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A lot of films don't have the advertising budget or the big name stars to lure an audience to the major cinemas, and so it's great there's an indie circuit that allows indepentant, forgien and smaller films to get some exposure. And in some cases the indie curcuit exposure results in the big screen runs!

The little indepentantly financed Ginger Snaps played across Canda with rave reviews, and while was a direct to video release to Australia did receive a very limited theatrical play within Victoria over christmas i believe (heard something about it on Triple J  :)

At 16, Ginger (Katharine Isabella) is yet to go through "the change".  Little does she know exactly what that will entail. 
Ginger and her younger sister Brigette (Emily Perkins) are total outcasts, by choice.   They both have a morbid fascination with Death (the film opens with them photgraphing themselves in a variety of suicides for a school project (been there done that! :)

One night while trekking through the woods...as you tend to do... Ginger is visciosuly attacked by a "snarling beast of some kind", for it scented that she was having her first period...on a full moon no less.   As both girls run for their lives across a road the "snarling beast of some kind" is run over by a local hash dealer Sam (Chris Lemke) and splattered into pieces. 

Covered in blood the girls arrive home and Brigette tends to Ginger's wounds, which are mysteriously healing by themself.  As the days progress they heal even more, sprouting white hairs and ginger begins to change in appearance and attitude.

Pretty soon she's the hottest girl in school with every guy oogling over her every move....and she knows it...and loves it. 
Now with a insatiable appetite for sex, Ginger starts doing the boys in school and her relationship with Brigette deminishes as the two grow further and further apart.

The girls mum Pamela (Mimi Rogers, in a very funny take on June Cleaver on a trip) while living in a fanstasy world of her own, is worried about Ginger and is at a loss as what to do.

Brigette seeks help from the local drug deal Sam, as he beleives it was a werewolf that attacked Ginger.  The two set out to find a cure before Ginger Fully turns into a werewolf........

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VIDEO
I know its a pretty low budget film but there are a few a source and authoring problems with this Anamorphic Widescreen Transfer.

On the source side of things, there are plently of under AND over exposed shots throughout.
The print also looks to have been a little grainy, but is still acceptable.  The transfer is a little oversharp, so there's a slight edginess to be had.

Colour saturation isn't too bad though, with exterior shots looking the best with some very rich goldish colours.  Interior shots range from low to high colour saturation....very inconsistent.

As for the actual picture encoding, it's a mix bags here.   some parts are great, but some are rather average and clearly show signs of low data encoding with quite obvious MPEG artifacting.  we're not talking major blocking, but a scattering of artifacts which does deminish the quality of the detail at hand

...

AUDIO
After the main menu starts up in Dolby 5.1 with a fantastic music theme, I had high hopes for the DVD soundtrack, but it's technically flawed, and so is the menu audio :(.

The biggest problem with is Dolby Digital 5.1 mix is some god awful digital echoing which pretty much occurs from start to finish.  There is quite a lot of dialogue in this movie and while it is also easy to understand it is backed with a nasty digital echo.  After a while it gets a bit grating with an edginess to it.
When the music gets going a lot of the problems are covered up as this soundtrack really does rock!  Quieter passages of music have a light amount of distortion, like a mild static/crackle sound.  It's not blatently obvious, but is definitely there if you listen for it (listen closely to the centre channel sound when the  main menu is playing and you'll know what I'm on about :)

I've heard this sort of problem before, but only on DVD extras that were sourced from an AVID digital editing system.  (the audio sounds tinny and has an echo to it....the outtakes on Austin 2 DVD do the same sort of thing as the audio on this DVD)
My understanding is that this isn't an Encoding problem but rather a source problem, so there's little to no chance of it being fixed :(

The "echoing" aside the soundtrack is very aggressive with a rich sounding music score by Mike Shields (nice orchestral pieces).
The music is very well mixed for 5.1 playback with a lovely wide front soundstage and good use of ambience in the surrounds when required.
FX wise this is also great. with great panning effects and split surround usage.

...

EXTRAS
well you get the main menu with a Dolby 5.1 mix (which happens to be the entire closing credit song...nice)

and a VERY cool trailer... which really sells the movie well.  (4x3 letterbox with DD2.0 sound)


Ginger Snaps is a terrific little movie and does deserve a look in, but the DVD is technically flawed in both the audio and video department which is very disappointmenting.

Review Equipment
TV: Pioneer SD-T50W1 (16:9 RPTV)
DVD: Pioneer DV717  (using RGB outputs)
Receiver : Denon AVC-A1SE THX Ultra (Dolby Surround EX, DTS-ES Discrete)
Speakers:-
     Mains: Quadral Amun
     Centre: B&W CDMC-SE
     Surrounds Left/Right: M&K SS500 (Dipole)
     Surrounds Back : Polk RT/fx (Diplole)
     Subby: M&K V125 

- Reviewed 22th July 2001

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