Ginger Snaps Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Ginger Snaps is a 2000 Canadian horror film directed by John Fawcett and starring Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle. It is the first installment in the Ginger Snaps series, followed by Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed and Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning. Its reputation includes a large cult following and significant critical acclaim.

Synopsis

In Bailey Downs, a rash of dog killings has been occurring. Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald are teenage sisters who harbor a fascination with death and, as children, formed a pact to move out of the suburb or die together by the age of 16. One night, while on the way to kidnap a dog owned by school bully Trina Sinclair, Ginger begins her first period. The scent of blood results in the girls being attacked by the creature responsible for the maulings. Sam Miller accidentally runs over the beast that was chasing them, saving the sisters.

Following the attack, Ginger undergoes transformations that concern Brigitte. Brigitte finds Sam for information on what he hit, and they both agree that Ginger was attacked by a werewolf and is transforming into one. Sam suggests infusing a monkshood extract, which is impossible to create as the plant is only found in the spring.

Trina shows up at the Fitzgerald house to accuse Ginger of kidnapping her dog. As she fights with Ginger, Trina is accidentally killed. The sisters narrowly avoid their parents and bury the body. Brigitte tells her sister she cannot go out anymore, but Ginger remains defiant.

On Halloween, Brigitte takes monkshood purchased by her mother for a craft project and asks Sam to make the cure, which is successful. Brigitte first uses the extract on Jason McCardy (who was infected by Ginger due to unprotected sex) when he attacked her, and she witnesses his immediate change in behavior, which proves it is a cure. At school, Brigitte discovers Ginger’s murder of a faculty member and witnesses her killing another. Ginger then informs her intent to go after Sam next at the Greenhouse Bash, a Halloween party hosted by him, leaving Brigitte alone.

Brigitte arrives at the party to find Ginger hurting Sam for rejecting her advances. In despair, Brigitte wounds Ginger's and her own palm and clasps their hands together, infecting herself with Ginger's blood. She convinces Ginger of her loyalty and genuine willingness to help her sister, ending their long fight. Brigitte and Sam take Ginger back to the Fitzgerald house in his van to prepare more of the cure for her.

Ginger fully transforms into a werewolf on the way home and escapes the van. Aware that she has transformed, Sam and Brigitte hide in the pantry as Sam makes the cure. When he goes to find Ginger, a transformed Ginger attacks and drags him away. After finding Sam, injured and bloody, she tries to save him by drinking his blood to calm Ginger, but is unable to go through with it. Ginger senses Brigitte's revulsion and insincerity, and she kills Sam in front of Brigitte.

Brigitte defends herself while holding the syringe in one hand and a knife in the other. Ginger lunges at Brigitte and into the knife, fatally wounding herself. Looking at pictures taken of both sisters throughout their adventures on the wall, Brigitte lays her head upon her dying sister's chest and sobs.

Detailed Plot

Twisted Sisters

Bailey Downs is an ordinary small suburban community in Ontario, Canada; however, the town is terrorized by a creature, nicknamed the Beast of Bailey Downs, that slaughters the neighborhood animals.

A small boy is playing in a sandbox when he uncovers and is intrigued by the bloodied paw of his pet dog, Baxter. His mother finds the eviscerated remains of the family pet and grows hysterical. Scooping up the child, she runs out into the street screaming, "It killed our dog!" The elderly neighbors and neighborhood children give a brief glance, but don't give second thoughts as they go back to playing street hockey and watering the garden, unfazed by another killing.

Across the street, the Fitzgerald sisters engage in their own stylized brand of macabre entertainment. Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald are social outcasts with anarchistic attitudes that border on nihilism. In their own introverted paradise, they shun the outside world, modern society, and everything it represents. In the room of their home, the sisters talk about their pending "suicides". Brigitte is concerned that people will laugh, but Ginger is confident that they will be in awe. They are not speaking of actual suicide, but rather, a school project chronicling life in Bailey Downs. Ginger and Brigitte put together an ambitious slide show showing the sisters in various states of death, most of which involve methods that are both violent and grotesque. Ginger is run over by a lawnmower and impaled on a fence, and Brigitte overdoses on drugs and is stabbed by a pitchfork.

The sisters present their slide show to their class, and while most of the students get a kick out of the presentation, including Jason McCardy (who asks to see scenes of Ginger again) their teacher, Mister Wayne (who is also the school guidance counselor) is sickened. He instructs each of them to report to his office after class.

Later, the girls go to gym class where they play field hockey. They are rivals with a more popular student named Trina Sinclair. The sister play a game where they imagine how one of their peers dies, and they choose Trina. One of Trina's friends overhears the sisters making disparaging comments about her and informs Trina, who decides to pay them back by attacking Brigitte during the hockey game. She knocks her down on the hockey field onto the remains of a mutilated dog. Ginger gets in Trina's face, warning her never to touch her sister again. Ms. Sykes, the field hockey coach, breaks up the fight. Brigitte goes inside where the school janitor helps her to clean the dog blood off her face.

The Beast of Bailey Downs

That evening, the girls return home for an uncomfortable family dinner with their parents Pamela and Henry. Ginger complains about a persistent pain in her lower back and Pamela wonders if it might be cramps. The sisters are unique in that neither of them have experienced their first period yet. Pamela tries to offer words of comfort, but the irritable Ginger has no patience for her. After a terse exchange of words, Ginger and Brigitte leave the house.

The two decide to kidnap Trina's dog and fake its death while away from the house and go walking through a nearby park. Ginger begins bleeding and Brigitte notices it dripping down her thigh. Ginger is frustrated, feeling as if her own body is betraying her. Suddenly, they hear a rustling sound from nearby and grow nervous. The legendary "Beast of Bailey Downs", in fact, a werewolf, leaps out and pounces on Ginger. It drags her deep into the woods where it begins clawing and biting at her. Brigitte runs after them screaming Ginger's name. As the monster continues to attack Ginger, Brigitte smacks it across the back with her camera. One of the hits snaps a picture of the creature. Ginger scurries away and the two girls flee the scene. They run across the street and the beast gives chase. As it bounds after them, it is struck by a County Regreening Programme van driven by a young man named Sam. The impact completely destroys the animal. Sam slams on the brakes, gets out his van, and is in shock at the bloody mess, while the girl's stumble back to their house.

