Ginger Snaps

Plot synopsis:
In a small suburban neighborhood, a mother finds her dog's mutilated body strung across the lawn. Meanwhile, a slideshow of Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle) creating staged deaths for a school project plays in their classroom. Their teacher and the school's guidance counselor, Mr. Wayne, (Peter Keleghan) demands to see them after class. Later, they smoke cigarettes and play "Search and Destroy" on the school's game field, dissing people they dislike, and imagining how they may die. Trina Sinclair's (Danielle Hampton) friend overhears Brigitte describing Trina's character and death, and tells Trina. The sisters notice this, and Ginger tells Brigitte she will "cover her" in the game. However, as Ginger is distracted, Trina pushes Brigitte into the remains of a dog, a victim of the Beast of Bailey Downs, a wild animal which has been killing pet dogs. Together, Brigitte and Ginger decide to kidnap Trina's dog that night, and imply that the Beast of Bailey Downs killed it.They set out and find the mutilated corpse of another dog. They decide to take it with them to convince Trina it is actually her dog, but, as they pick it up, a leg comes off in Brigitte's hand. Brigitte notices blood on Ginger, thinking it is from the dog, but it proves to be from Ginger's first period. The Beast of Bailey Downs attacks, and drags her into the woods screaming. Brigitte rescues Ginger. As the sisters flee, they narrowly escape being hit by an approaching van driven by Sam (Kris Lemche), which hits and kills the Beast. Brigitte finds Ginger's wounds are already healing and begs her to go to a hospital. Ginger refuses, as she does not want their mother (Mimi Rogers) to find out. After a few days, Ginger begins to grow hair from her wounds, sprouts a tail and menstruates heavily. A rift forms between the sisters after Ginger smokes marijuana with Jason, and aggressively pursues him. Ignoring Brigitte's warnings, she has unprotected sex with Jason, then kills a neighbour's dog.Frightened by what is happening to Ginger, Brigitte turns to Sam. Agreeing the Beast of Bailey Downs is a lycanthrope, he suggests a pure silver ring may cure Ginger. Brigitte persuades Ginger to have her navel pierced using the ring, but it is ineffective.Later, Trina goes to the Fitzgerald house claiming Ginger kidnapped her dog. As Ginger and Trina fight, Trina slips, hitting her head on the corner of the kitchen counter, and dies. The sisters panic, narrowly avoiding their parents seeing them as they put the body in the freezer, explaining the blood to be part of another series of death photos for the school project. Brigitte later accidentally breaks off two of Trina's fingers trying to get the corpse from the freezer. As they take Trina's body to bury it, they lose the fingers. Brigitte tells Ginger she cannot go out anymore, but Ginger remains defiant.On the pretence that Brigitte is the one "changing" instead of Ginger, they visit Sam, who suggests a monkshood solution for Ginger's illness; and informs them that the monkshood grows everywhere, however it only grows during spring. Ginger angrily tells him that they have no time, and accuses him of just wanting to have sex with Brigitte before storming out.On Halloween, Brigitte takes her mother's monkshood, which was purchased from a craft store, and asks Sam to make the cure. Sam warns her asks if it is for Ginger. Brigitte admits the truth, and promises to go to the Greenhouse Bash party.While trying to track down Ginger, Brigitte is attacked by Jason (whom Ginger infected through unprotected sex) and she defends herself by using the cure on him. She witnesses his immediate change in behavior, which proves the cure's success.Ginger returns to school looking for Jason. As Brigitte arrives, a message on the PA asks her to go to the Guidance office. She knocks, and is dragged inside by Ginger who has killed the counselor. Brigitte calms Ginger down, and goes to find cleaning supplies, but returns to see the janitor with his throat torn open. He survives, though infected, until Brigitte says he should have gotten help, which incites Ginger to disembowel him with her hand.The sisters' mother discovers Trina's corpse, and goes looking for her daughters. While she is looking for her daughters, she sees Brigitte running, and picks her up. As she drives Brigitte to the Greenhouse Bash, she tells her that she will burn the house down by letting it fill up with gas then lighting a match to erase evidence of