Alice Oscura, Featured Writer
Teenage werewolf flick Ginger Snaps (2001) celebrated its 23rd Anniversary (Limited Theatrical Release) on May 11. As a Canadian released film, it's really easy for this one to fall through the cracks. At first glance, the film would appear be your run-of-the-mill, raging -hormonal-teenaged-driven werewolf horror film. However, the terminology behind the plot and what it truly represents is much more than this. Ginger Snaps is a coming-of-age film that brutally pushes the allegory of the emotional turmoil involved when a young woman hits adolescence. If you catch my drift...that time of the month for us ladies. The plot drives home the odd similarity (from a purely female perspective of course) of the drastic bodily transformation in both aspects, that is, as a young woman and the werewolf. It's no-holds-barred take and gets right up in your face from early o'clock with the use of excessive blood and gore.
In the fictional town of Bailey Downs, the residents are currently living in fear of an unnamed beast viciously attacking and killing their pet dogs. Residing in the town are the Fitzgerald sisters Ginger who's 16 years old (Katharine Isabelle of American Mary, Disturbing Behavior) and Brigitte who's 15 years old (Emily Perkins of Supernatural, Stephen King's It <1990>) and they seem to have a rather unhealthy obsession with death. They are dubbed the social outcasts and freaks at their local high school, keeping very much to themselves. They are each other's companions, so much so that they even formed a morbid pact when they were children stating "Out by sixteen or dead in this scene. Together forever". This insinuates that if they are unable to leave the small town by sixteen, then they commit simultaneous suicide together.
Who are you calling 'freak', freak?
At the beginning of the film, both girls have not yet started their menstrual cycles and loathe the day when it will happen for fear that they became mindless, emotional and hormone-driven teens like their classmates. However, on the very night that Ginger begins to menstruate, the scent of the blood immediately brings on a vicious attack of the dreaded Bailey Downs beast. Ginger and Brigitte barely manage to escape and are saved by local drug dealer plowing into the mysterious animal now revealed to be a werewolf in the middle of the street. Ginger is seriously mauled by the creature and at first seems to be succumbing to her injuries until they surprisingly begin healing. Thus begins Ginger's slow physical transformation after being infected by the werewolf.
The life-changing transformation causes Ginger's personality to slowly change as she begins to feel an unexplained craving that cannot be satisfied, a metaphoric representation of teenage hormones kicking into overdrive as opposed to the insatiable blood thirst from the prospective of the werewolf. It's a brilliant construct that explores both the deep sisterly bond mostly from Brigitte's view, as she desperately hunts for a cure for her sister, while simultaneously trying to control and clean up the carnage left in Ginger's wake, as she sinks deeper in werewolf mode. Ginger's slow transformation makes us appreciate the elaborate details and attention that has been paid to prosthetics and practical effects. In an already male-dominated genre with earlier films like An American Werewolf in London and The Wolf Man (1941), Ginger Snaps' emphasis on maintaining the femininity of the character all throughout her transformation is to be applauded and recognised for its contribution to the sub-genre.
If you're wondering, the answer is 'yes', blondes do have more fun
In conclusion, Ginger Snaps takes becoming an adolescent and hitting puberty to dizzying, brutal heights by making the film appeal to a younger audience while maintaining the satisfaction of hardcore horror fans. I would highly recommend it to up and coming fans of the genre. And for more Ginger Snaps there was a sequel, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed and a prequel, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, both in 2004.
So are you a fan of the original Ginger Snaps? And you can sink your teeth into more werewolf reviews from Robot Mango Reviews below:
GOTHIC WEREWOLF HORROR 'THE CURSED' HAS SOME BITE
TOP 10 GREATEST WEREWOLF MOVIES EVER MADE (THAT AREN'T AWIL)
WEREWOLF ROMANCE SERIES 'WOLF LIKE ME' IS A FURRY SURPRISE
Dark Alice has an old soul and a curious mind. I believe that anyone can be a hero and that the good guys should always win! I dislike cruelty to animals and think that they have far superior qualities to humans. My motto is there is no future without the past. I also have a weird penchant for Paranormal TV shows even though the slightest sound makes me jump. I enjoy writing reviews and throwing in fun facts to pique the readers' curiosity. My ultimate goal in life would be to become a published writer one day. Read More
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