In their room, Brigitte frantically begins cleaning Ginger up. Miraculously though, her wounds are already beginning to heal. They both decide that going to the hospital would be a bad idea; besides, Ginger was almost fully healed! Brigitte breaks open her ruined camera and finds the snapshot of the creature's face.

The following day, Ginger and Brigitte go to the local drug store to buy some tampons. Ginger's cramps are overwhelming and she can barely walk. When they reach the checkout counter they see Jason McCardy. Jason recommends "a good toke" to take the edge off. Ginger goes with him and Brigitte finds her later smoking marijuana with Jason and his friends in the back of Sam's van. When Sam returns to his vehicle however, he expresses his disapproval of their actions and kicks them all out. Brigitte grows concerned over her sister's sudden confidence.

It is at this point that Brigitte meets Sam. Sam recognizes her from the previous evening and asks her about what really happened. He says that he is sure that what he hit was a lycanthrope even though his rational mind tells him that no such creature should even exist. Brigitte dodges his inquiries and returns home.

The New Ginger

"I can't have a hairy chest, B. That's fucked!"
Ginger Fitzgerald

At school, Ginger and Brigitte go outside to talk about all of the strange things that are going on. Trina Sinclair approaches them with her dog. Trina has a fondness for Sam, but Sam has no interest in her. Trina's dog begins barking and snapping at Ginger and Trina tries to hold him back. Ginger gets tired of listening to the animal and kicks it in the face. The enmity between Trina and Ginger deepens.

In the restroom, Ginger reveals to Brigitte that she has sprouted hair from her scars. A Brigitte tells Ginger the facts (about her changing appearance and how she was bitten on a full moon), but Ginger dismisses her, but she is angry that the changes are happening. She starts bleeding, and the sisters go to see Nurse Ferry. The nurse talks to them about Ginger's menstrual cycle and goes into great detail of the process, causing both sisters great discomfort.

That evening, Pamela Fitzgerald finds a pair of Ginger's soiled panties in the laundry basket. Realizing that her daughter has finally had her period, she beams with pride. She bakes Ginger her favorite dessert for dinner. She attempts to broach the subject again, but Ginger is overwhelmed with embarrassment. Brigitte and she get up from the table and go to their room. Ginger accuses Brigitte of telling their mother about her period, but Brigitte insists that she never mentioned a thing. The discussion gets heated and Brigitte points out how different Ginger has become ever since the werewolf incident. Ginger counters by saying Brigitte always wanted to be her, but Brigitte, who normally took insults from her sister quietly, denies wanting to be the new Ginger, telling her to go ahead with her habits.

Brigitte begins an independent study to find out more about werewolves and how to treat them. Most sources show werewolves as ruthless and must be destroyed. Meanwhile, Brigitte discovers evidence of Ginger's transformation in the restroom, seeing razors covered in excess hair.

The following day, Ginger sheds her introverted image and proudly struts down the corridors at school. Her hair now has two long white streaks in it. On the prowl, she finds Jason McCardy and tackles him into the grass on the field hockey field. Brigitte watches in disgust as Ginger fawns all over him.

That evening, Brigitte watches Ginger as she sleeps. She notices that she is now growing a vestigial tail. Horrified, she makes plans to visit Sam. She meets with him at the Greenhouse where he works and bridges the discussion about lycanthropy. Brigitte implies that she is the one suffering from the curse, not Ginger. Sam tells her that he read how some metals like silver may purify the blood. He gives her his silver earring and tells her to put it to the test.

Brigitte then goes off to find Ginger. When she finally tracks her down, she finds her in the arms of Jason McCardy. Ginger is still mad about their spat from the previous evening and has nothing to say to her sister. She turns her back on Brigitte and gets into Jason's van.

That night, Ginger has sex with Jason in the back of his car. She comes at him not as a lover, but as a predator. Ginger's sexual energy is too much for Jason and he begins screaming as she digs into him. Ginger returns home, crying. When Brigitte inquires what happened, Ginger runs into the restroom. Brigitte finds her vomiting, blood smeared all across her face. In horror, Brigitte demands an answer, and Ginger replies that she killed Norman, the neighbor's dog. When she comes back inside, Brigitte convinces to try a naval piercing. She uses Sam's silver earring, but when Ginger inquires where she got it, interestingly, Brigitte lies and says she "just found it," further breaking from the sisters normally telling each other the truth about everything. The experience is painful and doesn't produce the results that Brigitte had hoped for. Ginger is still slowly changing into a werewolf.

The Monkshood Solution

The next day at school, Jason McCardy meets with his friends on the bleachers near the hockey field. There are scratches all across his face and blood stains on his trousers. He brags about how Ginger Fitzgerald "rocked my world." On the hockey field however, things become a bit more violent. Trina is still furious at the Fitzgerald sisters for their recent altercations, and she pushes Brigitte onto the ground. Ginger snaps and leaps upon Trina, brutally pummeling her in the face. Ms. Sykes separates them, and Ginger is sent to the guidance counselor. While Brigitte is standing outside Mister Wayne's office waiting for Ginger, she sees Jason McCardy walk by. She notes the blood stains on his pants and knows that Ginger has infected him with the curse of lycanthropy.

Brigitte convinces Ginger to visit Sam, but Ginger believes Brigitte has started a relationship with Sam and just wanted to see him. When they arrive at the greenhouse, Sam researches the lore of lycanthropy and discovers that a perennial plant called monkshood might possess properties that could counteract the curse. Ginger's anger grows with each passing moment and she dismisses everything that Sam says. She even accuses him of trying to seduce Brigitte and cites that she is only fifteen. Brigitte forces Ginger to leave, to which she replies that she won't protect her from Sam. Brigitte rolls her eyes at Sam who states that he does not think of her that way.

That night, as Brigitte is walking home, she unexpectedly meets Trina, who came over to the Fitzgerald house carrying a dog leash and sporting a band aid across her forehead, ready to confront the sisters. She yells at Brigitte and accuses Ginger of stealing her dog. Ginger runs out of the house, grabs Trina in a headlock and drags her inside. Brigitte tries to get her to stop, but Ginger keeps antagonizing the girl. During the scuffle, Trina frees herself and grabs a knife, forcing Ginger back. However, Trina slips and cracks her head on the corner of the countertop, instantly killing her. Brigitte and Ginger hear their parents returning home, and they hide Trina's body in the freezer. They go through the motions of filming another one of their "death movies" for extra credit as a means of explaining all of the blood on the floor. As Henry Fitzgerald looks at them mortified, Ginger wipes her finger through the blood, claiming it is corn syrup. Once the parents are away, they pull Trina's now-frozen body out of the freezer. While using a screwdriver to free Trina's body, Brigitte accidentally breaks two frozen fingers off. The sisters then move the body to the backyard tool shed and bury her. Brigitte tells Ginger she can't go out anymore, and plans for them to lay low until everything passes.