Trina's death, and their escape. Brigitte arrives to find Sam rejecting Ginger's advances. As he approaches Ginger, she breaks his arm. In despair, Brigitte infects herself as Sam pleads with her not to. As the sisters leave, Sam knocks Ginger out with a shovel. Brigitte and Sam then take her back to the Fitzgerald house in his van, and prepare more of the cure for Ginger.Ginger fully transforms into a werewolf on the way home and escapes the van. Afraid, and unaware she has transformed, Sam and Brigitte hide in the pantry, and he makes the solution. As he goes to find Ginger, Ginger-Wolf mutilates Sam. Brigitte picks up the dropped syringe, and follows the blood trail downstairs. She tries to drink Sam's blood in an attempt to calm Ginger-Wolf, but chokes on it. Ginger-Wolf senses Brigitte's insincerity and kills Sam in front of her, then leaps at Brigitte. As Ginger-Wolf stalks Brigitte through the basement, Brigitte returns to the room where they grew up, finding the knife that Ginger had been using to remove her tail. Brigitte holds the cure in one hand and the knife in the other. Brigitte is told to leave but refuses, only to infuriate Ginger-Wolf, resulting in Ginger-Wolf lunging at Brigitte who stabs her with the knife, instead of the cure. As the movie ends, Brigitte lays her head upon Ginger-Wolf, sobbing, listening until its breathing finally stops.

Tags: comedy, gothic, murder, violence, cult, satire

Review:
'Ginger Snaps', while not totally perfect, is one of the freshest horror movies I've seen in ages, and one of the best werewolf movies of recent years.
The teens act and talk like REAL PEOPLE, and the honesty about sex, drugs and puberty is rarely seen in contemporary movies, horror or otherwise.
Although Isabelle is the "Ginger" of the title and she is soo damned good, it is Perkins as Brigitte that commands respect for her effort.The Fitzgerald sisters with their fascination for 'staged horror' find themselves very much on the outer in the school social hierarchy.
I would personally nudge it up to a 7.5 but thats neither here nor there.Why it received such limited theatrical release worldwide I cannot begin to imagine, but the production teams behind SCREAM, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID...., CABIN FEVER, TCM, DOG SOLDIERS and myriad other clones, should take a long hard look at this and find out HOW to make (and stage) a horror film with pretty much no money!I would have considered that $19.95 for the dvd was money well spent!.
With Ginger on her period already she is upset about the various changes happening to her body but it is apparent to Brigitte that the changes occurring to Ginger are more sinister and she tries to find a solution.Despite the fact that the title is far too clever and silly for the film it announces this is actually a very strong teen horror.
The best playing comes from Isabelle and Perkins- the former especially giving a really good performance that makes the script alive.Overall this was a very pleasant surprise - a good teen horror movie.
I respect well-made modern horror films, but I yearn for the olden days when horror implied something a little more than just blood-'n-guts-type serial killer movies with unbeatable foes battling virgins and non-virgins in ridiculous situations.Yes, real horror films are truly hard to find nowadays, which is why "Ginger Snaps" -- a modestly-scaled Canadian werewolf movie -- succeeds as more than just another crude bit-by-a-werewolf-soon-you're-a-killer-man-beast movie.
Over the years, with unflattering productions such as "Wolf" (1994), the legend and actual horror of werewolfs has decreased and the images of the beasts have turned into some sort of cute, cuddly dog figures."Ginger Snaps" is one of the darkest werewolf films made, and one of the most realistic, too.
I'm so happy that I watched this brilliant gem of a horror movie two days ago.In those politically correct times where idiotic MTV-oriented teen slashers and comedies are made in the US,it is really good to see such original film like "Ginger Snaps".Why?Because it has some excellent suspense sequences and a rather high amount of blood and gore.The werewolf is really cool looking,the acting by two lead girls(Emily Perkins,Katharine Isabelle)is excellent and the direction is well-handled."Ginger Snaps" is a pure horror film,that is to be taken seriously.I think it ranks up there with Daniel Attias "Silver Bullet" and Joe Dante's "The Howling".10 out of 10-a perfect film for the jilted generation!.
