Ginger Snaps: “The curse” gets worse

Ginger Snaps directed by John Fawcett

The viscerally effective horror thriller Ginger Snaps sports a doubly clever title. Gingersnaps, of course, are yummy cookie treats sweetened with molasses and, naturally, ginger, but that is hardly what is being suggested here. “Snaps” can also mean “to go crazy” or “to lose it,” which is certainly the case for the film’s lead character, Ginger Fitzgerald. And more to the point, “snaps” can also mean “to seize with a sudden closing of the jaws,” which is what poor Ginger does quite a lot of here, as she slowly morphs into a truly grotesque werewolf in John Fawcett’s surprisingly effective film. Released in September 2000, the Canadian picture was moderately successful at the box office but has since then become something of a bona fide cult item, and one that has spawned two further entries.

In the film, the viewer encounters the Fitzgerald sisters, the pubescent Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and her 15-year-old junior, Brigitte (Emily Perkins); two death-obsessed oddballs who spend their time making movies of their faked suicides and rehashing their mutual death pact. But their morbid fixation soon palls in the light of a more serious concern. Their suburban community of Bailey Downs has lately been plagued by a series of attacks: some strange creature has been brutally killing the local dogs. And then one night, coinciding precisely with her first menstruation, Ginger is attacked and bitten by that self-same creature, which is then run over and squashed by the van being driven by the local high school drug dealer, Sam (Kris Lemche). Too late for Ginger, though, who soon starts to sprout hair, grow sexually rapacious, smoke pot, and “utter sharp biting words” (yet another meaning of the word “snap”) at everyone around her. But when she actually starts to sprout a tail at the base of her spine, that is when Brigitte realizes that these are not just simple physical and personality changes brought on by Ginger’s first period, and goes to Sam in the hope of finding a cure. And since Ginger’s increasingly promiscuous and violent personality has already resulted in one more infected lycanthrope and at least three dead bodies, that cure cannot come quickly enough…

Watching Ginger Snaps for the first time, this viewer was forcefully reminded of the films of another Canadian filmmaker, David Cronenberg, whose pet theme in films such as They Came From Within, Rabid and The Brood, has been “the body in revolt;” that quease-inducing horror that arises when a person’s body turns against one. Here, Ginger’s slow and agonizing transformation is no less shocking than Marilyn Chambers’ Rose’s was in Rabid or Samantha Eggar’s Nola’s was in The Brood, and her initial period is certainly rougher than Carrie White’s was in Carrie. Yes, the film does use lycanthropy as an apt metaphor for puberty (“They don’t call it the curse for nothing,” the film’s promotional poster proclaimed), and one that should make all teenagers feel a bit better about their own occasional cramp or change in voice!

Metaphors aside, the film succeeds as an excellent horror outing, and the creature that Ginger becomes by the picture’s end is a fairly nasty addition to the werewolf pantheon. The film is pretty darn serious, grim, bloody and downbeat, and what little humor it does possess is provided by the gals’ dim bulb of a mother, played by Mimi Rogers. (Rogers had previously starred in one of this viewer’s favorite films of the ’90s, The Rapture.) Ginger Snaps refuses to follow the typical outlines of more conventional horror films, and viewers hoping for a happy ending, with Ginger successfully restored and hopelessly antisocial Brigitte entering into a romantic relationship with hunky dude Sam, might be a little disappointed — no, appalled — at how things turn out. Perhaps the single best element of the entire affair is Perkins’ contribution, although Isabelle surely has the flashier, showier role. It is genuinely touching what Brigitte puts herself through — including self-infection — to help her older sister, despite Ginger becoming increasingly problematic as the film proceeds. Perkins is just terrific; just look at her glower sullenly from behind her lank hair, shooting out expressions of intensity of which no one would want to be on the receiving end! Truly, the kind of sister anyone would want when the chips are down, or a bloodthirsty monster is running around loose!

Ginger Snaps is hardly a perfect film, good as it is. Many of the characters, Perkins’ and Isabelle’s included, give mumbled line readings, although that might be more a reflection of how teens actually talk today than an inherent problem with the actors themselves. Still, this viewer would greatly have appreciated some English subtitles for the hard of hearing on the DVD that I just watched. Another problem: The werewolf attacks — both those of the initial creature and Ginger’s at the finale — are very hard to follow, what with the frenzied cutting and rapidity of motion involved. Still, the disorientation engendered thereby only serves to ratchet up the fright factor, so no real complaints from me. As mentioned, the film spawned two sequels, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed and a prequel (!), Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, the latter having been released straight to video. And after seeing the first installment in what has turned out to be a trilogy, I cannot imagine anyone not wanting to learn more about those morose, death-obsessed Fitzgerald sisters…