Ladies of Horror: Ginger Snaps

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Written by Cat Wilson, catthewilson.com
If The Craft is like Mean Girls, then Ginger Snaps is like Heathers and Daria had a baby that was bitten by a werewolf. Screen play written by Karen Walton, this is a fantastical coming of age story about two sisters Brigitte and Ginger, with lycanthropy as an allegory for menarche (the first menstrual cycle) and puberty. In Ginger Snaps, however there is no sanitized “blue liquid” there is blood, lots and lots of blood. Trigger warning: If the sight of blood, suicide, dead dogs or body horror upsets you, then this film is not for you. The story dark and tragic but artfully to dodges the “monstrous woman” trope, while dealing with themes of sexism, establishing identity and even the distressing trend of doctors patronizing women and girls. The sisters try to explain to a school nurse something is very wrong but are dismissed because this is the first period they experienced.