Starring: Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Mimi Rogers, Kris Lemche    Directed By: John Fawcett    Written By: John Fawcett & Karen Walton

The Story: Out of all the monsters I think werewolves get the worst treatment in the movies. There are a lot of good werewolf movies out there, but I'd like to see a werewolf movie that shakes things up a bit. Vampires get all of the fun in the pictures. You can find vampire movies where the vamps have secret societies hiding amongst us, or where their hip party animals....even movies where the normal rules about them don't apply. But werewolves? Nahhhh...they're always just hunting and killing people, driven by an insane bloodlust and taste for meat....and the werewolves themselves have little to no control over themselves when they change. Yeah, some movies have tossed the "full moon" stuff to the side, but I'd like to see a really good werewolf movie one day where the lycanthropes are maybe anti-heroes or something.

Didn't happen with this movie though. Not that it was a bad movie. I liked it. Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald are two teenage girls with very teenaged problems. They're not very happy at home and disillusioned with life in general. They've even made a suicide pact with each other. Don't get the wrong idea....its not like they have a bad home....just clueless parents. The father doesn't even register as a person on screen. He has little to say in the movie and only a few brief scenes. The mom, Pamela, however....well, lets just say she was annoying me, and I'm not even in the movie. She's kind of cloying and oblivious to what bothers the girls. And what bothers them is what bothers a lot of young people. they're bored and don't want to be bored with life. To amuse themselves Brigitte and Ginger stage fake deaths and suicides and take pictures of themselves doing it.

Eek. I mean it. Eek. that's creepy. See what I mean about clueless parents? If my kids were doing stuff like that all of the time I'd think there was a problem I'm not dealing with correctly. But Pamela insists they're just being normal teenaged girls. Right. Uh-huh. Brigitte and Ginger aren't real popular at school but they wear that badge with pride, they like to be different. Even though it gains them the ire of schoolmate and neighbor Trina. I'd call Trina the movie's designated busty blonde bitch but she doesn't rally have the uumph for that. Trina's not mean spirited or devious enough for that. She's more of the spoiled pretty girl that you really couldn't stand type. Oh, and I forgot to mention that neither Ginger or Brigitte have begun to menstruate. A fact that Pamela regards as normal, feeling they'll bloom any day now, but one that makes the girls happy. They don't want the "curse" as they put it. The only problem with this little tidbit is that number one: it doesn't mean squat to the plot, and number two: Its not believable. Yeah, I can buy Brigitte as a late bloomer. The actress Emily Perkins looks like someone in that...err...stage of life. But Katharine Isabelle, who plays Ginger is just too obviously...how do I say this...developed. Not that it matters. Things change drastically for the girls when they find the partially eaten and generall f***ed up carcass of a dog in the park at night. Suddenly the cause of the canine's demise makes an appearance...as a ravenous, hungry werewolf! The wolf quickly grabs Ginger and goes "All You Can Eat Buffet" on her ass. Brigitte tries to help but can't stop the thing from ripping into her sister. Eventually Ginger frees herself from the beast and the two sister run from it into the street....where the wolf thing is promptly hit and killed by a van driven by teenage slacker and dope smoker, Sam.

Since they really weren't supposed to be out that night, Ginger pleads with Brigitte not to call an ambulance or tell their parents when they get home. And they won't have to! Ginger's bloody wounds are healing at such an incredible rate that even Brigitte gasps and says that its not normal. But Ginger makes her keep quiet about that. The problems start when Ginger starts acting strangely. She's suddenly menstruating and she's also starting to get promiscuous. When Brigitte confronts Ginger about her changing attitudes and behavior Ginger accuses her of being jealous. If this wasn't a werewolf movie I'd be inclined to agree. But it is a werewolf movie and a new rule is developed for lycanthropy! Ginger has sex with a local boy (I forgot his name so I'll just refer to him as Jerky Boy) Well, Jerky Boy contracts lycanthropy from Ginger...via sex, I guess. Now that's one they didn't teach us in school. They should. Imagine the impact! "Look, boys and girls, if you don't use a condom you could become a raging, flesh eating wolf thing and kill your friends and family! Go to your local Planned Parenthood for more information!".