Several days pass, and at school, news quickly spreads about Trina Sinclair's disappearance. As an announcement is made over the PA system, Brigitte forges a note from her mother, excusing Ginger from class. Jason McCardy comes up to her and pushes Brigitte into a supply closet. He is grotesque, suffering from physical transformations, and he demands to know what is happening to him. Fortunately, the school janitor arrives, and Jason is forced to leave Brigitte.

At dinner, Pamela reveals that she knows that Ginger has been cutting class, in addition to telling her that the Mr. Wayne called, asking to question Ginger for Trina's disappearance. The two argue and Ginger storms off. Pamela asks Brigitte what is going on, but Brigitte is distracted when she sees a pile of purple flowers on her mother's crafts table. She asks her what they are and Pamela says that it is monkshood. She runs upstairs to show Ginger the Monkshood and finds her trying to cut off her vestigial tail. Ginger is scared, and Brigitte promises her that the two of them will find a cure and leave town together the next day.

Halloween

"Understand... you may kill her trying to save her."
Sam

The next morning, Brigitte locks Ginger in the bathroom. She says that she needs to find a solution and that she is doing this before Ginger can hurt herself or anyone else. She takes the monkshood to Sam who warns her that he has no idea if this theoretical cure will work- the results could even be fatal. He also reveals that he knows that Ginger is the one suffering from lycanthropy, not Brigitte. Brigitte convinces him to help, and Sam boils the Monkshood down into an extract and aspirated it in a syringe.

Racing home, Brigitte finds Jason McCardy attacking a small child dressed in a Halloween costume. Brigitte confronts him, who has a feral expression crossing his face. He attacks Brigitte, who retaliates by stabs him in the neck with the monkshood needle. Jason falls to the ground, immobile, and suddenly coming back to life, his face returning to normal. A smiling Brigitte realizes the cure works, but now she needs more of the monkshood.

When Brigitte gets home, she finds that Ginger has broken out of the bathroom. She goes back to school where she discovers to her horror that her sister has just slaughtered their teacher/guidance counselor Mr. Wayne. Ginger is even more animalistic than ever. Her teeth are pointed and her facial features are growing even more distorted. They decide to wait until everyone leaves before cleaning up the mess. Brigitte waits until the coast is clear then instructs Ginger to wait while she finds cleaning supplies. However, the janitor is still making rounds in the school, and he accidentally walks into the murder scene. Brigitte returns to find Ginger grievously injuring the janitor, transmitting the infection. Brigitte tries to stop Ginger, but she is consumed with rage. Claiming that she doesn't like how the janitor looks at Brigitte, she finishes him off. Ginger tries to convince Brigitte to willingly become infected and experience changes like her, but Brigitte denies her request. Ginger, dismayed that her sister broke her pact to be "together forever," announces her intent to pay a "visit" to Sam.

At the Fitzgerald residence, Henry finds the two severed fingers of Trina Sinclair in the dirt. Pamela assures him that they are just fake props from one of the girls' death projects; however, she knows differently. She saves the fingers and goes to dig up Trina's remains. Now knowing the truth, Pamela gets into her van and drives off to find her daughters.

A Halloween party is being held at the County Regreening greenhouse where Sam works. Ginger shows up, but by now her hair is completely white and she looks only remotely human. Most of the revelers think that she's just wearing a Halloween costume. She finds Sam and tries to force herself upon him.

Meanwhile, Pamela drives by a running Brigitte and picks her up. Brigitte tells her mother to drive to the Greenhouse. On the way, Pamela tells her daughter that she loves Brigitte and her sister and will do anything to protect them, including burning the house down and running away with them, letting Brigitte know that her mother discovered their secret. Brigitte arrives at the party and searches for Ginger.

Sam pushes Ginger away, but in retaliation she breaks his arm. Brigitte enters the room at the same time, and, at her breaking point, pleads with Ginger to take her instead of harming others. Brigitte cuts her hand and places it on Ginger's bloody palm, thereby infecting herself, proving her loyalty and willingness to help her sister. The sister's fight at an end, they start to leave. Brigitte sees her mom in the party searching for them, but she decides to abandon her mother. Sam revives and knocks Ginger out with a shovel, calling the sisters crazy. Brigitte tells Sam that he is misunderstood and the cure works, but they need to get Ginger back to the Fitzgerald house to get more monkshood. They load her into the van and drive back to the house.

Gingerwolf

As Sam and Brigitte drive back home, Brigitte is seen slightly feverish, indicating the werewolf infection is taking place. Ginger fully transforms into a werewolf on the drive. When Sam and Brigitte arrive at home, they prepare to unload Ginger, who escapes from the van. Frightened, Sam tells Brigitte to turn back, but Brigitte is resolved to cure her sister, and they enter the house; fortunately, Pamela nor Henry are nowhere in sight. As they sense the "Gingerwolf" lurking about, Brigitte and Sam hide inside the pantry, and he begins preparing another mixture of monkshood. Sam wants Brigitte to take it first and then to run away together, but she tells him no, insisting that she needs to cure Ginger first. Brigitte is weakened from the werewolf infection, and Sam volunteers to find Ginger; out of nowhere, she leaps upon him, mutilating him, and drags him away.

Brigitte picks up the dropped syringe, and follows the blood trail downstairs. Weak from exhaustion, she collapses on the steps, dropping the syringe in the process. She recovers it, but when she looks up she sees Ginger hovering over the bleeding Sam. Brigitte slowly crawls towards them and begins lapping at Sam's blood in an attempt to calm Gingerwolf. When she begins choking on it, Gingerwolf senses Brigitte's insincerity and kills Sam in front of her, then leaps at Brigitte.

