Ginger Snaps (2001)

Simply Perfect

Purely Joyful Movie!

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Allegories are nothing new to the horror genre, or fiction in general, but oftentimes they're rather forced and/or unimaginative. There are of course some good examples, like X-Men, but often, especially in horror, it's painfully obvious what the allusion is meant to be and what the film makers want to say with it. It ain't exactly subtle, is what I'm saying. Which is why it's often better to not even attempt to be subtle and make the painfully obvious allegory slash symbolism work for you.Such is the case of Ginger Snaps. Two sisters, Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) are hilariously alternative teenagers. They're into goths, suicides, the colour purple and living in the most dungeon-like basement I've seen in a while. Yet it doesn't feel fake, but just the right amount of over the top. But everything takes a turn for the worse when one of them changes. Both into a woman and a werewolf. Suddenly she's all about blood and lust and mating and bitching at people, leaving her poor virginal sister behind. I said the allegory was painfully obvious, didn't I. But, it works because the film is honest about it. It plays it off as a joke, with tongue firmly in cheek, which turns a groan-worthy B-movie shlock into quite hilarious horror parody, which is still works as a straight horror film as well. Almost like Stephen King's Carrie meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer.It also helps that the two main leads are both fantastic. Isabelle is the more typical horror heroine with the looks and the lines, which makes her a great partner for Perkins, whose portrayal of a wallflower shut-in Brigitte is one of the better ones I've seen. She's shy and the oddball in school, but she has character and smarts to make her more than a stereotype.The movie's only real fault is the third act, which is rather predictable and clichéd as far as monster horror movies go. There are some good twists, but it does drag quite badly and the ending is not worthy of the buildup. It's not really even all that awful, but it is disappointing when compared to the tone and promise of the two previous acts.Still, Ginger Snaps is a great movie to check out if you're into campy horror movies that know not to take themselves too seriously.

Living together in a small town, two sisters find the creature hunting them down is one of them who got turned into a werewolf and must find a way to contain the ravenous beast within before more of their friends are killed.Frankly this one turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment. The film's main problem here is also one of its best features in the connection between the onset of woman-hood with the curse of lycanthropy which is the big guise in this one. It associates some of the normal conditions of burgeoning femininity as the potential signs of lycanthropy, from the introduction of the feminine status, their biology starting to give away their conditions and the sudden outburst of aggressive behavior seems to be all consistent with the changes found in this situation, and the trade-off with the lycanthropy traits is something that's fun and unique to this one. That said, none of these are really all that enjoyable as they take the focus off the horror to such an extent that the film instead paces along quite dreadfully by remaining stuck with these teen-angst drama scenes that are just not that exciting. The scenes of the two girls lamenting their high-school situation, how they're concerned with that project of life-like death photographs of themselves or the utterly bland and boring school-yard meandering are not that exciting and really make it hard to care all that much about the girls or their condition in the first half and really makes it hard to buy into this one as a horror movie at times. Thankfully, what saves this one is the film's fleeting horror moments as there's numerous pretty well-timed scares and suspense in here which really brings this one up considerably. The initial playground attack is simply stellar with the hairy beasts' rapid movements an inhuman growling giving the impression of something running around that's hidden enough to make it a mystery about its identity while offering plenty of suspenseful tactics of them chasing off into the woods. The later attacks offer up plenty of gruesome attacks alongside some rather fun times here with the attacks at school on the personnel, the party scenes are a lot of fun with the seduction coming off rather nicely before the initial transformation scene and the big one that works well here is the finale at the house. Finally letting the werewolf loose, getting some impressive stalking as she follows the blood trail through into the basement and some fantastic action all together for a spectacular scene that serves as the highlight here. Lastly, the design for the wolf is a bit more modern, with a large head, lean body that has more wolf-like qualities than most previous werewolf designs yet still retains the vicious appearance and attitude that make it something to be feared and respected while looking somewhat original here as well. These here are the film's overall positives.Rated R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Brief Nudity, drug use, several scenes of animal violence and detailed discussions and events about puberty.

I have no idea how I have never heard of this movie before. It seems to have been left off the cult horror movie list, maybe due to all the let's call it "animal cruelty" - which honestly made me want to puke but aside from that it's a good horror film. There is so much teen angst and drama to keep you entertained and it's truly frightening and freaky. To break up some of the tension there are the occasional moments of hilarity, whether intentional or not it provides the audience with some much needed lightness in an otherwise dark film.If you love horror films and have not yet had the pleasure of watching Ginger Snaps then I highly recommend it. I hope the rest of the installment proves to be as good as this one.

