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An amusing addition to the werewolf genre that comes across like the
mutant Canadian offspring of Virgin Suicides and The Howling (both Canadian films by the way???).
The premise itself is worth the price of rental/admission: a werewolf attacks a teenage girl,
attracted by the blood of first menstration. As the lycanthropy infects her, her body begins changing,
developing hair, a tail and vampiric sexual qualities in the process.
This nice spin on possession and puberty is enough to get the ball rolling but
the mix of teen anxiety, lycanthropic legend and middle class American parody don't translate well
in this case. The witty possession comparisons soon fall by the wayside and with it any opportunity for
dark humour (bar the odd line). After the first five minutes (where the sisters plot their teen anx
fuelled suicides and photograph them for a class project, the film loses its focus, darting off
in every different direction whilst never really developing. No one is concerned by the spout of
dog-mutilations in the area, the school scenes are underused and badly played, the story gets sloppy
and the film heads for the safe haven of horror convention: ancient legends, teen sex,
drugs, overbearing parents and special FX.
Although the sisters are excellently played their relationship loses conviction early on as do
most of the characters. The comedy is poorly timed and whilst desperately trying to add something new
to the genre the film ends up clutching at straws. What we are left with is a tasty shandy rather
than a heady cocktail of celluloid spectacle.
However, the film is evidently aware of the conventions and limitations of the horror genre and
plays itself out tongue firmly in cheek which excuses some questionable SFX and the whole superficial,
hateful, redundant bubblegum meglomania of (US) teen (ie. expoitation) films.
Its finest moments are the domestic scenes where (another of Tom Cruises ex's) Mimi Rogers
literally shines as their straight-laced, blissfully utopian mother with a fondness for head-
paraphenalia whose solution to the murder and mayhem rought by her daughters is to gas their
father and all run away together. Nice.
Engaging enough but the first five minutes and the jumpy finale are the best bits.
A tantalising take on teen horror.
RATING: (c)Limer 2001
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Ginger Snaps (Cinema: July 2001)