Brigitte runs away and the Gingerwolf chases after her. She manages to kick a hole through the plaster wall of the basement and scrambles through the crawlspace back to her and Ginger's bedroom. The werewolf claws through the walls, and Brigitte prepares to defend herself by finding the knife that Ginger first used when trying to remove her tail. Finally facing Gingerwolf, Brigitte pleads that she is her sister. When the werewolf fails to acknowledge her, Brigitte announces that she will not die in the room with Ginger. Hearing this, whatever human spirit left in Gingerwolf is let go, and Ginger fully lets the werewolf instincts take over. The werewolf lunges at Brigitte and into her knife, stabbing Ginger in the chest. In shock, Brigitte takes a moment to recover. Realizing what she's done, with tears forming in her eyes, she looks up at the bedroom wall, filled with pictures of memories of the sister's adventures. Brigitte craws to Ginger and lays her head upon her dying werewolf sister's chest, sobbing, listening until its breathing finally stops.

Timeline of Events

See Timeline of Ginger Snaps main article for a detailed day-by-day recording of events.

The events of Ginger Snaps take place in October 1999, starting on 2 October 1999 and conclude on 31 October 1999. The month is asynchronous with the real-life October 1999 calendar month and is completely in-universe.

Cast

  • Emily Perkins as Brigitte Fitzgerald: The younger sister of Ginger Fitzgerald and the daughter of Pamela and Henry Fitzgerald. She tries to help Ginger deal with the effects of lycanthropy that were slowly turning her into a werewolf. Brigitte ultimately fails to cure her sister, resulting in Ginger fully transforming into a werewolf. She accidentally kills Ginger when defending herself.
  • Katharine Isabelle as Ginger Fitzgerald: The older sister of Brigitte Fitzgerald and the daughter of Pamela and Henry Fitzgerald. She was attacked and bitten by the Beast of Bailey Downs who infected her with the curse of lycanthropy. Ginger begins going through erratic changes, and her ferocity became uncontrollable where she murders several people and neighborhood dogs. Ginger at first refused Brigitte's serum cure, wanting to embrace her new sense of power from her werewolf transformation, but eventually acquiesced, albeit too late. Ginger fully transforms into a werewolf, kills Sam, and attacks Brigitte at the family home. She accidentally dies after lunging into Brigitte's knife.
  • Kris Lemche as Sam Miller: A drug dealer who used his work at the County Regreening Programme greenhouse as a double to sell marijuana. Sam accidentally hits the Beast of Bailey Downs with his van, saving the lives of Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald. He suggests Brigitte try a silver piercing cure and tells her about monkshood, a perennial plant that might hold the cure to lycanthropy. Sam prepares the monkshood as a serum and aspirates it into a syringe, which was first used by Brigitte on Jason, seemingly curing him. At the Fitzgerald house, he prepares another dose, but was slaughtered by Ginger (now a werewolf) while trying to administer it.
  • Mimi Rogers as Pamela Fitzgerald: Wife of Henry Fitzgerald and the mother of Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald. She is a happy-go-lucky motherly figure and cared for her daughters, but was often oblivious to her daughter's situations. After discovering Trina's murder, Pamela vows to protect her daughters at all costs.
  • Jesse Moss as Jason McCardy: A student at Bailey Downs High School. He developed an interest in Ginger Fitzgerald, particularly when she began adapting a more aggressive, promiscuous behavior due to her transforming into a werewolf. In her sexual escapade with Jason, Ginger passed the infection onto him. Jason develops violent tendencies and grotesque physical features associated with lycanthropy. Brigitte corners Jason and injects him with a monkshood extract, which appears to cure him.
  • Danielle Hampton as Trina Sinclair: A member of the high school field hockey team and a rival of Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald. On two occasions she takes her frustrations out on Brigitte only to find herself on the receiving end of sister Ginger's punches. She accuses the sisters of stealing her dog, but during the confrontation, she accidentally dies from an accident. Ginger and Brigitte bury Trina's body in the back yard, which was later discovered by Pamela Fitzgerald.
  • John Bourgeois as Henry Fitzgerald: The husband of Pamela Fitzgerald and the father of Brigitte and Ginger Fitzgerald. Henry was portrayed as a pushover who doted on his daughters and rarely took on the role of disciplinarian, of which his wife Pamela took the role. Henry is oblivious to his daughter's murder of Trina Fitzgerald.
  • Peter Keleghan as Mr. Wayne: A teacher and guidance counselor at Bailey Downs High School. He was murdered by Ginger who sensed he was threatening Brigitte after he decided to call her sister to his office.
  • Christopher Redman as Ben: A student at Bailey Downs High School and friend of Jason McCardy.
  • Jimmy MacInnis as Tim: A student at Bailey Downs High School and friend of Jason McCardy.
  • Lindsay Leese as Nurse Ferry: The school nurse at Bailey Downs High School. A cheerful and bubbly woman, she invited the Fitzgerald sisters into her office so she could educate them on puberty and the feminine cycle, but fails to address the Fitzgerald sisters' concern about Ginger's unusual menstruation.
  • Wendi Fulford as Ms. Sykes: The Bailey Downs High School gym and field hockey teacher. She breaks apart Ginger from Trina as they get into a heated argument.
  • Ann Baggley as Mother: An unnamed mother who, after finding her toddler playing with a severed paw, discovered that her dog was murdered by the Beast of Bailey Downs.
  • Pak-Kong Ho as Janitor: A custodial staff member of Bailey Downs High School who is seen helping Brigitte Fitzgerald on multiple occasions. He witnessed the murder scene of Mr. Wayne and was killed by Ginger.
  • Bryon Bully as Hockey Kid: Neighborhood kid who was the owner of Baxter, a dog who was killed by Ginger.
  • Steven Taylor as Puppy Kid: A young boy who was terrorized by Jason McCardy and saved by Brigitte Fitzgerald.
  • Nick Nolan as creature and Gingerwolf (Ginger as a werewolf): Nicknamed the Beast of Bailey Downs, the creature that was killing the town's dogs. Nolan also plays as Gingerwolf, who kills Sam and accidentally kills herself after lunging into Brigitte's knife.

Film Interview

Film Interview by Rue Morgue with John Fawcett and Karen Walton after film shooting late 2000
How did the idea for Ginger Snaps come about?

