In the '90s, teen horror movies were all about big parties, being part of the popular crowd at school, and running from a serial killer who was targeting an attractive friend group. The 2000 Canadian horror movie Ginger Snaps changed all that and told an interesting new kind of scary story. Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins) are sisters and best friends, obsessed with death and darkness and wanting nothing to do with the peers in their town. They're also dealing with the fact that Ginger has been turned into a werewolf.
While the sequel Ginger Snaps 2: Unleased isn't quite as fascinating, and the prequel Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning isn't talked about very often either, Ginger Snaps is considered a cult hit horror movie and has won the adoration of fans of the genre. There's a lot about Ginger Snaps that suggests that it's a perfect scary film about teenagers.
Ginger Snaps is an underrated 2000s horror movie and has definitely become more beloved as time has gone on. The film has a 89% rating on the Tomatometer and 78% Audience Score on Rotten Tomatoes and according to Ginger Snaps Fandom, the movie didn't make very much money at all at the box office. While the budget was $4.5 million USD, Ginger Snaps grossed $572,781.
Ultimately, Ginger Snaps is a special teenage horror movie because it focuses on being different from other people and celebrating that. The movie is up there with underrated teen horror films. As Ginger and Brigitte get older and deal with their monthly flow and other issues, they feel annoyed and angry and frustrated. In an interview with Bloody Disgusting, screenwriter Karen Walton shared that she wanted to include a story of teenage girls having their periods and dealing with the hallmarks of this time in life.
Walton explained, "The more I could ramp the feminine experience, the better, right down to your period, right down to whether you were shaving your legs yet or not, and why not, right down to the very fiber of your being, what people did to distinguish themselves, what kept them together in their little war against being teenage girls, and then what would pull them apart." Walton also said that it was important that the sisters aren't cool or popular: "I wanted to tell a teenage girl scary movie from the point of view of someone who didn’t have all the friends in the world and wasn’t going to all the best parties."
Ginger Snaps and horror movie Jennifer's Body share a lot of things in common. Both movies feature two teenage girls who are super close and who deal with the bodily changes that one of them is going through. Like Brigitte helps Ginger as she becomes a werewolf, Needy (Amanda Seyfried) is there for Jennifer (Megan Fox). Both Ginger and Jennifer are teenage girls who are coming to terms with their sexuality and who start having a lot of sex and then hurting the teenage boys who they are intimate with. In both cases, Needy and Brigitte are left devastated as they miss the person who they were so close to and this big change ultimately ruins both of their lives. While Jennifer's Body is fun and intelligent, Ginger Snaps does talk more about the physical act of growing up as there's a focus on periods, so it stands out a bit more.
Although there are some dark thriller movies about adolesence, Ginger Snaps feels relatable, even though it's raw and disturbing in many ways. The movie definitely has a heavy tone, but audiences can understand how Ginger and Brigitte feel like they don't fit in with everyone around them. Who didn't feel that way back in high school? The sisters find comfort and safety in each other, which is why it's so sad when Ginger changes and Brigitte is left on her own to handle this confusing and complicated situation.
The ending of Ginger Snaps can be interpreted as referring to how sometimes people change as they get older and friends or siblings/other family members grow apart. Brigitte realizes that Ginger is powerful, evil, and almost unstoppable. As Ginger ends up hurting herself and Brigitte can tell that her sister is about to die, Brigitte is incredibly sad and lies next to her sister. Brigitte has these awful feelings, realizing that life will never be the same again. While there are many fun teenage horror movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer and Idle Hands, there's something about the intelligent tone of Ginger Snaps that really has something to say about being a teenager.