pair of onscreen sisters as you will ever see. The fact that this teen horror film has a script written by a woman, Karen Walton, is abundantly clear and the difference in how well and realistically the girls interact with each other, their mother, and to everything that happens to them, feels absolutely authentic throughout.

This grounding, coupled with the assured and confident direction of John Fawcett, a totally late 90s/early 00s industrial rock soundtrack and grunge-y layered costume design, makes the film not only ring absolutely true but feel like a real time capsule of the time (minus the werewolves of course) ((unless you went to school on a Hellmouth)).

Some lines and attitudes are also very much of this time and will rightly make you wince, but Ginger Snaps will also make you maudlin for just how good films looked in this period – even cheap Canadian horror movies.

It doesn’t quite stick the landing, but Ginger Snaps is a “wicked” and delightfully tragic werewolf, teen movie, mashup, and a real cult classic.

“Get me all the sharp things you can find.”

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed:

We had never seen either of the sequels… Spoiler alert: mixed bag.

For Ginger Snaps 2, Katherine Isabelle is an unhelpfully commenting ghost (a la Skeet in Scream 6) for three or so scenes, while Emily Perkins returns and takes centre stage!

In the wake of the end of the first film, Brigitte finds herself dosing on wolfsbane to keep the werewolf infection at bay, while keeping her head down and drifting through Toronto. When she accidentally ODs in front of an interested chap one night, she wakes up to find herself banged up in a rehab facility.

Without her stash, Brigitte slowly begins to turn, but a young girl called Ghost (She-Hulk: Attorney at Law) may be able to help her escape before she snaps herself.

Fair play to this one, and part 3, for not just rehashing the first film again and again, but Unleashed is still a mostly forgettable (apart from the twist and a group yoga scene) spin-off.

Repurposing cutting and intravenous and drug use into its werewolf lore is quite clever, but Ginger Snaps 2 is a real slog to get through, not scary, and no fun. That this is Emily Perkins’ opportunity to be the lead makes that even more of a drag as she, and we, deserved better.

A curio that fails due to taking a big swing and cheaping out at the same time.

“Leach the witch!”

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning

It’s 1815 and BOT Fitz sisters are back! Properly! And there is a budget! So lots of cool werewolves! And an actual fort set to bloodlet in! Woo! I mean, awoooo!

We find the 19th century version of Ginger and Brigitte hiking through the snow, where they encounter a native american woman who gives them the necklaces they wear in Ginger Snaps and a cold Solo: A Star Wars Story sweat begins to wash over us. Luckily, that is where the nods and easter eggs end. However, the girls still talk as if they are from modern times, which is very odd as everyone else is “verily”-ing. It’s bizarre and gives the film a weird Army of Darkness vibe that is unnecessarily distracting.

Anyway, they take shelter in a nearby fort full of desperate men. The garrison sent out to trade and bring back food for the winter has not returned, and wendigos have encircled the camp, picking off the men one by one. Still, they allow Brigitte and a recently bitten Ginger inside. It is the first of many sanity-questioning decisions that are not explained in any way, but perhaps just not explaining is better than using a drug trip sequence as a lazy narrative device later on?

Anyway again, the girls take refuge in the fort full of fear and secrets, we try to fend off the monsters, someone in the camp may already be a monster, and there is a very confusing and underwritten, underbaked and underexplained prophecy.

At its best, Ginger Snaps Back is a surprisingly sexy bloody fusion of Ravenous and Rio Bravo, but EVERY TIME it just starts to heat up, and you think HERE WE GO, it just grinds to a halt again for twenty more minutes. The pacing constantly strangles the life out of the film, and with all the new production value and monsters, it feels like such a waste. Even an initially awesome finale has its legs cut out from under it by again hitting a shuddering stop and being hampered by a weak score that I don’t want to be a bastard and Google the composer of.

Once again, Ginger Snaps Back, like Unleashed, juuuuuust passes as a diverting curio, interesting to see once out, but not a film you will ever want to revisit.

The Ginger Snaps Trilogy: Blu-ray Standard Edition is available 25 May

Films:

Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning ★★☆☆

Discs:

Ginger Snaps

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed

Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning

The Ginger Snaps Trilogy Standard Edition Blu-ray is released on 25 May 2026.