Brigitte isn't the only one aware of the sudden changes in Ginger. Sam, the driver of the van suspects something is up. Brigitte confides in him that something is going on, but makes it look like she's the one that was bitten by the werewolf he hit. Sam tries to come up with a cure to help Brigitte, who in turn tries using them on Ginger. (Like a silver belly button ring to ward off lycanthropy). Ginger is in fact taking it in a surprisingly good way. She's scared, to be sure, but not as scared as anyone else would be. She's growing a tail! My Droogies, I'd be freaking out if a tail started growing out of my ass! Too bad Ginger doesn't freak out. Her new nature allows her to not feel bad about doing things like eating the neighborhood dogs or killing Trina. Yep, she does kill Trina, even though it could really be called an accident. Ginger didn't do it as a wolf or anything. But when Trina confronts her and Brigitte one night Ginger's lack of concern for Trina's life and aggressiveness contribute to Trina getting her skull cracked open. The sisters hide the body (first in the basement fridge, then by burying it in the tool shed floor) but Brigitte has had enough. She and Sam concoct a lycanthropy cure from "Monk's shade" (A plant....real or imagined I don't know, or care). Brigitte armed with a syringe of wolf cure goes home to use it on Ginger, but stops to find Jerky Boy....himself becoming a werewolf...attacking a small child. Jerky Boy attacks Brigitte instead and she stabs him with the syringe using the cure....which works! Jerky Boy almost immediately becomes himself, only a little disoriented.

Too bad she didn't have two syringes. Ginger goes on a rampage later that evening....she kills a guidance counselor at school and the janitor and is beginning to like the new "her". Meanwhile Pamela has discovered the body of Trina and starts looking for her daughters. She finds Brigitte who is looking for Ginger. This is where it gets weird. Pamela tells Brigitte she knows the girls have done something awful, but her plan is to burn their house down and go on the lam with her daughters. But Brigitte short of telling her mother the truth just tells Pamela what's going on isn't her fault. Brigitte knows that Ginger has gone to Sam's house (where a big Halloween party is taking place) and goes there with Pamela. Ginger, who is really starting to change physically into a wolf is trying to get laid by Sam who ain't having none of it. (I don't blame him....at this point she's a real dog...get it? Yeah, it was lame. sorry) Brigitte bursts into Sam's room just in time to stop Ginger from killing him. Sam knocks Ginger out and he and Brigitte use his van to transport her back home, where Brigitte has more of the monk shadow plant to make a cure. This by the way is the last we see of the mom, Pamela. maybe there are some scenes that were deleted to show what happens to her. Not on my disc, however. We last see Pamela, tired of waiting for Brigitte in the car to find Ginger in the party house, going inside.

Back at the Fitzgerald house, Ginger has now transformed into a full-fledged werewolf. She gets free of the van and is in the house, stalking Brigitte and Sam. They manage to make some more of the cure, but its too late for Sam. Ginger gets a hold of him and he turns into Werewolf chow. But Brigitte still tries to use the cure, and unfortunately is forced to stab her sister with a knife in self defense. This was almost a let down, because Brigitte didn't have a particularly big knife. You mean a supernatural predator like a werewolf can be killed by such a simple blade? Guess so. Brigitte quietly weeps at dying beast that was once her sister. Actually, I shouldn't be too hard on the knife Brigitte uses....the rules of werewolves are a bit differnet in this movie. Its not like Ginger or Jerky Boy need a full moon to change...they just start changing slowly over the period of a few days.

Ginger Snaps isn't a bad movie....and its not really that much different than many other werewolf flicks either. The Infernal Demons had an okay time watching it. There were a few high points to the film that made it worth the time. Of course there are questions that aren't answered. Who was the original werewolf? The Full moon thing can't be an issue because Ginger is mutating without it....(with a tail! Come on...if werewolves grew tails in human form throughout the ages someone would have noticed! someone back in the dark ages would have seen a peasant bathing in a stream and said "Look! Hans has a tail!") And how does Sam get away with growing all of that weed in a greenhouse? Aren't there cops in this town? Ginger was played by Katharine Isabelle, last seen in the Inferno in the movie Bones. Emily Perkins was Brigitte and I don't know if I've ever seen her in anything before. Pamela, the mother, was played by Mimi Rogers...who for some reason scares the sh!t out of me. Rogers played the mom in the theatrical release of Lost in Space.

