Review of Ginger Snaps (2000) by Eric W — 27 Jan 2010

It takes a lot of guts to attempt a film like Ginger Snaps. The werewolf genre has for the most part been lacklustre attempts to show off special effects or have been the subject of poor B movies. On this occasion though the genre is flipped on its head and given a whole new look, something that will definitely please one side of the gender scale.

In a way it is about time that the female characters were the ones who got to turn into monsters. Previous to films like Ginger Snaps most female characters were there to either be seen or heard screaming at the top of their lungs. In this case however it is alienated teen Ginger who has the honour of being attacked by a wolf in the middle of the woods. Her sister Brigitte is the first who begins to notice the change in Ginger?s personality and begins to investigate what is happening to her sister.

It is quite the transformation that Ginger goes through and it is presented well aesthetically. Prior to the attack, Ginger is very much an outcast at school, only really being friends with her younger sister. After the attack, Ginger becomes much more sexual and it is presented well, namely the slow motion shot of her walking down the corridor with every male character turning to watch. Instead of Dracula laying prey to women night after night, Ginger becomes a man eater in a very literal sense as her sexual instincts become much more violent.

The attractive Ginger faze soon gives way to a more physical transformation, the most horrific is a long tail which in a rather squirm worthy scene we see her trying to sever the tail with a piece of glass. Large white stripes of hair also begin to grow on her back, which she is forced to shave every day. While Brigitte insists she get help, her popularity at school and her super human strength which she uses to attack one of the girls who has previously bullied her go to Ginger?s head, thus refusing any help.

This is a particularly harrowing experience - that is if you are male. Never has sex in the back seat of a car caused more men cross their legs like the one featured here, as Ginger leaves a guy covered in bites and horrific scratches. That is not the worst of it however; as the teen soon discovers when he begins to uncontrollably urinate blood in a jet black comedic scene. When Brigitte sees him walking down the corridor with a large red stain on his trousers, he lies that his red pen is leaking.

An honourable mention has to go to Brigitte and Ginger?s mum, played superbly by Mimi Rodgers. It is a very funny and callous turn as the mother who gets excited about the fact that her children are beginning to experience periods for the first time, something that Mimi Rodgers seems to have a lot of fun playing. Sadly it is inevitable that we have to witness the werewolf Ginger in its complete form, something which restricts the film climax somewhat as a regular horror film. Director John Fawcett however tries his best to keep things original and is able to set up a fairly emotional climax. It is something that will have men cringing in their seats and begging it to stop, but the female members of the audience will love it. Like I said earlier, maybe it is about time.