Ginger Snaps

(Canada)

By DEREK ELLEY

A TVA Intl. release of a Copper Heart Entertainment/Water Pictures/TVA Intl./Lions Gate Films production, with participation of Telefilm Canada and the Movie Network. (International sales: Lions Gate, Toronto.) Produced by Steve Hoban, Karen Lee Hall. Executive producers, Noah Segal, Alicia Reilly-Larson, Danile Lyon. Directed by John Fawcett. Screenplay, Karen Walton; story, Walton, Fawcett.
 
With: Emily Perkins, Katharine Isabelle, Kris Lemche, Mimi Rogers, Jesse Moss, Danielle Hampton, Peter Keleghan, John Bourgeois, Christopher Redman, Jimmy MacInnis, Lindsey Leese, Nick Nolan.
 

A slice of suburban Gothic seasoned with a strong dose of "Heathers," "Ginger Snaps" is a quietly subversive my-sister-is-turning-into-a-werewolf movie that doesn't wimp out at the end. Acidly scripted by Karen Walton and inventively helmed by John Fawcett on an obviously tight budget, pic delivers the genre goods while peeking into darker areas that a more mainstream production might shy clear of. Toplined by terrific playing from Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle as the two nasty sisters, "Ginger" could take a moderate bite of the B.O. biscuit with good reviews and a hefty sell, with a cult reputation likely to build in ancillary.

Ginger (Isabelle) and Brigitte (Perkins) are two dysfunctional 15-year-olds in a bland Canadian 'burb, Bailey Downs. Painfully introverted and terminally misanthropic, they communicate with each other in a kind of morbid Valleyspeak, and have sworn to live and die together. They're also both three years overdue on their first period.

Ginger and Brigitte get their kicks by staging grisly death scenes -- all of which is shrugged off by their relentlessly perky mom (Mimi Rogers, clearly relishing the part). Meanwhile, something dubbed "The Beast of Bailey Downs" is going around eviscerating the dog population.

The night Ginger starts menstruating, the sisters are attacked in the woods by a fierce creature but manage to survive; Ginger's wounds rapidly heal but her attitude grows even stranger. To Brigitte's horror, she starts dating boys; even worse, hair starts to grow from her scars and a bony tail from the base of her spine. Panicking, Brigitte forces herself to be nice to Sam (Kris Lemche), the high school's pot supplier, who may have a cure for Ginger's growing lycanthropy.

What's refreshing about the movie is that it never adopts a superior tone to the genre it's gently riffing. While referencing a whole host of high school pictures produced south of the border -- even down to having a blond queen bitch (Danielle Hampton) who despises the badly dressed sisters -- it isn't afraid to go for the corny moments of splashy gore and something's-out-there frissons that the horror genre is heir to.

Werewolf attack scenes make clever use of sound effects, whiplash cutting and suggestion rather than elaborate f/x, proving yet again that a $100 million budget and all the CGI work in the world can often be the enemy of true horror. Glimpses of Ginger's gradual physical transformation are genuinely funny-creepy.

Where the film resolutely refuses to sell out is in its portrayal of the sisters, who are clearly not nice people and go through no final redemption. With her long, disheveled hair, feral eyes and sour mouth, Perkins is especially good as the acid-tongued Brigitte, a hormonal disaster in waiting. As the more glamorous of the two, Isabelle is well cast for her later scenes where she turns into a carnivorous vamp.

Lensing by Thom Best, who also shot Fawcett's first movie, "The Boys Club," favors a toned-down, autumnal palette. Last two reels, however, have a murky, green-tinged look that detracts a little from the action.

Camera (Deluxe Toronto color), Thom Best; editor, Brett Sullivan; music, Michael Shields; production designer, Todd Cherniawsky; art director, Mary Wilkinson; costume designer, Lea Carlson; sound (Dolby Digital), Robert Fletcher, Lou Solokofsky, Orest Sushko; sound designer, David McCallum; special make-up/creature effects, Paul Jones; stunt coordinator, Shelley Cook; associate producer, Tina Goldlist; assistant director, David McLennan; casting, Robin D. Cook. Reviewed at Toronto Film Festival (Perspective Canada), Sept. 10, 2000. Running time: 108 MIN.