Gina Lempke

Gina Lempke is a fictional Gypsy and a supporting character seen in the 1996 supernatural thriller film Thinner. She was played by actress Kari Wuhrer.

Biography
Gina Lempke was a gypsy and part of a traveling amusement show circuit that made its way through Connecticut in the mid 1990s. She was the great-granddaughter of a venerable Gypsy man named Tadzu Lempke and the daughter of Suzanne Lempke. She had a husband named Gabe. Tadzu had placed a curse upon a man named Billy Halleck, which caused him to lose dramatic amounts of weight at a dangerous, potentially fatal, pace. After suffering from its effects, Billy tracked Tadzu down and tried to convince him to reverse it. This only angered Tadzu however, how intensified the effects of the curse.

Gina Lempke was standing outside and began performing a provocative dance, accentuating her breasts and hiking her skirt up. When Billy took notice of her, she expressed her hatred of him by giving him the finger. She then fired a ball bearing from a slingshot, which put a hole through the middle of Billy's hand.

Billy then had a crime boss named Richie "The Hammer" Ginelli send his crony, Frank Spurton, to the Gyspy camp to antagonize the Lempkes into removing the curse. To intimidate them, he killed their dogs. Gina and her husband, Gabe, retaliated by killing Spurton. Upon hearing word of this, Richie paid the Gypsies a visit personally to settle the vendetta. In the ensuing firefight, Gina's husband was shot and killed by accidental fire.

Notes & Trivia

 * The film version of Heidi Halleck was created by director Tom Holland and screenwriter Michael McDowell based on a character developed by Stephen King.


 * Playing the role of Gina Lempke is actress Kari Wuhrer's first work in the horror genre. She will go on to appear in such films as Anaconda as Denise Kalberg, Eight Legged Freaks as Samantha Parker, and Hellraiser: Deader as Amy Klein.

Keywords
1990s | Connecticut | Gypsy | Slingshot