Movie Review: Ginger Snaps

While my friends over at The Larryville Chronicles are considering feminine werewolf fiction, it seems appropriate that I should talk about Ginger Snaps, a movie that centers on a young woman who becomes a lycanthrope, and slowly, methodically, "wolfs out."Ginger Snaps is no Werewolf Woman, nor is it a Howling II. Sex is at (or near) the center of the movie, but it is not an exploitation flick. Our heroine Ginger is played by the sexy Katharine Isabelle, whom you probably know from . . . well, you probably don't know her from anything else. She's in a few things, but it seems like she was pretty much made for this role. And she's in all the sequels, which tells you her career went nowhere after this. Anyway, Ginger and her Brigitte (excellently played to mousey Mokey perfection by Emily Perkins) are a couple of isolated Goth chicks who are also late bloomers biologically, meaning they haven't started their periods yet, even though Ginger is 16 and Brigitte 15.

The movie really starts moving when Ginger gets her period, gets attacked by a werewolf, and suddenly gets really sexy hot and therefore popular with the guys, which results in strain between the sisters. Brigitte and Ginger who used to share everything suddenly have nothing in common because Ginger is into boys now, and is, well, becoming a werewolf. The developing tension between the two sisters is probably the best part of the movie from a non-genre standpoint, the place where the movie best delves into the core of human relationships by exposing how the simple process of moving on in time alienates us from those who used to know us well.

The movie tries very hard to bring lycanthropy into the mundane world. Part of this is accomplished by its blending of the supernatural with the natural: the linking of werewolfism and menstruation as monthly curses, the transformation into the werewolf compared to puberty ("hair where there wasn't hair before"). This part works metaphorically, but I was unimpressed by the movie's attempt to turn lycanthropy into a disease that can be cured with homeopathic medicine, although Ginger's passing it on like an STD leads to some humorous moments. The movie is engaging and funny, and Isabelle is super-sexy, even (or especially?) with a tail.

But in the end I don't think the movie quite comes together. One thing that's missing is the visceral, painful transformation of the body that makes werewolf movies like The Howling and An American Werewolf in London so successful. This is not just special effects, it's the visual evidence of the body being wrested out of one's control, the instant when the animal within takes over and a man becomes a monster before his very eyes, which is why werewolves are more often men. This is something all men have experienced, especially under the influence of desire, but also under anger, something that makes us hang our head in guilt or embrace with false bravado the shameful acts we have perpetrated in those moments.

In place of this transformation, Ginger Snaps substitutes a gradual transformation. Kudos for the attempt, but Ginger's frustration over razors filled with lupine hair is just not the same thing. And since Ginger's final transformation occurs off screen (probably due to a lack of special effects budget for this Canadian flick) the final sequences are detached from her character, and the conclusion, I felt, was very flat. The movie is certainly worth watching: it's interesting, and it's better than a piece of crap like Cursed.

Warning: Adult Content Below


I have long known about Ginger Snaps, but have avoided watching it partly because I blame it for the disappearance of a porn site I used to love with the same name. It focused on redheads, of course, but its series were different because the girls weren't necessarily pretty in the standard sense of models, they were cute/sexy and had faces with personality. They were also better at "selling" the moment--they genuinely looked like they were really engaged in the moment, a feature that is all-too-often lacking in porn. Here's a sample of one of my favorite series so you can see what I mean.