Ginger Snaps **** (2000, Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche, Mimi Rogers) – Classic Movie Review 421

Director, co-writer John Fawcett’s 2000 Canadian cult movie is a fascinating, enjoyably gory and scary werewolf film. Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle star as disturbed and rebellious teenage sisters, Brigitte and Ginger, who have an obsession with death. They stage and photograph scenes of death and make a pact about dying together. But then, one night of the full moon, they are attacked by a strange beast.

In early October, on the same night she has her first period, the tough 16-year-old Ginger (Isabelle) is savaged a werewolf. But she survives the attack, though she soon begins to undergo some very bizarre bodily changes, sprouting hair and a tail. Her younger, 15-year-old sister Brigitte (Perkins) battles to find a way out. She tries to find a cure with the help of Sam (Kris Lemche), the local doper. But Halloween and another full moon approach…

This grisly, low-budget werewolf film, boasting plenty of sharp teeth and a scary monster, is a stylishly hair-raising experience for horror fans. Dark but impressive, it captures just the right mood, tone and atmosphere for a successful low-budget werewolf film.

Perkins and Isabelle are excellent, Tom Cruise’s former wife Mimi Rogers is outstanding in support as the girls’ mother Pamela, and John Bourgeois is effective as the dad, Henry.

John Fawcett’s co-writer is Karen Walton and they’ve concocted an admirable story and screenplay together. A popular hit, so two sequels followed: Ginger Snaps 2 and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, both 2004.

Edmonton-born Fawcett also made The Dark (2005). Walton is a graduate of the Canadian Film Centre and did stunt work on Prom Night II.

(C) Derek Winnert 2013 Classic Film Review 421 derekwinnert.com