Part of the Ginger Snaps Trilogy series
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Ginger Snaps is a 2000 Canadian werewolf horror film directed by John Fawcett. The film focuses on two teenage sisters, Ginger Fitzgerald and Brigitte Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins), who have a fascination with death. Brigitte is the younger of the two sisters and is fiercely loyal to her, always by her side. However, after a werewolf attacks her sister, and her sister is turning into one, Brigitte battles against both time and her changing sister to secure a cure.
Plot[]
The film begins early October in 2000 in the quiet town of Bailey Downs, Canada. A rash of dog killings has been occurring, all by an unknown terror nicknamed "The Beast of Bailey Downs." A mother finds that their family dog has fallen victim to the beast, and in terror and helplessness, she runs out into her neighborhood, crying out that "He got our dog!" The neighborhood kids and neighbors gave a brief glance and then returned to what they were doing, hinting that they have grown accustomed to the wake of dog killings.
The Fitzgerald sisters were given a slide show assignment to present on "Life in Bailey Downs" for one of their classes. Using Brigitte's camera and a lot of imagination, the sisters put together a macabre presentation of photographs showing Ginger in various stages of death. Though their presentation impressed their classmates, especially to the liking of Jason McCardy, their teacher, Mister Wayne, was sickened by their work and sent them to the guidance counselor's office.
During gym class, the sisters ran afoul of one of their rivals, a field hockey player named Trina Sinclair. One of Trina's friends overheard Brigitte creating a death scene story for Trina, and she promptly informed Trina, to her anger. The sisters notice this, and Ginger tells Brigitte she will "cover her" in the game. However, as Ginger is distracted, Trina pushes Brigitte into the remains of a dog. Trina bullied Brigitte Fitzgerald, pushing her onto the ground. Ginger, ever protective of her younger sibling stood in front of Trina and warned her, "Don't ever touch my sister again".
Deciding to get their revenge, Brigitte and Ginger decide to kidnap Trina's dog that night. They set out and find the mutilated corpse of another dog. Brigitte notices blood on Ginger, thinking it is from the dog, but it proves to be from Ginger's first period. The [[Beast of Baily Downs|Beast of Baily Downs]] attacks, and drags her into the woods screaming. Brigitte rescues Ginger. As the sisters flee, they narrowly escape being hit by an approaching van driven by Sam, which hits and kills the Beast. Brigitte finds Ginger's wounds are already healing and begs her to go to a hospital. Ginger refuses, as she does not want their mother to find out.
After a few days, Ginger begins to grow hair from her wounds, sprouts a tail and menstruates heavily. Ignoring Brigitte's warnings, she has unprotected sex with Jason, then kills a neighbor's dog.
Frightened by what is happening to Ginger, Brigitte turns to Sam. Agreeing the Beast of Bailey Downs is a werewolf, he suggests a pure silver ring may cure Ginger. Brigitte persuades Ginger to have her navel pierced using the ring, but it is ineffective.
On the pretense that Brigitte is the one "changing" instead of Ginger, they visit Sam, who suggests a monkshood solution for Ginger's illness; and informs them that the monkshood grows everywhere, however it only grows during spring. Ginger angrily tells him that they have no time, and accuses him of just wanting to have sex with Brigitte before storming out.
Later, Trina goes to the Fitzgerald house claiming Ginger kidnapped her dog. As Ginger and Trina fight, Trina slips, hitting her head on the corner of the kitchen counter, and dies. The sisters narrowly avoid their parents seeing them as they put the body in the freezer, explaining the blood to be part of another series of death photos for the school project. Brigitte accidentally breaks off two of Trina's fingers trying to get the corpse from the freezer. As they take Trina's body to bury it, they lose the fingers. Brigitte tells Ginger she can't go out anymore, but Ginger remains defiant.
On Halloween, Brigitte takes her mother's monkshood, which was purchased from a craft store, and asks Sam to make the cure. Sam asks if it is for Ginger. Brigitte admits the truth and promises to go to the Greenhouse Bash party.
While trying to track down Ginger, Brigitte is attacked by Jason (whom Ginger infected through unprotected sex) and she defends herself by using the cure on him. She witnesses his immediate change in behavior, which proves the cure's success.
Ginger returns to school looking for Jason. As Brigitte arrives, a message on the PA asks her to go to the Guidance office. She knocks and is dragged inside by Ginger who has killed the counselor. Brigitte calms Ginger down, and goes to find cleaning supplies, but returns to see the janitor with his throat torn open. He survives until Brigitte says he should have gotten help, which incites Ginger to disembowel him with her hand.
The mother discovers Trina's corpse and goes looking for her daughters. While she is looking for them, she sees Brigitte running, and picks her up. As she drives Brigitte to the Greenhouse Bash, she tells her that she will burn the house down by letting it fill up with gas then lighting a match to erase evidence of Trina's death. Brigitte arrives to find Sam rejecting Ginger's advances. As he approaches Ginger, she breaks his arm. In despair, Brigitte infects herself as Sam pleads with her not to. As the sisters leave, Sam knocks Ginger out with a shovel. Brigitte and Sam then take her back to the Fitzgerald house in his van and prepare more of the cure for Ginger.