Walton: Basically John Fawcett and I were looking for a project to do together. John wanted to do a horror project and he very much wanted to do a teen girl horror project. I was reluctant to do horror because I'm a character driven writer and I don't find horror - at least the horror I was familiar with at the time - particularly character-driven. We sort of agreed that as long as we could break all the rules and not have a couple of leads running around and hiding and depending on men for all the answers, it might be fun.


How did you decide, from there, that a werewolf film might be the way to go?

Fawcett: I knew that I wanted to make a horror film to begin with, but when you start thinking about horror films, you go, "well, if that's the genre that I want to work in, then you have to figure out what kind of a horror film it is." One of the things that occurred to me was that there weren't very many examples of really good werewolf films. So I kind of thought that that would be something worth tackling. And that also came from the idea that I knew early on that I wanted to do a transformation movie; the idea of someone metaporphosizing into something else. I had written a short script way back about a female biologist who turns into a tree. And that sounds really stupid but it was a really interesting concept to me and there were a lot of things that I liked about it. When I started in on this werewolf film I wanted to make sure that it was different from everything else that I had seen as far as werewolf films go. I was a really big fan of [David Cronenberg's] The Fly and I really liked the long transformation over the course of the movie. It's a biological mutating transformation that is progressive and doesn't occur by the light of the full moon.


Obviously, the werewolf also worked with the metaphorical subtext of the story.

Fawcett: I don't think it's just a metaphor, that's for sure, it is a monster ultimately. We wanted to make a smart horror film, we actually wanted to have a little purpose, we wanted the film to have some meaning. So as a result, I think there are a lot of things in there about adolescence, the idea that Ginger's body is changing, she's developing new appetites, her hormones are running amok. Because it's a long tranformation, it appears that this is a symptom of heightened adolescence but then things start to get even more bizarre than that and it becomes apparent that she is turning into someone else. It is like a biological transformation; it grows from the inside out and where it affects you first is in the way you act before it starts to manifest itself in physical changes. And so that's interesting definitely for an actor and makes it scary on a different level. Ultimately, aside from the fact that there is a monster and a body count, the film is about two sisters who are extremely close and how, at this point in Ginger's life, they are growing apart. That may sound silly but if you took the monster out of the movie that's what you are left with. For a younger sister, change in an older sibling is a really difficult thing to come to grips with. I supposed if it's going to be a smarter film, it will have to be about the characters first and then about the horror. I'm not trying to say that it's any smarter or different than any other werewolf film, but I guess it is different because it's trying to handle the whole myth of the werewolf in a different fashion.


Walton: We wanted to do a creature feature, but there was also a metaphor to be drawn there between girls coming of age and all the atrocities that your body goes through and all the atrocities that a body in theory goes through when you become a werewolf. The werewolf was the most famous transforming phenomenon that we knew about, and it was the best fit to facilitate the story in which you could actually be confused for a minute about whether someone was just becoming normal or was becoming a monster.


The werewolf in particular has a long tradition in literature and in film. Did you draw significantly from that?

Walton: Oh yeah. We went through the movies that existed that we knew about - that convention was explored. And then I did some research in terms of the history of the werewolf and how it was perceived around the world. And that helped me compile the big list of the traditional "everybody knows this" kind of rules and those were the rules we set out to break. An American Werewolf in London was such a cool way to tell the traditional version of the story. We thought to ourselves: now what can we do when it happens to people in a totally different situation? Ginger Snaps is almost a response.


Did you set out to make Ginger Snaps a scary movie?

Fawcett: I'd have to say that I wasn't going out for the cheap scares. I guess I didn't really plan on necessarily making a scary movie as I did want to make a very atmospheric and creepy movie, a movie that gets under your skin. It's not the big startles that are going to have audiences screaming, although I think that there are two or three good ones in Ginger. I feel like I have a pretty darn good attack sequence when Ginger first gets attacked and I am very excited about the climax with the monster in the house and Brigitte basically trying to save her life. Those kind of scares, when they are true and real, they're fabulous, but most of the time you can see them coming and that makes them artificial. It's those kind of things I avoid when I think about the horror films I want to make, even though I like to watch them. What we opted for was an unnerving, creepy, atmospheric piece.


Walton: I think what's scary about it is that you know full well what's going on in people's heads before they do things, and half the time you're hoping they don't do them. You get to know these ladies quite well, and you start to fear for them because you're really hoping that they'll grow up and get past what they'll probably do and move on. There's some pretty horrific body imagery in it; what's happening to Ginger is pretty terrifying, you just don't know what's going to happen next. There's also some gory bits in there but most of the horror is psychological horror; "what we're capable of doing to each other" horror.


John, you mentioned previously that you considered yourself a horror film fan. What kind of horror films did you mean?

Fawcett: One of my earliest film memories was watching Killdozer, which is kind of a ghost film, but I must have been five or six, my memories are really vague of it. I can't find it on videotape anywhere and I'd kill to get a copy of it! More recent films that I found really unsettling were Seven and Dead Ringers. And Dead Ringers, what is that, a horror film? Well, I thought it was a horror film because I walked away from that and was thinking about it for days after - it just felt like I needed to take a shower every ten minutes. If a film can get under your skin like that then that means it's good, it's effective. And that's why the horror genre is so interesting because it is very visceral and you have to have a reaction to it. You can't sit there and just kind of zone out or walk away and say "it's alright."


Horror is seen so much as a ghetto genre, it's hard to get away from that. Do you expect Ginger Snaps will be lumped in with the teenage slasher label or the werewolf label?

Fawcett: It's hard to say how it should be marketed. I know it's not like a teen horror film, but I know that people are going to call it a teen horror film because, after all, what else do you call it? I don't know if it's a good idea to market it as a werewolf film either, because I believe that the reputation of werewolf films is not good. And if I say that I've made a werewolf film, people will just kind of say, [sarcastically], "oh yeah, I really want to run out and see that," because they've seen so many bad werewolf films. So part of me doesn't even want to market it as a werewolf film, but I think you have to; it is after all a monster film, but it's a tricky one.


Walton: I didn't write Ginger Snaps specifically for teens, I wrote it specifically in hindsight about that experience because, again, the film is a little different from the traditional aspects of the genre. It's not for teenagers, it's about being a teenager and because of that the audience will be a little broader.

Copyright RUE MORGUE Magazine. Reprinted with permission.

Deleted Scenes

There are 15 deleted scenes in the film. See Deleted Scenes main article.

Trivia

See article Trivia for more trivia!

