This month, I want to take a look at some of the characters and creators of horror you should know but might not. Lost to time, region, budget, or overshadowed by other work, these icons deserve recognition on the level of a Wes Craven or Freddy Kreuger.
Today's icons come as a pair, and are from such a small series of indie films they don't even earn a last name. Ginger and Brigitte are the central figures in the incredible teen werewolf trilogy Ginger Snaps. They are sisters obsessed with death and ostracized from their peers for being different. No one could have anticipated Ginger being attacked by a werewolf the night of her first period, transforming her into a deadly blend of hormones and bloodlust.
Ginger Snaps is part of a long history of lycanthropy as metaphor for sexual awakening. The difference here is a sympathetic, rather than predatory, look at the subjects. The camera doesn't linger a little too long like it does in Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural and the girls aren't helpless victims like in The Company of Wolves. They're not suddenly the villains like in both versions of Cat People, either.
No, Ginger Snaps is a teenage horror film believably about teenagers. The symptoms Ginger exhibits--body hair where there wasn't hair before, acne and other blemishes all over her body, urges for sexual attention--are treated with the honesty of a fair sex ed program. Her changes are a natural part of growing up; they're just spurred by turning into a werewolf.
Brigitte actually has more screentime than her afflicted sister in Ginger Snaps, and is the only leading character in the sequel Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed. She is the younger sister, and presumably won't start to face the natural (rather than supernatural) changes for at least another year.
She is a fierce ally for her sister. She researches lycanthropy in the search for knowledge and a cure. She teams up with the local drug dealer at her school to get the goods--monkshood--that might save the day. She alone is left standing to face the final fight and initiate one of the most heartbreaking finales to any horror film.
In Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, Brigitte is brought into an asylum against her will as a drug addict; she's shooting up monkshood to keep the lycanthropy in recession. As she goes through withdrawals, she begins to see ghostly visions of her sister Ginger taunting her over their shared curse.
Ginger Snaps: The Beginning is when Ginger herself finally gets to take center stage. The story is a prequel, resetting the events of the original film in a 19th Century trapper colony in Canada. Ginger and Brigitte are the only ones who can actually fight against the werewolves tormenting the small fort town. Their actions here carve a beautiful throughline about family, faith, and fate that alters your perception of the first two films.
So why don't more people know about Ginger and Brigitte? School shootings. Specifically, the entire production of Ginger Snaps came under fire after the Columbine school shooting. The film played to great critical and audience acclaim at the Toronto International Film Festival, yet struggled to get a distributor. It took years for the film to gain an audience, turn a profit, and warrant the two sequels, shot back to back with much of the same cast.
Ginger Snaps is available to stream on HuluPlus; the other two films are not streaming anywhere. All three films are readily available on DVD through Amazon and are well worth it.