Reviews

First time horror writers often get stuck somewhere in between the thriller-genre and the slasher-genre. To get their movies made, they have to make their scripts distinctly one or the other.

Cry Wolf is a movie that doesn't make compromises. In it, a young prep school student hooks up with a clique of kids who are obsessed with scaring and fooling each other. The kids eventually get bored with their own games and take it to the next level. They try to turn the murder of a townie girl into an urban legend about a serial killer who will surely strike again.

Cry Wolf neatly threads the needle between thriller and splatter flick. At every turn, the audience must question which killings, actions and emails are real and which are part of the elaborate hoax the school kids construct.

The directing is stellar, although to maintain a PG-13 rating, many of the deaths are not as gruesome as some horror fans might like. And the acting is believable, although the characters aren't as fleshed-out as you might like. Similarly, the plot seems extremely tight, until you lave the theater, at which point you'll probably question some of the coincidences that came into play.

But while you're in your seat, you'll probably be too interested in the movie to get wrapped up in the details. Cry Wolf is simply one of the best genre movies to come out in a long time. I recommend it.

What made the original Ginger Snaps a classic horror movie is the way it used the genre to explore universal themes. It offered a unique take on sibling rivalry, death, suicide, puberty, feminism, sexuality and love. Most poignantly, it gave us Ginger, a complex character with a genuine hatred of herself and everything around her.

Ginger Snaps also introduced Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins, two talented, beautiful and utterly believable actresses. So while I was a bit put off by the premise of Ginger Snaps Back, I was excited for the chance to watch the girls reprise their roles.

Ginger Snaps Back is a very watchable movie. It re-imagines the sisters in a different era, which is interesting. It's creepy. The special effects are much better than in the original. The climax is very cool. And the sisters are both perfectly portrayed. Unfortunately, when it was over, I wasn't thinking about my own mortality. I was just thinking, "Hey, cool werewolves."

I was also irritated by the dialog. Most of the time, the characters speak in stilted sentences appropriate to the era. But occasionally, Ginger drops a pithy one liner or a curse word which seems completely out of place.

The supporting cast was filled with stereotypes. The harsh minister and the sage native American hunter were especially flat.

Ginger Snaps Back gives you two things. An entertaining werewolf movie. And an excuse to watch two talented actresses portray Ginger and Brigitte. But it doesn't give you anything beyond that.