Why The F*ck Haven’t You Seen … GINGER SNAPS?!
Let me be perfectly honest right from the start. I fucking hate TWILIGHT. Now that’s not exactly an opinion that is going to risk my standing amongst my peers, but it’s important to put out there because all the things it does horribly wrong, GINGER SNAPS gets right. You see, I’m not against playing young love and angst against horror tropes. Hell the confusion and hormonal imbalances of adolescence are a perfect staging ground for the concepts explored in horror. It’s a swirling miasma of rage, lust, pain, joy and fear. A book and film series like TWILIGHT takes a desperate time in any young person’s life and teaches them to look outside themselves for salvation. Bad dialogue, crappy CGI, and poor pacing aside, it’s really the idea that any young woman should be looking elsewhere for validation that I find damaging and ridiculous.
Not GINGER SNAPS, though. This is horror for people who get that kids aren’t adults, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t going through very adult emotions as they grow. We get not one, but two strong female leads in Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle). Sisters who we are introduced to through the student film they are making for school. A graphic depiction of each of them meeting untimely demises in creative and brutal ways. As you can guess they are outcasts, basically relying on each other and no one else. Their predilection for gruesome death projects also gives nice cover in some messy situations that arise later.
As you might guess, things start to change for the worse after Ginger is attacked by a werewolf. The closeness of this insulated twosome is sorely tested as Ginger deals both with getting her period for the first time, and the murderous urges that her slow transformation instills. Brigitte loves and wants to protect her sister, but Ginger doesn’t necessarily mind the changes. For the first time these two face a serious rift in their relationship which is potentially more damaging than the lycanthropic shenanigans at play.
One of the great things about GINGER SNAPS is how it captures adolescence through the lens of someone who remembers what it was like to be there. Werewolves aside, this is a fantastic coming of age story. And exploring the metaphor of Ginger’s change, while she is also dealing with The Change is a nice touch. It’s not a perfect fit meshing menstruation with lycanthropy, but it works a lot better than you might think.
Of course, it’s not all hand wringing. There’s plenty of the red, wet stuff getting slung around. The film isn’t balls to the wall horror, and it doesn’t need to be. It ably creates stakes that leave you cringing at key moments. The only downside for me is that the lower budget seams show in the full transformation design. It broke me out a bit the first time I saw it, but isn’t so bad that it’ll bother you if you go in prepared.
This is a flick that has gained a decent bit of traction amongst the genre community, but really deserves a wider following. It is so much more than just a horror pic.
I’d have to say if you haven’t seen it you’re probably a: pussy/dick/BOOB/asshole.