Somewhere between the meta-cinematic knowingness of Scream and the self-contained irony of Jennifer’s Body sits Ginger Snaps, a smart, sassy, trilogy of teenage girls dealing with lycanthropy. Or are they really dealing with teenage problems? Menstruation and other signs of puberty; sexuality and relationships; addiction and self-harm; colonialism and manifest destiny; of course, family. These are the themes that run throughout Ginger Snaps, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning.
As a trilogy, Ginger Snaps offers both consistency and variation. The talent involved shift around, giving the trilogy something of a repertory or communal feel about it. Most prominent are the young stars, Katherine Isabelle and Emily Perkins, not well known at the time of the first film’s release yet iconic in relation to this franchise. That speaks to the prominence overall, as across lists of teenage movies, teenage horror and of course werewolf movies, Ginger Snaps is a recognised and largely well-received mythos. This may be partly due to the sparsity of films about teenage girls and the continued distinctiveness even after twenty years.
This limited edition Blu-ray boxset includes all three films with a rich HD transfer. The image is textured if sometimes too grainy, although it works well in the moments of lower lighting. The discs are stuffed full of extras, and the boxset also includes a booklet with essays from such horror aficionados as Kat Hughes (regular on the Uncut Network), Zoë Rose Smith and Dr Rachel Knightley. It will likely keep dedicated fans entertained for a few lunar cycles, and casual fans who pick this up may find themselves fully converted (or transformed?).
Entries within the werewolf sub-genre are often judged on the basis of their creature effects, and in this respect, Ginger Snaps deserves mention alongside classics like An American Werewolf in London, Wolfen, and The Howling. While the effects and indeed the overall mood are comparable to these classics, Ginger Snaps never attempts to imitate these. Across the trilogy and despite the different directors, the practical effects are largely kept offscreen. When they do appear, the artifice adds to the fantastical nature of the films, enhancing the slightly dreamlike quality that juxtaposes nicely with the frequently gruesome body horror.
Ginger Snaps is a recognised and largely well-received mythos. This may be partly due to the sparsity of films about teenage girls and the continued distinctiveness even after twenty years.
Released in 2000, Ginger Snaps burst onto the movie scene with its prominent conceit of lycanthropy as a metaphor for menstruation and maturation. Ginger (Isabelle) and Bridget (Perkins) Fitzgerald are a pair of death-obsessed teenage outsiders, whose encounter with a werewolf (the term is rarely used) leads to major bodily transformations as well as shifts in their social standing. What made the film refreshing at the time and continues to do so is the centrality of the female experience, as Ginger especially undergoes significant alterations. This body horror is combined with psychological splintering, Isabelle expressing her shifts in personality through initially subtle but later overt changes in her body language, as well as an increasing level of impressive makeup and prosthetics (including a tail and additional nipples). Nor are these changes restricted to Ginger, as acne along with further changes in body hair and dentition appear in other characters as well.
The bodily changes as well as the morbid fascinations of the sisters lead to a strong line in dark humour, best expressed in the Fitzgeralds’ interactions with their peers. But the film gains an extra mournful weight in terms of the relationship between the sisters themselves. This is not only an important film about female bodies, but also female relationships. The overall arc of female identity leans uncomfortably hard into limited options and indeed monstrosity, but the film remains an important piece of disruptive art that highlights these limited options with a melancholic and even tragic dimension.
Unleashed is both a direct sequel to the original and a development of its themes, with different problems of young people now wrapped up in a furry, toothy package. In the aftermath of the first film, Bridget finds herself in a rehabilitation centre / asylum, her struggles with lycanthropy relating to those of addiction and self-harm. The film’s treatment of these topics is somewhat superficial, partly because there is also the clash between sexuality and savagery as well as the (truly evil) threat of toxic and controlling masculinity. Unfortunately, the third act rather fumbles these aspects, as the film shifts mechanically and rather clumsily into some plot twists and subversions. The inclusion of Ghost (Tatiana Maslany) provides Bridget with a new sibling figure, but while she is interesting her character is not always convincing. Unleashed is at its best when kept in the claustrophobic confines of the sanatorium, and becomes muddled when it moves outside.
This period (pun intended) prequel mostly works despite its slightly shonky design. Set in 1815, the narrative follows Ginger and Bridget Fitzgerald (played by, respectively, Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins, who you may be familiar with), sole survivors of a party in northern Canada who take refuge in a traders’ fort. Alongside lecherous traders and condemnatory clerics, a silent and stolid indigenous hunter and a troubled governor, there are also (wouldn’t you know it?) werewolves. In addition, there is destiny of a possibly manifest variety and the legends of different cultures come together. The Beginning uses the western trope of nature VS civilisation to great effect, especially since different forms of savagery emerge from different quarters, both within the sisters’ experiences and beyond. Having the same actors, again playing sisters, who encounter the same issue, feels a bit of a stretch when the original film made a virtue of randomness. By contrast, this is overtly a story about fate and what is foretold. Despite this, the setting, gore and dreamlike quality of the film complement each other effectively, and the ending is pleasingly ambiguous.