In fact, so lovingly does the film recreate the world of two Gothic sisters (including their hopeless mother, who wants them to be normal and happy in a way that doesn't help anyone) that becoming a werewolf seems like nothing more than a natural extension to the growing pains of a disturbed teenager.
The monster looks a bit plastic-y but the film is really about the sisters, and both roles are admirably filled by two capable but very different young starlets.Perkins is compelling as the awkward, introverted class nerd, and Isabelle magnificent as the slightly scary, sexy, ex-nerd who turns into a real man-eater.
The outcast teenager sisters Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle) are very connected and have a weird pact of death between them.
While her mother believes that the menstruation is causing her changes of attitude, Brigitte seeks the cure with the local drug dealer Sam (Kris Lemche)."Ginger Snaps" is one of the best movies of werewolf ever.
This is the third time that I watch this movie, now on DVD, and I like the approach of the dramatic story, using the usual change of behavior of a teenager after her first period in parallel to a werewolf attack.
My vote is seven.Title (Brazil): "Possuída" ("Possessed") My previous review of 24 May 2005: Gore, Weird and Original Horror Movie Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle) are very connected sisters and very weird and morbid persons, having a great attraction with death.
Sooner Brigitte sees that she is right and tries to save her sister from the terrible fate.The first time I saw "Ginger Snaps", I did not like it, since I found the story too bloody and with an open end.
Today I have just watched it for the second time because I bought the DVD with the sequence, and now I found "Ginger Snaps" a gore, weird and original horror movie.
It is a very violent werewolf film, having two excellent lead actresses with great performances, Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle.
Grim horror story about two strange sisters--Brigette (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle).
Intelligent and gruesome black comedy isn't your ordinary werewolf flick, which may be why it's the best werewolf movie we've seen in quite some time.Misfit teen struggles to save her sister, who was bitten by a monstrous wolf and now is having some alarming side-effects.What sets Ginger Snaps a part from your average teen horror flick is the outstanding characterizations that Walton and Fawcett's well-scripted story produces.
I like to think of it more as a coming of age movie, it just so happens that while coming of age, the lead happened to be bitten by a werewolf.Ginger and Brigitte are two socially backwards sisters with a fascination with blood and death.
From then her personality and appearance changes, she blames it on her period whilst Brigitte believes her sister is becoming a werewolf.The concept sounds absolutely ridiculous but the dark, subtly twisted and almost camp way the story is told makes it so fun to watch.
The school nurse is hilariously chirpy whilst delivering a graphic and disturbing description of the menstrual cycle whereas more tense scenes, such as the demise of Trina in the kitchen, are more heavy.Emily Perkins and Katherine Isabelle shot right up my favourite actresses list with this film with their raw and miserable performances.If you like your Rob Zombie horror porn slashers then you will be disappointed with this.
Gothy, antisocial and obsessed with images of death, twisted sisters Ginger (Katherine Isabelle) and Bridget (Emily Perkins) are toughing out their teens in high school hell in deepest darkest Canadian suburbia.
Death obsessed Goths who get their kicks creating mocked "murders" for school projects, Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins) are social misfits who just can't fit in, and have created a suicide pact to murder themselves by age 16 should they still be stuck in their droll, painfully boring life.
The movie opens with a pretty graphic scene of a dog that's been torn to pieces by some strange animal, and then fades pretty quickly into the story of the two Fitzgerald sisters - Ginger and Bridgette.
It happens gradually (and actually begins almost immediately after Ginger is attacked), which heightens the sense of dread, with not everything waiting for the next full moon (the lunar cycle obviously, in the context of the movie, mirroring Ginger's menstrual cycle.) As Ginger and Bridgette, Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins were bang-on perfect, capturing the characters superbly.
