Ginger Snaps Review
John Fawcett's Bloody Good Werewolf Horror
When thinking of the werewolf subgenre, Claude Rains’ Wolf Man immediately springs to mind, or even John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London – particularly where that bloody good, no-holds-barred transformation scene is concerned. Of course, where both features present the werewolf as a snarling figure, perhaps suffering from testosterone poisoning, and the latter was dosed-up with a massive injection of black humour, John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps is a different monster altogether. Scripted by Karen Walton, the film is more the Carrie of the creature-feature genre.
Opening up amid the streets of Bailey Downs, a mutilated mutt coupled with a screaming woman, suggests that something isn’t quite right in the mundane town, particularly when it transpires that this is only the latest in a string of brutal animal killings, caused by the aptly-named ‘Beast of Bailey Downs’.
Enter Bridget (Emily Perkins) and Ginger Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle), two of the moodiest sisters ever committed to celluloid. Their hobbies include photography – their subject being death, they stage nasty accidents and bizarre suicides, and chat at length about offing themselves. Yup, lovely girls, really. At school, they’re outcasts, shunned by classmates and teachers alike. Bridget is bullied by Trina Sinclair, a popular girl who bizarrely, thinks it’s appropriate to waltz around the school grounds with her rottweiler – a big, slobbering monstrosity, which looks a shoe-in for Stephen King's Cujo. It all gives Ginger a taste for revenge.
Plot conventions in teen horror.
Using the “monster as a metaphor” (particularly where teen horror is concerned) has been a well worn plot device in horror. Heck, Buffy the Vampire Slayer did it across its entire seven year run. For more visceral horror, Ginger Snaps infuses this idea brilliantly. There is little focus on the mythology side of things, and instead the creature which Ginger slowly evolves into is nothing short of an effective, disturbing metaphor for puberty.
What takes places is a steady transformation, as Ginger gradually becomes a full-fledged and very hungry she-wolf -- an event cultivating on Halloween. With Bridget and her drug dealer friend, Sam (Kris Lemche) trying to find a cure, will they succeed in saving Ginger, or will Bridget be forced to break their otherworldly pact, and join her sister?
There are popular kids, sure, but they’re certainly not cheerleaders. And the school is remarkably jock-free! Instead, Ginger Snaps is populated with interesting and believable characters – which frequently teeter on the dark and nutty side. Just listen to mother Fitzgerald's advice when she discovers Ginger's nemesis buried under the shed; "First thing tomorrow, I'll let the house fill up with gas and I'll light a match . . ." Sufficient to say, you don’t question where the girls get it all from.
Special effects are a letdown.
With Fawcett point-blank refusing to use any CGI in his film, the narrative relies upon good old fashioned make-up and animatronics. Unfortunately, the only flaw in the effects comes in the form of the end product, with the fully transformed werewolf looking little more than an unkempt stray dog, starving for its next meal. Acting goes beyond the expectations of low-budget horror, with Isabelle successfully portraying the ferocious and tortured Ginger, and Perkins as the desperate sister clinging onto the chance of a cure.
Sophisticated horror.
Ginger Snaps is an intelligent, very adult film, making you cringe one moment and giggle the next. Yet, the slivers of dark humour don’t detract from the fact that this is a rather bleak tale.
Ginger Snaps is also followed by two sequels: The aptly-named Ginger Snaps Back, and Ginger Snaps Unleashed. Bizarrely, the latter sees the girls reunited in the form of their descendants as they roam the foundations of Bailey Downs.
Ginger Snaps werewolf
|
What do you think about this article?
More in Film & TV
Latest Articles