The 2000 independent horror darling Ginger Snaps landed on the scene with little mainstream fanfare. However, it was with those genre fans that are always in search of something fresh and exciting that this movie made it’s splash and continued to pick up steam. The look, feel, and slight twist on the werewolf mythology really did plant it in a bit of it’s own sub genre. Starring teenagers, it really wasn’t your typical teen horror film. Featuring low budget practical creature effects, it really wasn’t the mess it should have been. Starring two unknown Canadian actresses, it really wasn’t paint by numbers performances that the viewer got. What Ginger Snaps does, is play your typical teen/preteen stereotypes for sympathy, not for laughs. In the actresses performances you have a wonderfully nuanced portrayal of a young girl entering into puberty; having that hormonal chaos echoed and piggybacked by a monstrous change that’s occurring simultaneously. You have a girl who for so long had felt powerless and out of place in the Junior High world of cliques and cunts (and while frightening to her sister) these animalistic tendencies are in many ways welcomed by her. For the first time in her life she feels empowered and focused. Much different then the confusion and fear many young women feel upon their first periods, I would imagine. I can’t express to the reader how fully I believe in this film as a truly profound way for horror to pierce deeper into the social and emotional components of life. Although the two sequels are very strong and take the Ginger Snaps mythos in new and interesting directions; the original will always be the one that allowed a lonely misfit of a girl to find her primal self-worth and rip out a few throats along the way.
Ginger Snaps
2000
Director: John Fawcett
Starring: Katherine Isabelle and Emily Perkins
8/10 Farmhouses ~ Chris Conduit
Ginger Snaps
2000
Director: John Fawcett
Starring: Katherine Isabelle and Emily Perkins
8/10 Farmhouses ~ Chris Conduit
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