Brigitte (depressed Trent Reznor look-a-like Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) are your typical doom, gloom and death obsessed teen outsiders. They are alienated by their schoolmates (and like it that way) and spend most of their free time creating fake murder, suicide, death films and photos while contemplating how to end it all, “United against life as we know it”.

But things are changing.

Brigitte is deeper into loathing life in general because she feels alienated from society more due to the fact people find her far less attractive than her older sister. Ginger, despite the angst and anger she outwardly projects, is noticing the fact she is becoming attractive to boys, a fact she actually finds more and more appealing. As menstruation arrives in Ginger’s life another difference opens up between the sisters, as Brigitte is now being physically left behind by her sibling as well.

Breathing a welcome breath of fresh air into the near-dead carcass of the Werewolf film, Canadian movie Ginger Snaps is now classed (after an initially small scale and staggered worldwide release) as a high water mark for modern horror and was embraced by hungry Horror fans because it provided intelligence, strong characters and subtext without skimping on good old fashioned bloodshed and shocks.

Despite the strong female standpoint that writer Karen Walton approaches the story from, the film never dips into anti-male rhetoric or tired ‘Earth Goddess’ flights of whimsical fancy. Walton carefully (and cleverly) crafts the plot so that it appeals to both sexes while still offering the often ignored female Horror fan much to get their teeth into, delivering a film with strong female themes, portrayed via strong female lead characters essayed by strong female lead performers.

The werewolf aspect of the story is obviously a metaphor for the onset of puberty, but this is never put over in a pretentious manner, instead it’s delivered via playful but dark comedy sequences and via serious, achingly emotional scenes of the two Sisters slowly drifting away from each other.

Their dizzy, ever*optimistic mother (a wonderful turn by Mimi Rogers) is overjoyed to see her girls growing up and happily discusses the natural changes a girl goes through, including periods and cramps, at the dinner table and still gives the same hippie, trippy advice even when she is unknowingly discussing the far more unnatural changes that Ginger’s body is going through.
This link between natural changes and supernatural ones is brilliantly cemented in a funny sequence where the school nurse explicitly tells the girls about menstrual bleeding and the appearance of hairs, little knowing the more and more confused sisters have very different blood and hair worries.

The mirroring of the natural and the supernatural is not just shown physically though. The almost animalistic interest that Ginger now shows towards the opposite sex, and to sex itself, may well be the ‘beast’ in her but it’s also the very natural change as Ginger moves into womanhood and has desires and needs (not just physical, but emotional) that her Sister can no longer provide, and can never be part of. Ginger is indeed becoming a different person and Brigitte is being emotionally ripped up by a fact she can’t change and has, like the Werewolf curse, no control over.

The difference from normal cinematic Werewolf-lore in Ginger Snaps is that the metamorphosis takes place slowly, and once it’s complete would seem to be a permanent state. There is no changing back and forth from Wolf and Human, no going back to what once was…again a clever link to growing older and moving on.

Although there is humour here, like a great scene after their teacher has seen the sister‘s ‘death film’ project that delivers much mirth and a lot of the dialogue (though there is far too much swearing for swearing’s sake with the phrase “You’re fucked” being the worst offender) being wonderfully barbed and wickedly comic, the serious events in the story are treated as just that. Serious, and with genuinely tragic and Human consequences. The deaths for example are never taken lightly or seen as fun and cool, we have a brief moment of black comedy involving a hidden corpse but that’s it. And this assurance that the film keeps serious the things that should be just that is another strength of the screenplay.

Performances by all are excellent, even down to the smallest support player. Perkin’s is a revelation as Brigitte making her a dark, damaged but likeable (and initially unlikely) heroine and she plays off brilliantly the more flashy turn by the genuinely sexy and provocative Isabelle (whose sexy, confident, almost predatory walk down the school corridor, and at the later Halloween party, are major highlights) who essays Ginger’s fall into hell brilliantly.

Lemche, as the smart, friendly dope dealer, also does an exceptional job in making what is at first very much a background character into a major part of the final act and you find yourself rooting for him as he and Brigitte take on Ginger in hope of saving her. As mentioned, Rogers is wonderful as the slightly batty but loving Mother and it’s a shame that her character gets forgotten before the finale.

The music is also a big plus to the film. We have the obligatory ‘hip’ bands playing on it, but their music is either used in context (a party, a radio) or as very effective punctuation to a scene.
The title music, a mixture of electronic drum beats and haunting violin, brilliantly captures the mood of the film.

The gore is spares, but violent and exceptionally bloody. It’s never just there for cheap thrills and adds a big punch to the movie at strategic points. The make-up FX are less successful though, with some of Ginger’s early facial make-up looking very latex-like up close and the werewolf itself a rather unsatisfying, large rat/Muppet hybrid coated in wisps of fur. It moves okay, but it’s far from the savage beast we were hoping for.

The finale features some unexpectedly nasty and cruel moments and delivers a very satisfying emotional conclusion, if not a satisfying story conclusion as much is left open.
The next sequel “Ginger Snaps: Unleashed” would answer many of the questions but still sadly leave some hanging and as such, although successful on some levels, the ending is somewhat of a letdown.

But that aside, “Ginger Snaps” provides a rousing, intelligent, thoughtful and delightfully performed horror experience and is justly deserving of it’s enduring, cult status.

