Ginger Snaps (film)

Ginger Snaps is a 2000 Canadian werewolf film directed by John Fawcett. The film focuses on two close teenage sisters, Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald (Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins), who are obsessed with death. The title is a pun on the biscuit of the same name. "Snap" also relates to losing one's self-control, or a quick, aggressive bite. During the film's production, the Columbine High School massacre and the W. R. Myers High School shooting took place, causing public controversy over the film's horror themes and the funding it received from Telefilm. Ginger Snaps was well received by critics, and compared favourably with auteur David Cronenberg's work. Critics also praised the lead actresses performances and the film's use of lycanthropy as a metaphor for puberty. Ginger Snaps won the Special Jury Citation award at the Toronto International Film Festival. Based on successful DVD sales, both a sequel, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed, and a prequel, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning, were filmed back to back in 2003.