General

  • The taglines for this film are, "They don't call it the Curse for nothing," "She's got the curse," "They are weird... she's got the curse... now her sister tries to save her..." "Hungry like the wolf," and "Ginger Snaps... and Bites."
  • The title of the film is a pun on the biscuit of the same name. "Snap" also relates to losing one's self-control, or a quick, aggressive bite.
  • Ginger and Brigitte's project involving "mock suicides" was filmed in a young family's house in Canada while the family - including a four-year-old child - was home. Various crew members had to spend the day playing with or otherwise distracting the child so she wouldn't see the gory scenes being filmed outside.

Goofs

Continuity Errors

  • When Brigitte and Sam are running through the house trying to find Ginger as a Werewolf, every window they pass has light shining in through them, even though it's supposed to be late at night.
  • When Ginger and Brigitte go to visit Sam because he has an idea, he slams the door when Ginger and Brigitte come in. Then when you see Sam and Brigitte talking the door is open. Also when the door is slammed the hinge is on the left when they are talking the door is the other way round; if you were looking from the same view as when he slammed the door the hinge would be on the right.
  • When the girls are eating supper after Ginger has been bitten, there is a ham on the table, but their father Henry is eating a chicken leg.
  • When Brigitte pulls out the Polaroid picture out of the camera, the picture comes out the wrong way with the bottom of the picture last (the bottom should come out first).
  • Sam hits the werewolf with the front-left of his van, with the werewolf prop bouncing off and to the left. While there is lots of blood splatter, the prop is clearly not very heavy, so the van is not damaged in any way. Just a few seconds later, in the next shot of the van, the front grill is missing and part of the hood and area behind the front bumper are caved in.


Further Film Recommendations:

  • An American Werewolf in London
  • Curse of the Werewolf
  • Dog Soldiers
  • Full Eclipse
  • Ginger Snaps
  • Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning
  • Ginger Snaps: Unleashed
  • Howling
  • Howling II: Your Sister is a Werewolf
  • Huntress: Spirit of the Night
  • Hybrid
  • Howling III: The Marsupials
  • Howling IV: The Original Nightmare
  • Howling V: The Rebirth
  • Howling VI: The Freaks
  • Howling: New Moon Rising
  • Silver Bullet
  • Teen Wolf
  • Teen Wolf Too
  • Werewolf of London
  • Wolf
  • Wolf Man

Connections

References

Werewolf of London (1935)

  • A plant is used as a means of treating lycanthropy.

Kuroneko (1968)

  • The scene of Ginger transforming and biting Jason during sex.

Carrie (1976)

  • Uses horror movie conventions as an inspired metaphor for puberty.

Halloween (1978)

An American Werewolf in London (1981)

  • The abrupt ending, as the monster dies, is a direct stylistic reference to the ending of An American Werewolf in London.

Blade Runner (1982)

The Company of Wolves (1984)

  • Curse as in werewolf and as in menstruation.

The Blair Witch Project (1999)

  • When Ginger is originally dragged off, we are given a shot of Brigitte running into the forest shouting, "Ginger! Ginger!" exactly like the shot of Heather (in BWP) running into the forest screaming, "Josh! Josh!". Same jerky handheld camerawork and lighting etc. Also, the scene where Brigitte slowly descends into the basement (multiple landings and everything) tearfully muttering, "Sam?" (much like Heather does at the end of The Blair Witch Project, muttering, "Mike?").

Silent Hill (1999) (Video Game)


Referenced In

Som and Bank: Bangkok for Sale (2001)

  • Poster on wall.

Jersey Girl (2004)

  • Video case is shown in a video store.

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)

  • There is a shot of a woman screaming "Baxter" after her dog is killed by the Beast of Bailey Downs, directly followed by a shot of a dog identical to Burgundy's dog Baxter. Ron Burgundy screams Baxter in the same way after Baxter is punted off the bridge. There is also a reference to bears being able to smell menstruation in Ginger Snaps, this is echoed by Brick's objections to Veronica Corningstone in Anchorman.

Jennifer's Body (2009)

Splice (2009)

  • Ginger... snaps.

Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010) (Video)

  • Robert Englund mentions it.

Inside the Whore (2012)

  • DVD is visible.

An American Mary in London (2012) (Video)

Darknet: Darknet 6 (2013) (TV Episode)

  • Poster seen.

WolfCop (2014)

  • Willie tries to cure Lou with wolf's bane and comments that he may or may not start to get his period.

Until Dawn (2015) (Video Game)

  • A trophy can be earned called "Ashley Snaps", named after a character with red hair.


Featured In

The Bastard (1968)

SexTV: Dark Desires: Sexuality in the Horror Film (2003) (TV Episode)

  • Clips from movie used in episode.

Nothing (2003)

  • On the TV.

Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)

  • There are a few audio clips from the first movie and some clips from it are shown.

Nightmare in Canada: Canadian Horror on Film (2004) (TV Movie)

  • Includes clips from and discussions of the film.

Weird Sex and Snowshoes: A Trek Through the Canadian Cinematic Psyche (2004) (TV Movie)

  • Clips are shown from the movie as an example of the overall topics of the documentary.

Filmography: Ginger Snaps (2004) (TV Episode)

  • Clips are shown and are talked about.

13 Scarier Movie Moments (2009) (TV Movie)

  • #6 scary movie moment.

WatchMojo: Top 10 Werewolf Movies (2013) (TV Episode)

  • Ginger Snaps is #6.

Beyond Clueless (2014)

  • Clips shown.

The 50 Best Horror Movies You've Never Seen (2014) (TV Movie)

  • One of the featured films.

Ginger Snaps: Blood, Teeth and Fur (2014)

  • Clips shown.

Growing Pains: Puberty in Horror Films (2014) (Short)

  • Clips shown.

Why Horror? (2014)

  • A scene is shown.

WatchMojo: Top 10 Horror Movies: 2000s (2015) (TV Episode)

  • Ginger Snaps gets an honorable mention.

WatchMojo: Top 10 Hottest Goth Girls in Movies (2016) (TV Episode)

  • Ginger Fitzgerald is #4.

MsMojo: Top 10 Smartest Female Horror Movie Characters (MATURE) (2017) (TV Episode)

  • Brigitte Fitzgerald gets an honorable mention.

MsMojo: Top 10 Teen Horror Movies (2017) (TV Episode)

  • Ginger Snaps gets an honorable mention.

