Ginger Snaps (Film Review)

2000 Motion International
Directed by: John Fawcett; Written by:Karen Walton
Starring: Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche, and Mimi Rogers
MPAA Rating:R; Running Time: 108 Minutes
The Nicsperiment Score: 6/10

The Fitzgerald sisters aren't exactly...popular. Obsessed with the macabre, the two inexplicable weirdos have a death pact if they don't move out of the suburbs by their quickly approaching 16th birthdays. When the neighborhood's dogs start getting maimed, suspicion naturally falls on the two girls who make staged death videos and turn them in as school assignments. But then, something crazy happens: The Fitzgerald's discover that the dog-killing culprit is a werewolf...and it bites the older sister, Ginger, on the very night she gets her first period. Is that supposed to be a metaphor or something? Damn, that's heavy handed.
I enjoyed 2000s Ginger Snaps for awhile. It starts off with some nice autumnal atmosphere, and the Fitzgerald sisters are...while not really likeable, at least kind of interesting. The film is kind of unpredictable for a little while, the writing is fairly sharp, and while the werewolf effects aren't incredible, at least the movie is dedicated to practical effects. 

As far as feminist commentary, to say that any statement the film makes is on the nose is an insult to noses. But as a genre film, Ginger Snaps is a fairly good time. However, it could have easily ended in a scene 80 minutes in that eventually gets repeated 100 minutes in. I do appreciate that the film, in the end, casts aspersions at the sisters death fascination--when a character says, "I am not dying in this room," totally free of any snark or irony, I felt it. It was powerful. I do feel like perhaps a heavier focus on anti-nihilism throughout the film would have made Ginger Snaps better instead of its clawing for the silly "You don't like it when a GIRL has fangs!" commentary throughout most of its midsection. The brief anti-nihilism themes actually feel natural and unforced. For its good aspects, I understand Ginger Snaps' cult status. For its bad ones, I understand why it flopped.