The werewolf has often been seen as a metaphor for puberty and its strange physical changes, but Ginger Snaps makes that link so explicit there’s no metaphor about it. The film also makes it hyper-specific to female maturity, socially and physically, pushing the old fashioned notion of hair growing in strange places to the representation of blood and uncontrollable urges. Ginger Snaps also represents one of the clearest examples of the tone you get from Canadian Horror, not timid and conservative like American or British Horror, but not all out nuts like Australia. The film is perhaps gorier and grosser than it needed to be, but that also gives it a unique charm. Also worth mentioning is the star-making performance of Katharine Isabelle, who never got mainstream notice, but will forever be a Horror icon for this an American Mary.
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