Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)

John Fawcett, who had directed the first Ginger Snaps, was now executive producer of the two sequels that would be filmed back to back with more budget than the original, 'We knew we were going to have slightly more to spend than we had on the original movie, (...) From the beginning I said, 'I want that extra money to go to effects. I want a better monster. I want everything to be bigger and better.'

The larger budget meant that a more experienced makeup effects team would be hired, and Fawcett set his sights on KNB EFX Group. Fawcett had actually worked with KNB's Howard Berger before on an episode of Xena: Warrior Princess, 'Howard was on set a lot, building monsters and prosthetics for us, (...) I really liked him, and thought that he was the kind of guy I'd love to hire if I ever had the money. So that was always part of my motivation to do another Ginger Snaps, to get a chance to work with Howard again'.

Like Katherine Isabelle in the first film, Emily Perkins would have to endure several hours of makeup being applied on her to depict her gradual transformation into a wolf. Howard Berger stated, 'We actually designed thirteen stages of makeup for Emily's transformation. It's a real slow, subtle transformation at first, maybe her ear changes and grows a little big and then her palms change and eyes change, and then it gets heavier and heavier and heavier'.

A prosthetic hand appliance for the dream sequence.

The final - and most grotesque - stage prosthetic maeup was intended to illicit an emotional reaction, '(...) Brigitte is coming up from the cellar, and she's the most transformaed that we're ever going to see her in the movie. It's a very, very touching scene. You can see just enough humanity i her eyes and in her face to register the defeat that she's feeling. You hope it translates. You hope the audience isn't going to look at it and go 'Oh, that's just stupid' because they could. Who knows?'

The male werewolf, that stalks Brigitte throughout the movie, was the first time KNB got to realize an onscreen werewolf, just a year before working on Wes Craven's Cursed. The werewolf was conceptualized first as maquettes, one for the full body and another for the head.

The werewolf suit was a bodysuit (worn in a similar manner to the Gingerwolf in the first film) with a head fitted with radio receivers for the animatronic movements. The location filming during cold weather provided an unexpected benefit to the werewolf suit performer Jake McKinnon;

Usually I'm too hot on set. You have to have fans and all that, or sometimes even wear a cool suit underneath. I didn't have that problem on this movie. After attacking Tyler for a good 20 minutes, I took off the head. Everyone else was freezing, but I was still hot. I had no hat on, and my head was steaming like it was on fire'.

Despite the low budget of the production, Berger was happy, 'It's fun to rely on being resourceful, to see what you can make out of what's there (...) We try to deliver the best product we can with the money and time limitations. In this movie, we definitely have. The effects are more visceral on this film than in the first Ginger Snaps (...) The werewolf feels more real to me. The one main KNB designer I had on this werewolf, Scott Patton, is extremely talented and has a great eye. I trusted him 100 percent, and he delivered an outstanding creature.

Sources:

- Fangoria issue #230

- Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed bluray special features