Best Lines:  “If you don't like your own ideas, stop having them!” - Ginger to Brigitte.

Are you kidding me?

1.) I'd make a comment on how young people that seem obsessed with death and suicide aren't as earnest as they act towards it (of course some are, but most aren't), but it would be pointless in this movie. Ginger and Brigitte are preoccupied with mayhem, and probably not very bright. Because if I happened upon a freshly killed carcass of a dog, apparently killed by a much bigger and more powerful animal at night, I wouldn't hang around too long.

2.) Yikes! For two dark minded teen girls Ginger and Brigitte haven't seen too many horror flicks! Check this out....if you were with your brother, sister or friend at night and they were attacked by a large dog like animal, badly mauled and then escaped what would you think when you got your brother, sister or friend home and found that their wounds...which should be serious...are healing at an impossible rate? A.) Your brother, sister or friend is a space alien or mutant with a super healing ability. B.) Your brother, sister or friend was right about eating veggies and taking vitamins for all of those years., C.) They were bitten by a werewolf and in due course will become a werewolf. If you picked B, you're a doofus and add two more points to your doofus score if you wouldn't call 911 jut 'cuz they say they're alright.

3.) I've kept some pretty big secrets for friends and relatives. I kept my mouth shut when a friend asked me to not blab about him dating his girlfriend's sister. I shut the hell up when my grand dad went to play pinochle with his buddies but told my grandma that he was stuck in traffic. But if one of my friends was growing a tail after being bitten by a wolf I'd sing like Pavarotti. Screw dropping dimes, I'd be droppin' five dollar bills, 'cuz that's not the kind of secret you want to keep.

4.) Panic does do weird things to people. When Trina dies it is really an accident. Yeah, Ginger is liable for Trina's demise, but only because she dragged her into the house. But then Trina was trespassing in their yard and verbally assaulting Brigitte. Trina dies when she grabs a knife and tries to attack Ginger...she then slips on some spilt milk and bashes her dome on a table. Now, if the girls were smart they'd have called the police and said that Trina came over to their house pissin' mad, grabbed the knife and then slipped. The only thing they'd have to conceal is that Ginger yoked Trina into the house like a red headed stepchild.

5.) For a dope dealing slacker dude, Sam isn't too bad of a guy. When Ginger is on the rampage he offers to help Brigitte trap her so they can try to cure her, even though its practically certain death. Most guys would have just split and left Brigitte to deal with her man-eating sister on her own. (Like yours truly....)

6.) They change the rules for vampires all of the time so why not werewolves? Dig it....in this flick werewolves can be killed by simply hitting them with your car! A mean a regular motor vehicle, too, not like, a silver car or anything. I guess its kind of unfair to the werewolves.....when they change the rules for vampires it usually makes them tougher to beat....like making them immune to sunlight in some movies. but werewolves don't get that kind of consideration. Getting hit by a beat up old van wastes them.

Nudity and Sex: None.

Huh?:

If I were going to hide a dead body I wouldn't bury it on my own property!

When Sam and Brigitte concoct the werewolf cure for Ginger, they should have made enough for more than one syringe. Geez-Louise, haven't kids these days ever heard of contingency plans?

Ginger turns into the ugliest werewolf I've ever seen. She looks like a huge ass hairless ugly friggin' dog that's been gene spliced with a really ugly ass iguana.

At the start of the movie there's a woman having a complete fit about finding her dog dead. Lady, get over it....its just a dog. I'd be upset, too, if it were my pet, but I wouldn't make a big honking scene out of it. The way she acts you'd think she found her husband in the backyard with a dozen arrows sticking out of him and his head cut off.

The Final Judgment: Ginger Snaps are cookies where I come from. Too bad I don't have any. They used to come in these big orange boxes. Ummmm...ginger snaps. Well, the movie Ginger snaps is a decent little expedition in lycanthropic lore. Its not a must see, but it will probably be a welcome view for fans of these kinds of movies. (horror, werewolf fans) The Demons of the Infernal Theater give it three devil heads.