The viscerally effective horror thriller "Ginger Snaps" sports a doubly clever title. Gingersnaps, of course, are yummy cookie treats sweetened with molasses and, naturally, ginger, but that is hardly what is being suggested here. "Snaps" can also mean "to go crazy" or "to lose it," which is certainly the case for the film's lead character, Ginger Fitzgerald. And more to the point, "snaps" can also mean "to seize with a sudden closing of the jaws," which is what poor Ginger does quite a lot of here, as she slowly morphs into a truly grotesque werewolf, in John Fawcett's surprisingly effective film. Released in September 2000, the Canadian picture was moderately successful at the box office but has since then become something of a bona fide cult item, and one that has spawned two further entries.In the film, the viewer encounters the Fitzgerald sisters, the pubescent Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and her 15-year-old junior, Brigitte (Emily Perkins); two death-obsessed oddballs who spend their time making movies of their faked suicides and rehashing their mutual death pact. But their morbid fixation soon palls in the light of a more serious concern. Their suburban community of Bailey Downs has lately been plagued by a series of attacks; some strange creature has been brutally killing the local dogs. And then one night, coinciding precisely with her first menstruation, Ginger is attacked and bitten by that self-same creature, which is then run over and squashed by the van being driven by the local high school drug dealer, Sam (Kris Lemche). Too late for Ginger, though, who soon starts to sprout hair, grow sexually rapacious, smoke pot, and "utter sharp biting words" (yet another meaning of the word "snap") at everyone around her. But when she actually starts to sprout a tail at the base of her spine, that is when Brigitte realizes that these are not just simple physical and personality changes brought on by Ginger's first period, and goes to Sam in the hope of finding a cure. And since Ginger's increasingly promiscuous and violent personality has already resulted in one more infected lycanthrope and at least three dead bodies, that cure cannot come quickly enough....Watching "Ginger Snaps" for the first time, this viewer was forcefully reminded of the films of another Canadian filmmaker, David Cronenberg, whose pet theme, in films such as "They Came From Within," "Rabid" and "The Brood," has been "the body in revolt"; that quease-inducing horror that arises when a person's body turns against one. Here, Ginger's slow and agonizing transformation is no less shocking than Marilyn Chambers' Rose's was in "Rabid" or Samantha Eggar's Nola's was in "The Brood," and her initial period is certainly rougher than Carrie White's was in "Carrie." Yes, the film does use lycanthropy as an apt metaphor for puberty ("They don't call it the curse for nothing," the film's promotional poster proclaimed), and one that should make all teenagers feel a bit better about their own occasional cramp or change in voice! Metaphors aside, the film succeeds as an excellent horror outing, and the creature that Ginger becomes by the picture's end is a fairly nasty addition to the werewolf pantheon. The film is pretty darn serious, grim, bloody and downbeat, and what little humor it does possess is provided by the gals' dim bulb of a mother, played by Mimi Rogers. (Rogers had previously starred in one of this viewer's favorite films of the '90s, "The Rapture.") "Ginger Snaps" refuses to follow the typical outlines of more conventional horror films, and viewers hoping for a happy ending, with Ginger successfully restored and hopelessly antisocial Brigitte entering into a romantic relationship with hunky dude Sam, might be a little disappointed--no, appalled--at how things turn out. Perhaps the single best element of the entire affair is Perkins' contribution, although Isabelle surely has the flashier, showier role. It is genuinely touching what Brigitte puts herself through--including self-infection--to help her older sister, despite Ginger becoming increasingly problematic as the film proceeds. Perkins is just terrific; just look at her glower sullenly from behind her lank hair, shooting out expressions of intensity of which no one would want to be on the receiving end! Truly, the kind of sister anyone would want when the chips are down, or a bloodthirsty monster is running around loose!"Ginger Snaps" is hardly a perfect film, good as it is. Many of the characters, Perkins' and Isabelle's included, give mumbled line readings, although that might be more a reflection of how teens actually talk today than an inherent problem with the actors themselves. Still, this viewer would greatly have appreciated some English subtitles for the hard of hearing on the DVD that I just watched. Another problem: The werewolf attacks--both those of the initial creature and those of Ginger at the finale--are very hard to follow, what with the frenzied cutting and rapidity of motion involved. Still, the disorientation engendered thereby only serves to ratchet up the fright factor, so no real complaints from me. As mentioned, the film spawned two sequels, "Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed" and a prequel (!), "Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning," the latter having been released straight to video. And after seeing the first installment in what has turned out to be a trilogy, I cannot imagine anyone not wanting to learn more about those morose, death-obsessed Fitzgerald sisters....