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). They're both fascinated with depictions of death to the point of photographing each other in various ways of deadly accidents. Then Ginger gets bitten by a wolf while she and her sis are walking down the road...This was both horrifyingly scary and a little funny (I dug that scene of that school nurse giving advice on menstruation). And seeing Mimi Rogers as the deadpan mom was also a hoot to watch especially after she's told what's going on! So on that note, I highly recommend Ginger Snaps.

This movie is the type of movie I look for. It's well made, not well known actors/actresses and fun. The movie is about two sisters who are tight and one changes...literally.The plot is good, the acting is good, and this is not your run of the mill werewolf movie. It has enough action to keep you interested and the characters are developed well. I like the sister angle. I like the twist and the werewolf angle the movie takes.Not your regular werewolf type movie. (Spoiler) Not big on the ending. I'm a happy ending kind of guy, unless a sad ending is necessary. It wasn't necessary in this case, but it was still a good movie and worth the watch.Jim W

As taken from: http://www.beyondvalwood.com/#!A-review-of-the-movie- Ginger-Snaps/c218b/5744d7480cf29ab9ec2c8270Hello readers,It was a typical Monday night. Hazel and I were bored and playing the usual "What would you like to do?" game while I procrastinated on writing my sequel to Beyond the Veil, A Veil of Stars."Do you want to watch a movie?" Hazel barked at me."Yes, but I want to watch something inspiring", I said. "Hey, maybe a werewolf movie, since I'm writing about werewolves!" And so folks, this is how we came to watch Ginger Snaps on Hulu last night. And OMG, do I wish I hadn't. Of all the inspiring movies we could have filled our eyeballs with last night, I chose this horrifyingly bad flick and I want my hour and forty eight minutes back. Think of all the amazing, awe inspiring words that I could have written today that may have been inspired from watching an amazing, awe inspiring werewolf movie (do any of those exist?)...but no. Instead you get this review :PNumerous problems abound with Ginger Snaps, including characterization, pacing, special effects, and the writing itself. Katharine Isabelle as Ginger seems to be trying to hold this entire film together herself, while the other actors are clearly struggling with their parts (with perhaps the exception of Kris Lemche as Sam). This unintentionally funny/horror movie does not know what it wants to be, and it suffers for it with a title that does not match the tone of the film. Hazel, being easily entertained, bless the little dog, gave this film 2 stars. I was not so kind, so it only receives a measly one star from me. Harrumph.This film follows the lives of sisters Brigitte and Ginger as they stage their own deaths and go to school. Things quickly take a darker turn when Ginger swiftly approaches puberty (and by that I mean she starts spewing blood at very inconvenient times) on their way to prank a snotty, popular chick. A werewolf, smelling her menstrual blood, attacks and she is bitten. We follow her journey into lycanthropy (and this could not be any more boring if this film tried, which it clearly didn't). Emo, expressionless and uninteresting Brigitte skulks throughout the entire film as she tries to hide her sister's "curse" and cure her. When we finally do see Ginger in her most glorious werewolf form, I was disappointed to see that she quite resembled the love child between a bat and a pig. And while most of the film is lacking in sufficient action, the ending is so gratuitous that it quickly loses steam into its very fitting, but altogether unsatisfying conclusion.The puberty=werewolfiness angle was bad enough. But the biggest problem Hazel and I had with this movie was the suspension of belief. I don't mean that I had trouble believing werewolves were really pig/bat mutants, but none of the actors would be believable in any setting except for Ginger. If you were thrown into the eviscerated remains of a dog you would be horrified, not merely humiliated and if you suspected your daughter of murder, you would not simply "light a match in the house, forget your husband, and start a new life with your kids!" It was moments like these, AKA bad writing, that pulled Hazel and I out of the story and prevented us from fully enjoying what I believe was a good story buried in the rubble. Somewhere.Now Hazel was not nearly as harsh on this movie as I was. The acting is alright, the cinematography solid, if not a bit bland, and the gradual transformation of Ginger was well done, if not a bit tedious. The adjusted score for this film is 1.5 stars.

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 those of Ginger 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....