The movie is filled with assorted other quirky characters as well (maybe a few too many, and maybe some of those were a bit too quirky, which every now and then makes an otherwise frightening or funny movie fall into a bit of ridiculousness, although that doesn't weaken the overall story too much.) It's quite graphic at times, although nothing seemed gratuitous, and the last scenes of the movie, with Bridgette hunting Ginger down in the house, are really quite creepy and finally offer a look at a very unique looking and scary werewolf.This is extremely well done, and deserves to be considered as one of the better modern horror movies.
Ginger Snaps is quite possibly the best horror film of all time with the subtext of embracing your true persona and adapting to an ever changing life as it surrounds you..
Ginger Snaps is one of the best revisionist horror movies I've seen - if you liked "Ravenous" you'll enjoy this.
Like all the best horror films, the true subject of fear is very real - the earthquake effect of sexual maturity on teenagers, girls in this case, and the disruption of sibling relationships by differing levels of sexual maturity.
Jason, and as horror fans surely you remember Emily Perkins, who plays Brigitte, from her role as Beverly Marsh in 'It.' Anyway, Perkins does a great job as the outcast disgusted with people in general, although her constant look of antipathy on a face always half covered with hair tends to get a little old.
It's hard to accept as a protagonist someone who is constantly sneering at the world.What I really liked about the movie was the way it tied in Ginger's transformation with the raging hormones that tend to impact the lives of teenagers at right about that time of life.
Thus it is more understandable why the two sisters have developed such a bond, which is unusually close even for twins (which they are not).There is one point in the movie, after having been attacked, scratched and bitten, I think, by the neighborhood werewolf, Ginger starts to grow hair out of the huge claw-wounds on her shoulder, and in one scene finds herself talking to the school nurse, who explains to her about changes in her body, such as hair where there was no hair before.
I was not that impressed with the lycanthrope at the end of the movie, but I loved how much it was kept off screen for more than the first hour, just like Spielberg kept that shark out of Jaws completely for a good portion of the film.
I like to think that, like Spielberg, director John Fawcett knew that he had something mediocre in the effects department, if only because a living, breathing, bleeding werewolf is not the easiest thing to come up with on what must have been a less than extensive budget.It really is surprising that Ginger Snaps is able to deal almost exclusively with teens and their budding sexuality and not come off as another exploitive teen horror movie, but it succeeds because the movie is well written, directed, and performed by everyone involved.
Plus there are stretches of time where you don't care for any characters and just wish the whole film had ended early.Bah.A little too much like "An American Werewolf in Paris," except "Ginger Snaps" happily did not make the same error of relying on computer generated images.
John Fawcett, the director of "Ginger Snaps", presents a horror film that shows a lot of originality.
"Ginger Snaps" is recommended for a mature audience since there are some graphic scenes that will stay forever with younger, and more impressionable minds.Highly recommended for fans of horror movies!.
'Ginger Snaps' has both the genuinely creepy moments of the classic monster film and a searching look at the personal terrors of being a social outcast, or the uncontrollable changes of puberty.
Their relationship is put to the extreme test when Ginger is bitten by a werewolf and slowly begins to change.You can go back to 1941's THE WOLF MAN and hear from boys who saw that film and thought about the puberty angle.
The idea of sisters having to deal with this "change" on top of one of them becoming a werewolf makes for a very good gem.GINGER SNAPS pretty much came out of nowhere and become a good little hit across the globe.
But truth be told, then what was shown was quite good, and Ginger's gradual transformation was nicely done, especially the part about the tail.One of the best things about "Ginger Snaps" was without a doubt the acting performances by Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle.
Ginger Snaps is a low budget Canadian horror film that also has a subtext of growing up and puberty.Bridgette (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) are two sisters who are very close and have fascination about death.
Writer Karen Walton has given this film a feminist twist and a lot of it is due to the bond between the two sisters and Bridgette wanting to save Ginger out of that love.Director John Fawcett goes for a more realistic portrayal of High School life and more honest representation of family relationships when children hit adolescent.
