Ginger Snaps (2000)

Dir: John Fawcett

Starring: Emily Perkins, Katherine Isabelle

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: She's got the curse

Plot: Ginger is 16, edgy, tough, and, with her younger sister, into staging and photographing scenes of death. They've made a pact about dying together. In early October, on the night she has her first period, which is also the night of a full moon, a werewolf bites Ginger. Within a few days, some serious changes happen to her body and her temperament. Her sister Brigitte, 15, tries to find a cure with the help of Sam, a local doper. As Brigitte races against the clock, Halloween and another full moon approach, Ginger gets scarier, and it isn't just local dogs that begin to die.





My Rating: 7.5/10
Would I watch it again? Yeah

"Don't Fence Me In"

Years ago when I worked at Blockbuster part-time I looked at the DVD box and laughed at how stupid it must be. It looked like another average, dumb-as-hell, teenage monster movie. And even though the customers and co-workers said it was great I still passed because, knowing their taste in movies, I figured their standards were low to begin with. What a nice surprise.

The director (who also co-wrote the film) does a fabulous job of making a very serious film and getting the tired cliches work. The acting is quite good. Perkins as the younger sister was fantastic and out-shined Isabelle playing her sister. I'm still not sure if it's Isabelle's performance I'm not crazy about or if it's her character. I'll need to see her in something else to figure it out. I notice that they're both in the two sequels that follow (actually the first sequel IS a sequel with the third film being a prequel). With that and that I enjoyed this one so much I'll have to check out the other two at some point. See the picture below? Perkins has that look throughout the entire picture and it's perfect. She nails the "withdrawn-did-somebody-just-fart" look to the wall. She's a hottie.

"Phrrrrpt"

Great camera-work and great effects, though minimal (which helps), are not hurt by the low budget of $5 million. The less money you have the more creative you need to be. Fawcett did a remarkable job with what he had.

Oh, and the ending was great and very satisfying. Sometimes, when watching a genre film that has a good start, I start thinking they're going to screw up the ending somehow. That's worse than watching a shit film because they had something good going and they blew it. Anybody can make a shitty picture. But not this time. And there was much rejoicing....yeah....