Ginger Snaps: A Teen Werewolf Dramedy

When one thinks of werewolf movies, Lon Chaney probably springs to mind – or maybe even Michael J. Fox in Teen Wolf. But there are literally scores of films that have appropriated the age old tale of transformation. It’d be hard to round ‘em all up, but there’s probably no need seeing as the vast majority of these films are middle of the road fair that won’t do to take up you hour and a half.

That being said, there are a few werewolf tales that have been able to move a viewer’s heart muscle – the aforementioned Teen Wolf, obviously, being one of those features. But just about a decade back a Canadian writer and director, John Fawcett, came up with an idea to plop the Michael J. Fox character into a girl’s body. Alright, it probably wasn’t figured out in exactly those terms, but the main characters in Ginger Snaps deal with some of the same issues as Fox did back in the ‘80s.

Regardless, Ginger Snaps, dating from 2000, borrows liberally from a variety of genre films to arrive at its stock in trade. Of course, the whole horror genre is present as is the teen angst film. But adroitly added are those smarmy black comedies and moving beyond just teen angst, the teen drug film is tossed in for good measure.

The plot, concerning two sisters – Ginger and Brigitte – finds the former being attacked by some inexplicably present werewolf which is soon accidentally dispatched by the neighborhood pot dealer and his yellow delivery van. The herbsman’s entrance into the story, though is an auspicious one for the younger of the two sisters.

As Ginger begins her transformation, she momentarily finds herself becoming the object of some young scumbag’s attention. And in the ever classy manner of teenagers, dukes him one time. However, as the werewolf myth is still in play, the fact that Ginger and her suitor don’t use a rubber finds the young man infected with that nasty were-wolfishness.

While this is all going on, Brigitte decides to involve herself with that omnipresent ganjaman. And during the pair’s time together, the cures for such werewolf problems are discussed – it turns out the pothead is an amateur botanist. While this younger sister lies to her stoner friend about who’s infected, Ginger’s case worsens dramatically over the duration of the film. And with Brigitte attempting to help out her sister, the elder teen-wolf is pestered by the doting, but mislead and grown up baby boomer mom, here played by Mimi Rogers to good effect. So with all of the teen angst, drug use and fornicating in place, there’s not too much more to the feature.

Things begin to get more and more messy as Ginger takes to killing whatever she can to sate her animalistic needs. The gory scenes in this flick are less than astonishing, but ample given the slight budget under which all needed to function. And while there’s nothing to detract from enjoying the Ginger Snaps, there’s not too much to draw folks in apart from the fact that a girl power werewolf flick arrives ready made with its audience.