Red-Headed Werewolf

A prequel (but third in the series), Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004) snaps back in time to show where the Fitzgerald sister’s lycanthropic (sorry – word of the day calendar) lineage began its bloody tale/tail/trail.

Wandering on horseback through the snowy woods in the early 19th Century (yes, they had snow back then), Ginger and Brigitte come across the aftermath of a werewolf rampage with blood and gunk everywhere. They’re found by an Indian who takes them to the improvised-fortified Fort Baily, a trading outpost (d.b.a., Northern Region Trading Company). That there are deep claw marks on the outer walls suggests something was trying to get in without permission.

The fort is occupied by a handful of men, including a doctor who has a practical approach to determining if you’re a werewolf, an uptight military guy who doesn’t brush his teeth but wants to shoot everybody in the face, and a preacher who wants to burn the girls at the stake because they’re tempting to the flesh (duh).

Aside from all that stuff, life at Fort About To Be Eaten just doesn’t seem right. This is probably due to the nightly werewolf attacks. The preacher, wanting to purge the fort of its sins, lets a werewolf in and traps it with the sisters. Barely escaping, Ginger, the hot red-head sister, is later bitten by a child werewolf hidden in the fort’s happy walls. Then the real fun starts.

More intense confrontations with the stressed-out fort dwellers, more werewolf attacks (i.e., neck-biting/face-ripping), and the growing of fur where there was no fur before. The final werewolf siege is pretty dang hairy (ahem), but it’s the showdown between Ginger – now well on her way to needing a shave – and the bully army guy that’s the icing on this hair cake.

A cool original take on the werewolf theme. And hey, the werewolves themselves don’t look like Halloween rental costumes. If they were gonna screw up this flick, that would’ve been the point to do so.