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 he makes the cure. When he goes to find Ginger, Ginger-Wolf mutilates Sam. Brigitte picks up the dropped syringe and follows the blood trail downstairs. She tries to drink Sam's blood in an attempt to calm Ginger-Wolf but chokes on it. Ginger-Wolf senses Brigitte's insincerity and kills Sam in front of her.
As Ginger-Wolf stalks Brigitte through the basement, Brigitte returns to the room where they grew up. Finding the knife that Ginger had been using to remove her tail, Brigitte holds the cure in one hand and the knife in the other. Ginger-Wolf lunges at Brigitte who accidentally stabs her with the knife. As the movie ends, Brigitte lays her head upon Ginger-Wolf, sobbing, listening until her breathing finally stops, at which point the credits start to roll.
Cast[]
- Emily Perkins as Brigitte Fitzgerald: The younger sister of Ginger Fitzgerald and the daughter of Pamela and Henry Fitzgerald. She tried to help Ginger deal with the effects of Lycanthropy that were slowly turning her into a werewolf. Brigitte sought the aid of a young man named Sam who provided Brigitte with a serum made from Monkshood. She tested the serum on another lycanthropy victim, Jason McCardy. Brigitte confronted Ginger at the Bailey Downs High School after she had murdered teacher Mr. Wayne and the school janitor. She infected herself with Ginger's blood in order to bait her back home so she could inject her with the Monkshood serum. Ginger full transformed into a werewolf and Brigitte was unable to cure her. Brigitte accidentally stabbed her sister in the heart with a knife, killing her.
- Katharine Isabelle as Ginger Fitzgerald: The older sister of Brigitte Fitzgerald and the daughter of Pamela and Henry Fitzgerald. Ginger was attacked and bitten by the Beast of Bailey Downs who infected her with the curse of lycanthropy. Ginger healed from her injuries, but began going through more erratic changes such as violent mood swings, increased libido and even began growing a tail. As the days passed, her ferocity became uncontrollable and she murdered several people and small animals. Brigitte tried to cure Ginger with a syringe filled with serum made from Monkshood, but it was too late. Ginger fully transformed into a werewolf and Brigitte was forced to defend herself at the family home. Brigitte accidentally killed Ginger by stabbing her in the heart with a knife.
- Kris Lemche as Sam McDonald: A drug dealer who worked at the County Regreening Programme in Bailey Downs. He used his work at the greenhouse as a double to sell marijuana. Sam accidentally hit a werewolf with his van, saving the lives of Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald. He later provided Brigitte with a silver earring and told her about Monkshood, a perennial plant that might hold the cure to lycanthropy. Sam prepared the Monkshood into a syringe, but was slaughtered by Ginger (as she transformed into 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 was elated when she discovered that Ginger finally got her period. Pamela later discovered that the girls were responsible for the accidental death of a student named Trina Sinclair. To protect them, she was ready to leave her husband, burn their house down and run away with her daughters to start life anew somewhere else.
- 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 behavior due to her transforming into a werewolf. In her sexual escapade with Jason, Ginger passed the infection onto him. Jason slowly began developing grotesque physical features and violent tendencies associated with lycanthropy. Ginger's sister, Brigitte Fitzgerald, found Jason as he was attacking a young boy on Halloween night. She injected him with a serum derived from the perennial flower monkshood, which seemed to have cured 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 took her frustrations out on Brigitte only to find herself on the receiving end of sister Ginger's punches. She then accused the sisters of stealing her dog, but during the confrontation, she slipped and suffered a fatal blow to the head. Ginger and Brigitte buried 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 a pushover who doted on his daughters and rarely took on the role of disciplinarian. Henry discovered two severed fingers belonging to a murdered student named Trina Sinclair. When he showed them to his wife however, Pamela dismissed them as fake props used in the girls' "death games".
- Peter Keleghan as Mr. Wayne: A teacher and guidance counselor at Bailey Downs High School. He gave the class an assignment to do a presentation entitled "Life in Bailey Downs". He was sickened by the macabre slide show presented by the Fitzgerald sisters and ordered them to his office. On Halloween, when Ginger Fitzgerald was suffering from the violent frenzy of lycanthropy, she returned to Wayne's office and murdered him.
- Christopher Redman as Ben: A student at Bailey Downs High School and friend of Jason McCardy. He enjoyed watching the female field hockey team during gym class and was later seen smoking marijuana with Jason and his friend Tim in the back of Sam's van. On Halloween, Ginger Fitzgerald approached Ben in school and flashed him.
- Jimmy MacInnis as Tim: A student at Bailey Downs High School and friend of Jason McCardy. He enjoyed watching the female field hockey team during gym class and was later seen smoking marijuana with Jason and his friend Ben in the back of Sam's van.
- 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.
- Wendii 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.
- Joey Paul Gowdy as Student: A background student seen walking in the hallways.
- Lucy Lawless as PA system voice (only dubbing, not appeared in the film)
Notes and Trivia[]
The title is a pun on the cookie Gingersnap. "Snap" (snapping) also relates to losing one's self-control, or a quick, aggressive bite.
External Links[]
See Ginger Snaps on the Ginger Snaps wiki