Teenage sisters Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) and Brigitte (Emily Perkins) are inseparable outcasts in suburbia, obsessed with committing suicide together, but then a werewolf attacks Ginger on the night of her first menstruation. The puberty metaphor is unsubtle and familiar from horror films with a male perspective, but this 2000 Canadian feature from screenwriter Karen Walton and director John Fawcett carves out a new space for girls in the genre, smashing its long-standing binary of amoral sluts and virginal “last girls” for more complex protagonists who talk and act like real teenagers. Ginger sprouts body hair and a tail, her sex drive growing with her blood lust, but her fear of adulthood and of her own changing body make her experience relatable. The story is told from Brigitte’s point of view, which highlights the pain of a younger sibling as an older one changes. The sharp feminist narrative makes up for the admirable but underwhelming werewolf makeup and other practical effects.
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