Let me clarify a few things before I begin the review. This is for the Canadian NR release of the movie Ginger Snaps, don't know if that means there is more gore or what. Second I'm an immature, 34 year old who loves strong beer, gore, sportbikes, Swedish death metal, and tattoos. I enjoyed the movie very much, however, the Internet has once again built the reputation of a movie to be so unbelievably good, that in the end I was let down a bit. This may also be attributed to the fact that I think teenage girls will definitely identify with this movie more than a grown man (my 16 year old daughter LOVED this movie!) On to the review!

Ginger and her younger sister Brigitte are very close, they do everything together, and have a strange fascination with death. For a school project they photograph each other in various, highly graphic depictions of murders, rapes, and suicides, this in turn doesn't do much for their social life, as the other kids at their school have branded them as "weird."

Out one night to get revenge on one of the girls who picks on them (teenage girls are soooo catty!), Ginger suddenly gets a visit from Aunt Flo, this apparently triggers a nearby werewolf to catch on to Ginger's "scent" who then viciously attacks her. Needless to say Ginger almost immediately starts showing signs of lycanthropy.

I don't want to go too far into the plot, but this movie plays out like a "I was a teenage werewolf" after school special (in a good way though). It's definitely not a "scary" movie by any stretch.

Ginger's beastly transformation is very gradual, and done very creatively (just try shaving your werewolf legs with a lady bic!), it's fun to look for the subtle changes as the plot unwinds. I think she looks especially cool right before her final transformation.

The story is well written, and pretty damn unique as far as werewolf stories go, no silver bullets here folks. The dialog throughout the movie is clever, and often funny, I found myself chuckling on more than one occasion.

Decent gore effects, no nudity, short of some "tails" poking out (we're talking teenagers here guys). You don't have to be a teenager to enjoy it, but I think it would help. Altogether a fun watch! Recommended!

7.5 out of 10 quite possibly illegal teenage tail exposures

I first watched this movie a couple of years ago when I heard all the hype. I thought it was ok. I watched it again today and I liked it a lot more the second time around. Hype's a funny bitch ain't she?

This movie is smart and witty and a lot of the parallels they make between being a werewolf and being a teenage girl are closer to the truth than most of us would like to admit. Also one of the few movies I've watched to really nail societies views of young girls.

Flames is wrong about one thing, you do get to see breasts in this movie, they just aren't entirely human.
Emily Perkins really is the standout. I looked her up to see where I recognized her from (young Beverly Marsh in Stephen King's IT) and saw she was 23 when she made this movie. She looks almost the same age here as she did in IT and there are ten years between the two. She really had the teenage thing nailed.

My only complaint would be the horrid looking werewolf effects, they had better ones on Buffy.

8 out of 10 LEGAL teenage tails

I was not familiar with the hype surrounding this picture. Therefore, I was able to judge it with no previous knowledge except that it was a werewolf film. I did like it but there were certain points that rubbed me the wrong way.

First, I'm not a big fan of the "life sucks even though I have a nice family and everything I could ever want in the world", goth-type, teenagers. They bore me and I don't feel sorry for them at all. So this flick was off to a bad start. As the movie went on, I felt for the girls more because of their close relationship.

Secondly, I thought there were too many questions left unanswered. What happened to the girls' mother after they left the party? Did she stay to have a few cocktails with the kids? And what was the conversation between Brigitte and her mother in the minivan about anyway? It seemed as though the last twenty minutes of the film was done hurriedly and sloppily.

I did enjoy the look of the creatures despite what appeared to be a low budget for the film. And where do I sign up for the Katharine Isabelle Fanclub?

Overall, I thought it was a decent twist on the werewolf genre.

6 out of 10 mutilated neighbor's dog

This one was not my cup of tea. The story bored me, the dialogue was tired. These girls and their problems are not something I could relate to. This film had a hard time holding my attention. Quite frankly I felt like I was watching a Lifetime movie. Way too much teenage estrogen here for my enjoyment.

The girls had that whole we hate the world mentality while they live in their upper middle class pampered lifestyle, you know, parents love them and the kids constantly contemplate suicide. Frankly they were just brats and you just wanna slap them. Come to think of it I did not like one single character in the entire film. Its nearly impossible for me to enjoy a movie if I don’t like at least one of the characters.

Anyways I love the werewolf genre and this was just another bad film to add to it. I don’t get why no one can make a decent werewolf flick. The premise is promising enough but they always seem to screw it up. There’s only ever been like 4-5 solid werewolf films.

Oh well, anyways if your a teenage girl you'll probably get a kick out of this (although its a little to graphic for kids to be watching). Idea was original I just did not care for it.

3 out of 10 bloody urinals

Ginger Snaps is one of those movies that really deserve all the love it gets. Not only is this one of the ultimate feminist flicks, it's really good.

The beauty of it was the angst of the girls in the beginning is taken from them when real angst appears, and eventually it's made real and nobody wants it. Angst is only fun when it's voluntary, I guess. Death and loss are often romantic ideals, especially to misfits and pariahs, but once it really touches your life most will yearn for boredom. That's this movie and it's done brilliantly.

But take away the metaphysical and philosophical, and you're still left with a kickass werewolf flick that never treats the audience like an idiot, and leaves us with an ending that I both hated and loved.

8 out of 10 hairy chicks who still turned me on