The scenes of the two girls lamenting their high-school situation, how they're concerned with that project of life-like death photographs of themselves or the utterly bland and boring school-yard meandering are not that exciting and really make it hard to care all that much about the girls or their condition in the first half and really makes it hard to buy into this one as a horror movie at times.
Ginger Snaps is about two outcast sisters who have a run in with a werewolf, one is infected and their relationship is put to the test.The film relied upon the performances of the two lead actresses, and they did really well, their characters felt real, they really did great, the supporting cast didn't disappoint either, it's really surprising to see a lower budget movie with a mostly unknown cast done so well, but everyone did their jobs well, it's just all around well made.They didn't need to rely on special effects as this film was more about the characters then the werewolf itself, once the werewolf is in fully formed the special effects are good, though I'm not a fan of the design of the creature they still did a good job.Just an all around well made movie makes for a good watch..
When Brigitte's sister Ginger gets attacked by a mysterious creature and starts to change into a werewolf, but all the adults around them think she is just experiencing puberty.It has all the makings of an independent movie, the lack of CGI helps with that.
In fact, Ginger looks a little scary and menacing in some later scenes.Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle are both brilliant in their own ways as the sisters.
We fear them, but also pity them.In the Canadian werewolf movie "Ginger Snaps," it is through the character of 15-year-old Bridgette, played brilliantly by Emily Perkins, that we learn to fear and pity the fate of her older sister Ginger, played by Katherine Isabelle.Ginger's been attacked in the woods and is gradually becoming a werewolf.
It is a horror movie with enough connection to real life to stir your emotions and thoughts for days, and with characters that soak into your heart and stay there.At its core Ginger Snaps is actually a more complex story than it appears, it is about the meaning of devotion, and its failure.
They're outcasts at school, and they hate everyone.When Ginger is bitten by a werewolf in a playground at night, things begin to take a nasty turn for the worst as she begins to slowly mutate over the following month into Brigitte's worst nightmare."Ginger Snaps" is totally self aware, and the two leads (Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins) knock it out of the park in their roles as the demented Fitzgerald sisters.
There is a story line involving two sisters who encounter a werewolf near their suburban home one night, and how they deal with the changes one of them undergoes after being bit, but in the midst of some very tense scenes, someone says something that makes you burst out laughing.Ginger and her younger sister, Bridgett, played by Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins, are disenchanted with suburban life and fantasize endlessly about running away or killing themselves.
The father is silent and hardly there at all.The film is about teen alienation, told through a conventional horror story line - girl gets bit by werewolf, begins turning into one, sister tries to help her out.
Ginger Snaps is definitely one of the best horror movies to come out in a long time.
The two sisters in the movie, played by Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins, are played so well that they actually seem like real people (which is something you don't usually see in a horror movie).
Ginger Snaps is absolutely one of the best horror movies of the year!!
It masquerades itself as a horror movie, but really, the horror element is just a metaphor for female puberty, the pangs of growing-up and the loss of innocence.If you enjoy pastiches like "An American werewolf in London", only a bit gorier and tighter, you will have a good time with 'Ginger snaps' .
Katharine Isabelle pulls off a convincing performance as ginger a girl who is bitten by a wearwolf one night before things start going weird as her sister brigitte played by Emily Perkins who also does a great job with her character tries to cope with what is happening to her sister.
GINGER SNAPS brilliantly uses lycanthropy as a metaphor for puberty, satirizing everything from horror films to teen coming-of-age movies, STD's, family relationships, etc., in the process.
Ginger Snaps is a fine werewolf horror film concerning two teen sisters.
Continuing to review werewolf movies in chronological order, I'm now at 2000 with this, an independently-made movie from Canada being the tale of two teen sisters-Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and her one-year younger one Brigitte (Emily Perkins).
Ginger's sister Brigette (Emily Perkins) is outstanding as she tries to save her sister.Mimi Rogers is excellent as their mother and really added to the humor of this film.It's a must-see for werewolf fans..
Ginger snaps A good film about puberty.