Ginger Snaps

APRIL 6, 2007

GENRE: WEREWOLF
SOURCE: DVD (STORE RENTAL)

Can anyone else wait until April 13th, when a new batch of movies comes out and we won’t have Grindhouse shoved down our throats anymore? It’s a good movie, but Jesus Christ. I think I saw Rose McGowan on the cover of Ebony.

Anyway, I recall seeing part of Ginger Snaps years ago at a friend’s house. “It’s great” he said, and then I watched a not very attractive girl walk around moping and then her mom asked her sister about her period. Somehow I wasn’t fascinated and told him to shut it off. Now years later, I can finally say for sure: he was wrong. It IS good, but great? No. The first half hour takes INCREDIBLE patience to get through, as not only are the characters unlikeable, they’re also Canadian. It's basically two mopey and annoying girls walking around and being bitter because theyre not popular. It’s like watching Ghost World (an execrable pile of garbage the same kid also loved. I should just stop listening to him entirely) by way of Ontario.

But once the wolf attacks and the hot sister starts turning into a wolf, it picks up, and from then on it’s a true rarity: a good werewolf movie. There are only about three or four such films, and about 900 or so bad ones. Especially all the ones made in the past decade. Cursed, American Werewolf in Paris, Underworld… the list can easily be mistaken for an all-encompassing “These movies are amazing piles of shit” list. But by keeping things low-key and using Buffy-style monster metaphors, I must say I was entertained and impressed. Sadly, some truly idiotic plot devices (primarily the girls’ mother happening to buy a ton of the one weed that can cure lycanthropy) knock it down a few notches.

I should also note that the werewolf looks to be full on animatronic or man in suit, i.e. NOT CG. If it IS CG, it’s pretty damn good considering the budget. That alone makes the film automatically better than the others I just mentioned.

Kris Lemche, as the film’s most sympathetic character (a drug dealer!!), should really just ask Jeremy Sisto if it’s OK to borrow his persona when he makes a film. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.

For the 2nd day in a row, the DVD I watched was a full frame piece of garbage. Who in this day and age still wants pan and scan? Especially for an R rated film. Unless you’re like 5 years old, you should understand the point of LBX vs P&S, and anyone that does and STILL wants full frame should just be punched in the cock (I say cock because it’s entirely pointless to try to explain the difference to a woman anyway)

(that was just to see if anyone who reads this site is female).

At any rate, Ginger Snaps can proudly stand with the less than half dozen other werewolf movies that don’t make you wonder why people make werewolf movies in the first place.

What say you?

P.S. I also saw the Halloween remake trailer and I have to admit, almost sadly, that it looks pretty good. I am still on the fence about some of Zombie’s decisions (primarily the fact that Michael’s eyes can be seen clearly through the mask, and they are not the blackest eyes, the devil’s eyes. They are Sabretooth’s eyes), I can safely say that this film has a chance of being the best Halloween film of the Dimension era. Yep, it might be better than Michael being controlled by Druid cults, ruining internet videos, or just plain doing nothing while Josh Hartnett dances to Creed songs.