WatchMojo: Top 10 Scariest Teen Horror Movies (2019) (TV Episode)

  • Ginger Snaps gets an honorable mention.

WatchMojo: Top 10 Scariest High School Horror Movie Moments (2019) (TV Episode)

  • Ginger, Wolf is #9.

Another WolfCop (2017)

  • SPOILERS AHEAD! Kat's transformation into a werewolf parodies Ginger's appearance in this movie.


Galleries

IMDb film gallery


Quotes

For the full set of quotes, see Quotes article.

Ginger: [to Brigitte] A girl can only be a slut, a bitch, a tease, or the virgin next door.


Ginger: I get this ache... And I, I thought it was for sex, but it's to tear everything to fucking pieces.


Ginger: Out by sixteen or dead on the scene, but together forever.

[Growing impatient waiting for Brigitte to hold her hand]

Ginger: C'mon! Together forever.

Brigitte: United against life as we know it.


Ginger: I said I'd die for you!

Brigitte: No. You said you'd die with me. Cause you had nothing better to do.

Ginger: [Playing with a kitchen knife] Wrists are for girls. I'm slitting my throat.


Brigitte: [on suicide note] Long is the way that out of hell leads up to the light.


Ginger: You swore we'd go together, one way or another.

Brigitte: When we were eight.


[after killing the janitor]

Brigitte: You like it.

Ginger: It feels so... good, Brigitte. It's like touching yourself. You know every move... right on the fucking dot. And after, you see fucking fireworks. Supernovas. I'm a goddamn force of nature. I feel like I could do just about anything.


Ginger: I kill their pets, B, and the only thing that helps is to tear living things to pieces. I can't be like this!


Sam: See, I flattened an animal. Furry, all-fours, could be anything. But here I am thinking "lycanthrope". That's crazy, huh? Book me in to the rubber motel, I'm officially all fucked up, right?

Brigitte: What if you're not?

Sam: Well, that would explain the human circumcised dick... and why you were running for your life from it.


Henry Fitzgerald: [Camera slides away from Ginger and B, dragging Trina's body through the backyard, up to the parents' bedroom where Pamela is flipping through "advice" magazines] I think they're up to something.

Pamela Fitzgerald: They're just being normal teenage girls.

Henry Fitzgerald: Then why are they suddenly so interested in what _you_ have to say?

Pamela Fitzgerald: [Shakes her head contemptuously] Stay in your own little world, Henry. This one just confuses you.


Sam: Biology, now there's something you can sink your teeth into, so to speak. You're real. Your problem is real. The solution is real.


Mr. Wayne: [after seeing the girls 'death' pictures] I am... disturbed, wasn't I? Clearly, the Fitzgerald sisters worked hard...

[under his breath]

Mr. Wayne: God...

Jason: Can we see the ones with Ginger again?


Brigitte: Are you *sure* it's just cramps?

Ginger: Just so you know... the words "just" and "cramps", they don't go together.

[Snatches the box of tampons away]


[after Brigitte cuts her palm]

Brigitte: You wrecked everything for me that isn't about you.

[Brigitte cuts Ginger's palm, exchanges blood with her]

Sam: No. Shit.

Brigitte: Now I am you.

Ginger: I know you are. But what am I?


[while burying girl under the shed]

Ginger: Think she's pretty?

Brigitte: If I wasn't here, would you eat her?


Ginger: You know, we're almost not even related anymore.


Brigitte: Baxter's fertilizer, and everyone's standing there just... staring. Why don't they just catch that thing? How hard could it be in a place full of dead ends?


Pamela Fitzgerald: [brings cake in] Ginger's very favorite. Congratulations sweetie. You know you can ask me anything.

Ginger: [points at Brigitte] You're so dead.

Brigitte: I didn't.

Pamela Fitzgerald: Our little girl's a young woman now.


[Jason and Ginger are about to have sex]

Jason: Don't we need protection?

[Ginger pushes Jason and viciously rips open his shirt]

Jason: Stop! Wait a second.

Ginger: You're fucking hilarious, cave-boy.


Trina Sinclair: [Sam whistles to Brigitte on the field] Hi!

Sam: Brigitte!

[Brigitte and Ginger look at him as Trina looks shocked]

Sam: Brigitte, come here!

Ginger: The fuck, B? You got a boyfriend or something?

Brigitte: No, we just...

Ginger: Oh.

Brigitte: I'll be right back.

Trina Sinclair: [Turning away] Oh my god.

Sam: [Brigitte walks over to him] Hey, what's up? Look, if silver's shot, I've been reading and I got another idea.

Brigitte: Are you on drugs, like right now? I'm in class here.

Sam: [Scoffs] Yeah, excuse me for giving a shit.

[He walks back to his van]

Brigitte: I'll come see you later, ok?

Sam: [Glances back] Whatever.


Brigitte: [Ginger has spent a while in the toilet] Ging, what's going on? Something's wrong with you. More than you being just... female. Could you just say something please?

[Brigitte walks into the toilet, and where Ginger has been slashed on her chest, there is hair]

Brigitte: Whoa.

Ginger: Whoa? That's it? 'Whoa'? I can't have a hairy chest, B. That's fucked!

Brigitte: No way.

Ginger: The fuck? What the fuck?

[Ginger hits the wall]

Brigitte: This isn't...

Ginger: What?

Brigitte: No, like...

Ginger: What?

Brigitte: Bitten? On a full moon. Now you're hairy?

[Ginger chuckles to herself]

Brigitte: I know, but think about it.

Ginger: Well thank you for taking my total fucking nightmare so seriously!


Ginger: [suicide note] No comment.


Ginger: Y'know, maybe you're right. Maybe I _do_ see a monster. Yeah... It's got these little green eyes...

Brigitte: Oh yeah, like I really wish I were hemorrhaging, hairy, and sucking off Jason McCarty.


Pamela Fitzgerald: Jesus Christ on a bicycle! What the - ?


Sam: Fuck! That's your goddamn sister!


Brigitte: I don't want any drugs.

Sam: Then am-scray.


Ginger: Pervert, she's fifteen.

Brigitte: Ginger, wait outside for me!

Ginger: Fine. He rapes you, don't come crying. I'll be at home.

[Leaves]

Brigitte: She's just freaking.

