After watching Dog Soldiers not long back, I needed some more werewolf action on screen in front of me. As long as it?s on screen, I don?t mind, these things aint real are they!? So there I was, browsing through the movies on offer on Sky Box Office and I come across Ginger Snaps. Now, I had heard that Ginger Snaps was different to other movies in the werewolf genre, I was eager to find out how it was different, so I paid my £3.50 (yes, it?s that much to watch a film on Sky Box Office!), lay down on the sofa, and was taken in instantly by Ginger Snaps.

Ok, so the main reason that I was instantly taken in was the girl who played the lead role, yes I know, I?m shallow, but she had something about her! She was normal, but attractive, nice to see such a girl playing this type of role.

The film was directed by John Fawcett, a director who up until Ginger Snaps had only, as far as I am aware directed TV Series, but they were popular TV Series never the less, with series such as ?As Queer as Folk? and ?Nikita?. I don?t know what the budget for this movie was, but I should think it was pretty low, with not that many surroundings, and bad werewolves! It?s a shame it didn?t do very well in the cinema though. It wasn?t released in the US, so they lost out on the dollars over there, and over here it was only released on 17 screens around the country, so you?d have been lucky to find it at your local cinema. So the outcome of all that? Only £27,000 was made out of this film in the cinema, it was probably made for video release to start with. What a shame though, a good film not done justice once again, but then again, hopefully I will encourage you to go and rent yourself a copy of the film!

Ginger Snaps starts out by introducing you to two teenage sisters who appear to be also each others best friend. The are obsessed with death and for a school project photograph themselves in positions and surroundings that make them look as if they have been brut
ally killed. Not many people at school like them, they are referred to as the nerds, the outcasts an the ones that everybody goes out of their way to push over and laugh at. But that changes for one of the sisters.

One thing I was surprised at is that in this story, the two sisters who are a supposed age of 16-17 haven?t started having periods, and also, haven?t had sex. One lad wants his piece of one of the sisters, ?the one with the rack? as he calls her, and this is where things begin to change for both of the sisters.

Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) is after one of the girls who pushed over her sister, Bridgett (Emily Perkins) during a hockey match. The only way shes knows that she can get her own back on the girl is to kidnap her dog, design another death scene and then photograph the dog in that scene. However, things go a little bit wrong for her. While out looking for the dog, Ginger gets attacked by something which then gets run over by a van. She doesn?t know what it was, but she has wounds and a lot of blood all over her body. Later on that night, she finds that the wounds are healing a bit too quickly?.the next day, the wounds are surrounded by long, fine hair. She won?t admit to herself that anything is wrong, but her sister knows that there is something wrong, and she also thinks she knows what bit her, and what with that tail that appears to be growing?.who knows whats going to happen next.

From here we see the ?normal? sister, bridgitte helping Ginger out, trying to disguise the tail, not saying anything to anyone, but things get out of control as ginger starts fighting people, having sex with people and even worse, tearing people apart. What can be done before Ginger turns into a real werewolf? How much time have they got? I?ll leave the rest for you to watch it yourselves!

Now, a werewolf movie needs special effects, they relie on them, but in the werewolf genre, the special effects have never been overly impressive
due to most of the films being made way back in the 70?s and 80?s. This movie was made in 2000, so you?d expect some decent werewolves, but then again, that all depends on the budget for the film, and as I?ve already said, I don?t know what the budget was, but I should think it wasn?t really all that great! The special effects here are not good, lets put it that way, you see a lot of werewolf towards the end, and it really does look like something which has been hand made, infact it really doesn?t look like the typical standing on two legs werewolf, it?s more of a hairless dog! Actually, it reminded me of one of those Siamese cats, just a large one!

The soundtrack is good, with a lot of grunge rock included.. I doubt many of you will know these tunes, but at least you?ll get a better idea of the soundtrack if I list a couple, and soundtracks are an important part of any film if you ask me!

Love Like Razorblade ? Junkie XL
Overflow ? Razed in Black
Desire to Fire ? Machine Head

Overall then? This is a film which seriously missed out on the box office and the success the box office could have given it. It is now on the shelves of most rental shops and I should think you could buy it in most places if you wished to. It?s a damn good film, let down a little by the special effects and dodgy acting in parts.

And why is it different? This film doesn?t use bullets, it?s not about the dark and they don?t use any silver, as far as I?m aware! Plus, you get to see the ?werewolf change? in stages, which is nice.

Go rent it, it will be well worth your while!