Ginger Snaps

Take pity on the adolescent. Ginger and Brigitte, two sisters, are dissatisfied with their pointless life in a boring ‘burb. They are badly dressed, unpleasant, recalcitrant and very late starting to menstruate. They only show disdain for boys. In the framework of a photography project for school, they take pleasure in staging their own suicide in their own world – in many macabre variations. In the night when Ginger finally has her first period, she is attacked by a wild animal. She recovers from her wounds at remarkable speed, but hair starts to grow on the scars. She changes into a bloodthirsty, sexually aggressive being. The loyalty between the sisters is put to the test when Ginger gradually changes into a werewolf. Brigitte does her best to be nice to Sam, a plant breeder who may be able to help to find a cure.The mood captured wonderfully by the talented cameraman Thom Best is reminiscent of the work of David Cronenberg. There is no shortage of well-known horror and high-school clichés about the blonde bitch and the ‘something-is-out-there’ feeling: John Fawcett knows his classics and masters many genres, but does not look down on them. The dialogues by Karen Walton are sarcastic and mean, not lastly thanks to the poisonous presentation of Katharine Isabelle as Brigitte, a hormone disaster waiting to happen.