Sam: Um, I do not think of you that way.

[Brigitte looks at Sam, sighs and rolls her eyes]


Ginger: Do you think I want to go back to being nobody? You're fucked!


Pamela Fitzgerald: Your father and I are going to counseling tonight so don't leave the house, they still haven't caught that animal that's loose.

Henry Fitzgerald: They never go anywhere.

Pamela Fitzgerald: You're a big help. As usual.


Trina Sinclair: [about Sam] Don't give her the satisfaction!

[crying]

Trina Sinclair: For once someone shouldn't give that fucker the satisfaction!


Brigitte: I didn't betray you.

Ginger: You locked me up!


Brigitte: Ginger, a word?

Ginger: Is it 'sorry'?


Sam: Understand, you may kill her trying to save her.

Brigitte: What?

Sam: It's for Ginger, isn't it? Look, worst-case scenario, you put her out of her misery. Just as long as you're prepared for that, and I mean, sure. Try to come to that.


Ginger: [to Ben and Tim] Hey, you guys seen Jason?

Ben: [notices blood on Ginger's forehead] Umm... you got a little...

Ginger: You guys going to the greenhouse bash tonight?

Ben, Tim: Yeah.

Ginger: I'm in charge of the prizes.

[she flashes them]

Ginger: You, too, could be a winner.

Mr. Wayne: [Coughs] Ginger. My office. Now.


Jason: Hey, diss me or whatever, but, I got three sisters, and nothing quite takes the edge off like a good toke.

Ginger: Well, maybe I like my edge. Thanks.

Jason: Or maybe you're just chicken to lose it.


[Sam is stoned, and has just ran over the werewolf]

Sam: Oh, fuck me.


Brigitte: You always blow off anything that you don't get.

Ginger: Yeah, when it's bullshit!


Brigitte: Oh my God, you killed Norman.

Ginger: He barked and he barked and he just kept fucking barking!


Ginger: [about becoming a werewolf, drunk on blood] You love it. Should come for the ride. A little scratch. Swap some juice. We'll be our own pack, like before. It's so 'us' B.


Brigitte: Just say you won't go average on me.

Ginger: Just 'cause some gonad gets his zipper going? I'd rather be dead.


Pamela Fitzgerald: [Happily] Oh my god... Do you think it's cramps?

Ginger: [gagging & spewing] Give it a rest... for two seconds?

Henry Fitzgerald: Pam, we're eating.


Nurse Ferry: A thick, syrupy, voluminous discharge is not uncommon.


Brigitte: You gave it to Jason. You had unprotected sex and you infected him.

Ginger: Ooops.


Ginger: [as she attacks Trina from the side] Back for more?

Brigitte: What are you doing?

Ginger: I don't know, B. What _am_ I doing? Call Sam. Ask the Pro.

Brigitte: What?

Ginger: You play with your new friends and I'll play with mine

[drags Trina off into the house]


Ginger: You picked Sam over me, anything that happens now it is your fault!


Sam: [waiting in his van, spots Brigitte]

Sam: Why hello, hello, hello.

[gets out of van and follows Brigitte from behind]

Sam: Hey kid, got a smoke?

Brigitte: [turns around quickly] No.

Sam: [pulls cigarette from behind his ear] Got a light then?

Brigitte: [stops and pulls a lighter from her bag]

Sam: Well, thanks. I've just spent a week of my life looking for you, if you could just give me a sec.

[lights cigarette]


[Camera rolls by a fence until it comes by Ginger seemingly impaled by the fence, blood everywhere]

Brigitte: [holding camera] Too much blood. And I can see your gonch!

Ginger: [sticking up middle finger] Just do it!


[On the field hockey grounds, where Brigitte and Ginger are quietly smoking a cigarette, Ginger proposes a spiteful mental game in which they evidently try to top each others' insults about a person and how he or she might die:]

Ginger: Search and Destroy. Go!

[Brigitte glances at the girls who are taking a break in the soccer game to joke and laugh. Trina is a pretty, lively, and popular girl]

Brigitte: Okay. How about Trina Sinclair?

Ginger: Excellent selection. Continue.

Brigitte: Trina Sinclair. D.O.A. at the hair dye aisle. Perished while seeking matching barrettes on nothing but diet pills and laxatives.

Ginger: Likes her shorts stuck up her ass, correct?

Brigitte: Favorite homework excuse: My nail glitter ate it.

[a friend of Trina overhears them trashing her, and goes to report to Trina]

Ginger: Basic pleasure model?

Brigitte: Your standard cum-bucketty date-bait.

Ginger: [Superior but impressed] Good one.

Brigitte: [glancing around again, notices that Trina is looking furiously at them. To Ginger:] Uh-oh.


Pamela Fitzgerald: Ginger, don't push your sister!

Ginger: God, I hate our gene pool.


Sam: You can't do this alone.


Sam: [throws Ginger off him] I said get off!

Ginger: Jerk!

Sam: I told you to get off me!


Brigitte: I'm not dying in this room with you!


Ginger: Don't ever touch my sister again.


[Sam opens the door to his van]

Sam: The hell you guys doing in here?

Ben: [Greeting him] Sam, The Man.

Jason: Sam, uh, we, we just needed a place to come and smoke.

Sam: Hey, you know, I have an idea. Why don't you guys get the fuck out of my van, assholes! Come on, I'm serious get out! I mean it! Get out!


Jason: I just got a few questions for her, like uh, I'm growing a goddamn TAIL outta my ass, and I thought she might have a few tips on how to deal with keeping that quiet!

Brigitte: Hurting me won't help.

Jason: See? I'm up to some whack shit right now. I'm way out on the corner of Fucked-Up and Evil. You wanna know what I did for fun last night, huh? I killed my own freakin' dog, OK? Now what am I supposed to do about that, huh?


Brigitte: If you give up now you leave me alone, I would never do that to you!

Ginger: I'm sorry. I'm scared...

[starts crying]


Brigitte: High school: just a mindless little breeders' machine.

Brigitte: It's like an infection. It works from the inside out; it's like a virus.

Sam: Right, see, Biology! Now there's something you can sink your teeth into, so to speak. You're real. Your problem is real. The solution is real. Not bam, death by morality call. Then again, when I started that piercing shit? I got infections. Girl says, 'Try pure silver." It cleared up like that.

[snaps his fingers]


External Links


Advertisement