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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Ginger Snaps (2000)

Ginger Snaps (2000)

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Released 23-Jul-2001

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Horror Main Menu Audio
Theatrical Trailer
Rating Rated MA
Year Of Production 2000
Running Time 103:40
RSDL / Flipper No/No Cast & Crew
Start Up Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By John Fawcett
Studio
Distributor
Copper Heart Ent
Magna Home Entertainment
Starring Emily Perkins
Katherine Isabelle
Kris Lemche
Mimi Rogers
Case Click
RPI $29.95 Music Michael Shields


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio 1.78:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles None Smoking Yes, almost constant
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

    Ahhh, B grade horror - it has been around forever. Ginger Snaps takes the genre and embraces it willingly. While certainly a B grade movie, there was enough suspense to keep me entertained for the entire film. This is (yet) another retelling of the classic werewolf-infects-human story, with a few differences. There is plenty of blood, screaming, growling, chasing, and even a scene straight out of the Blair Witch Project. But don't let the latter put you off the movie - it is only a really short scene.

    Ginger Snaps tells the tale of Ginger (Katherine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins) Fitzgerald , two socially inept sisters whose only comfort in life is each other, and taking morbid photographs of themselves in staged suicide scenes. Ginger is protective of her younger sister and their strong bond is obvious from the start of the movie. The family is very dysfunctional, well-portrayed by Mimi Rogers as Pamela, the daughters' bumbling and ineffectual mother.

    The story begins in the sleepy town of Bailey Downs where it becomes apparent that there have been a number of gruesome animal killings by an unknown beast, very gruesome killings. Life continues and after a bad day at school Ginger and Brigitte decide to get their own back on the school b****. That night, the girls sneak out to do their dirty work, but come up against the "Bailey Downs Beast" in a somewhat hair-raising encounter in a children's playground followed by a run through the local forest.

    Ginger is attacked by the beast, which turns out to be a werewolf (or lycanthrope for the more high-brow amongst us), and infected. We then follow Ginger's transformation and the changes that become obvious in her personality and physique. Katharine Isabelle growing a tail is one of the more disturbing images that will remain with me from this movie.

    Brigitte and Sam (Kris Lemche), the local school genius and dope seller (go figure), are left to find the cure to lycanthropy as Ginger becomes increasingly dangerous and promiscuous. Yes, you did read promiscuous, yet another disturbing scene that will stay with me for some time. I will leave the plot summary here as there are a number of surprising twists that I would hate to ruin for first-time viewers.

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Transfer Quality

Video

    The video quality of this DVD is excellent.

    The transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1 (measured) and is 16x9 enhanced (not 1.77:8 as shown on the packaging...).

    The transfer is sharp with only a few softer scenes. Shadow detail is uniformly good - fortunate as the majority of the film is shot in low lighting. There is very light grain throughout the transfer, but this will only be obvious to the picky.

    Colour saturation is excellent throughout. A number of outdoor scenes are filmed through a filter giving the obligatory ominous feel. Indoor scenes have excellent levels of colour, with blood coming through rich and red throughout the transfer.

    There was no obvious aliasing in this transfer. In fact, I did not notice any MPEG artefacts whatsoever.

    There are no subtitles, so I didn't sample them.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    It is regrettable that there is something wrong with this transfer since everything was looking so good. This soundtrack has an unusual problem. Sound effects/music/etc are of excellent quality, while dialogue is distorted throughout the transfer. Frequently, there is a high-pitched whine that dances across the soundfield. This would have to be the most annoying noise to creep into any transfer. These problems really dragged down an otherwise excellent effort.

    There was one English Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, encoded at 384kbps.

    The dialogue almost sounded like it had been recorded through a telephone, it really was that bad at times. Admittedly, the problem improved as the movie progressed, although this may have something to do with my ears being desensitised to this issue eventually.

    Audio sync was fine throughout.

    Accompanying the dialogue problems was the annoying whine. This was predominantly noted through the centre speaker, but at one point (39:30) the rear left speaker participated. This was obviously a mastering problem that tainted the entire transfer.

    Michael Shields has done a good job as composer. The music supports on-screen action transparently, without drawing unnecessary attention to itself.

    The surrounds were utilised effectively during dramatic scenes, providing a lot of rear effects and creepy noises. Unfortunately the soundfield tended to collapse to the front during dialogue-driven sequences, providing limited ambient effects.

    The subwoofer did not play a large role in this movie, but when called upon it was exceptional. 31:35 is a great example of bass presence and action sequences had plenty of support with the sub reflecting on-screen happenings.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

    There are no extras to speak of. Ginger Snaps is a very minimal release including only a trailer for the main feature.

Menu

    The menu is nicely themed with supporting audio.

Trailer

    This is of reasonable quality and presented in the same aspect ratio as the main feature with Dolby Digital 2.0 surround-encoded sound.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;     The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;     This movies is not available in R1 as far as I can tell.

Summary

    Ginger Snaps is an enjoyable horror movie presented on what could have been an excellent disc. Unfortunately the transfer was let down by problems with the audio.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is flawed.

    The extras are almost non-existent

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Nick Jardine (My bio, it's short - read it anyway)
Tuesday, July 24, 2001
Review Equipment
DVDPioneer DV-535, using S-Video output
DisplayRCA 80cm. Calibrated with Video Essentials. This display device is 16x9 capable.
Audio DecoderBuilt in to amplifier/receiver. Calibrated with Video Essentials.
AmplificationOnkyo TX-DS787, THX Select
SpeakersAll matching Vifa Drivers: centre 2x6.5" + 1" tweeter (d'appolito); fronts and rears 6.5" + 1" tweeter; centre rear 5" + 1" tweeter; sub 10" (150WRMS)

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