Ginger Snaps is one of those werewolf movie gems that tells you two things. One if done right CGI sometimes doesn't solve everything in most films. And two Twilight can go screw itself with its pussy-whipped werewolves.
The film starts off on a normal day in a normal small town of Bailey Downs; until a woman finds her mutilated dog in the backyard. And apparently the near neighborhood kids playing street hockey don't seem to care. We're introduced to two sisters who are the main characters; Ginger (played by Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (played by Emily Perkins). Visually explained through the opening credits, the two of them have a hobby of making staged deaths which is their high school project. Now believe me when I say that these two have far better character development than Belle Swan; oh yeah I went there. The film explains that there's the Beast of Bailey Downs that goes around town mutilating dogs. And yet the people in this town don't seem to be worrying all that much. Ginger and Brigitte sneak off at night to steal Trina Sinclair's (played by Danielle Hampton) dog and make it look like the Beast of Bailey Downs killed it. That plan goes as "The Beast" appears, attacks Ginger, and drags her off into the woods. Brigitte gives chase until she comes across Ginger fleeing from the Beast. The Beast catches up with Ginger and continues to mutilate Ginger. I like how this scene doesn't show much of the Beast almost the same way as Dog Soldiers just show bits and pieces of the creatures. With the power of Polaroid, Brigitte hits the Beast with her camera causing the Beast to stop attacking Ginger as she escapes. They manage to get away as the Beast turns into roadkill as it gets hit by a van. Man don't you just hate when that happens when you're a werewolf? One minute you're chasing your next meal and then BAM! Some asshole with a Buick runs you over; there outta be some werewolf insurance. Not for the assholes with their cars I'm talking about for those poor werewolves. Back home Brigitte checks out Ginger's wounds which are already starting to heal; Ginger asked Brigitte to keep this a secret and that she's OK now. Everything seems to be normal at first. The next at school as Ginger hangs out with some students in a van smoking marijuana. Brigitte begins to notice that it's the same van that hit the Beast the another night. Here we're introduced to its driver Sam (played by Kris Lemche) who's a drug dealer in secret at the school. Brigitte questions Sam of what he hit and Sam surprisingly gives a straight answer that it was a lycanthrope (werewolf). Brigitte slowly believes Sam and that Ginger may become a lycanthrope. Later Ginger and Brigitte notices weird hair growths on Ginger wounds and started bleeding from her vagina. But they think that it's coincidentally Ginger having her period.
There's disagreement between the sisters as Brigitte tries to convince Ginger that something has change about her but Ginger isn't listening. Brigitte is approached by Sam returning her photo of the Beast (now to be a lycanthrope) further convinced that what he hit was a lycanthrope. Back home Brigitte discovers that Ginger started growing a tail; this forces her to go see Sam the next day. However, she lies to Sam that it's herself who's turning and ask for help. They both agree that "her" metamorphosis is like a virus and it can possibly be cure; So Sam gives her a earring made of pure silver in the hope that it may purify her. We cut to Ginger with Jason (played by Jesse Moss) soon to be having sex in his car. Some really rough painfully and unprotected sex. Ginger returns home with blood on herself; but it turns out it wasn't from Jason but from some neighbor's dog Norman as she mutilated him off screen. Brigitte convinces Ginger to have the silver earring pierced to her navel. We cut to the next day in the school's restroom when Jason starts to urinate blood and freaks out. Ugh...it’s that time of the month. Well no it turns out that through unprotected sex with Ginger he's now infected and turning. Upon Brigitte and Ginger arriving at Sam's place he disclosed that there's a plant called monkshood that acts like a detox and might kill the infection. Later Trina shows up at the sisters’ house blaming Ginger that she stole her dog. This breaks out into an argument that lends Trina to slip hitting her head on the corner of the kitchen counter, and dies...ouch. The sisters quickly hide her body in the freezer as their parents return home. When the parents went to bed they bury Trina in their backyard. Again not a good place to bury a body. However, their mother find Trina's finger that left behind in the yard and does discover the body later on. The next day at school Brigitte is confronted by the infected Jason freak out and confuse of what's happening to him until the school janitor interrupts him. Back home Brigitte discovers that their mother brought home some monkshood and can now cure Ginger. Brigitte locks Ginger in their bathroom as she heads off to Sam's place to work up a serum. Upon returning home with the cure Brigitte finds the bathroom door ripped open and proceeds to look for Ginger but only to cross paths with Jason attacking a trick-or-treator. As Jason attacks Brigitte instead she takes the syringe to his neck and injects him with the cure. The cure actually works and Jason is completely returned to normal.
With the knowledge that the cure works she heads to the school only to find a guidance counselor Mr. Wayne (played by Peter Keleghan) killed by Ginger. I'm gonna skip a few scenes and head to the end a bit. We cut to a party at Sam's place as Ginger arrives with a wolf-like appearance. She finds Sam and proceeds to seduce him. Brigitte arrives and decided to let Ginger infect her in order to regain her trust. Sam drives Brigitte and Ginger home where there's more monkshood to make the cure. However, Ginger starts to transform into a fully lycanthrope and believe me it's a pretty gruesome transformation. Well not as gruesome as the transformation scene from Doppelganger; I'll talk about that when I get to review it. Upon arriving home, werewolf Ginger breaks out of the van and runs into the house. Brigitte and Sam manage to make another serum before werewolf Ginger grabs Sam and drags him off. So it's down to Brigitte armed with a kitchen knife and syringe as she comes face to face with werewolf Ginger feeding on Sam. Werewolf Ginger eventually kills Sam and chases Brigitte down to their bedroom. Werewolf Ginger continues to stalk Brigitte until she finally attacks her. But Brigitte was able to stab her with the kitchen knife ultimately killing. The film ends with the still infected Brigitte lying on top of werewolf Ginger as she gasped her last breath.
My Final Verdict: Ginger Snaps is those coming-of-age films that's done right when there's a werewolf twist put in to the mix. The characters in the film are more relevant than the characters from Twilight you don't see the social awkwardness from anybody...except for the sisters' mother (played by Mimi Rogers) who is really out there. Even Ginger and Brigitte have better character chemistry than Jennifer and Needy from Jennifer's Body. And that's because whenever Megan Fox tries to act...she not really trying at all. So you can see some actual effort in comparison. It's a real plus that werewolves in this film aren't here to be your friend; so don't except the werewolves here to go horny for a socially dead high school girl. So Halloween is approaching and I'm down to my fifth film to review in this year's Halloween special. So stay tuned next time as I review Teeth...that's right Teeth so prepare yourself folks.
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