welsh
Junkmaster
Ginger Snaps -
I took Kharn's advice on this one since he has suggested it. And was pleased. Ginger Snaps is a Canadian flick about two girls, sisters, who have to deal with some strange happenings when the older sister gets bit by a strange animal.
I was actually hoping the story wouldn't go right for the throat with the werewolf bit, but it does. That said it does a nice job re-inventing an old archtype especially as it regards the older sister's first menstration. Yes, menstration- how more horrorifying an idea can you get. THe older sister, whose bosum is quite apparent, is going through her first menstration at 16, she gets bit by a werewolf and starts developing the symptoms. That this happens at the same time of her "coming of age" is one of the enjoyable ironies of the film.
But the movie works best, I think, not because of the werewolf (and the monster effects are not that impressive) but because of the relationship between the sisters. They are believable.
This picks up on something we should have learned from 28 Days Later, you need to have characters that are interesting, believable and ideally, you care for them. The spatterfests of the 80s (Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc) missed this. You can't just have scores of naked co-eds getting cut up to make an effective horror films. That kind of horror borders on a voyeurism of violence. Good horror creates characters and situations that are believable and horrific.
Example- the scene were Jack Nicholson is chopping up the door in the Shining and the wife can't escape. That's terrifying and horrorifying- great horror. But you care about them because you have spent a good chunk of the movie getting to know them. This was also true in The Ring. You might not even like all the characters, but they are human- subject to both weaknesses and strength. They are not just innocent co-eds that happened to be working at the wrong camp in the wrong sequel.
Ginger Snaps does that. The two girsl are dark, into death and torture and we see them first in an array of pictures for a "death project" they are doing for school. They don't fit into the "right" crowd at school because of their darkness, but their bond is great. It is that bond that holds the film together, and which in the end makes it so effective.
Enjoyable, good pick and good recommendation Kharn.
I took Kharn's advice on this one since he has suggested it. And was pleased. Ginger Snaps is a Canadian flick about two girls, sisters, who have to deal with some strange happenings when the older sister gets bit by a strange animal.
I was actually hoping the story wouldn't go right for the throat with the werewolf bit, but it does. That said it does a nice job re-inventing an old archtype especially as it regards the older sister's first menstration. Yes, menstration- how more horrorifying an idea can you get. THe older sister, whose bosum is quite apparent, is going through her first menstration at 16, she gets bit by a werewolf and starts developing the symptoms. That this happens at the same time of her "coming of age" is one of the enjoyable ironies of the film.
But the movie works best, I think, not because of the werewolf (and the monster effects are not that impressive) but because of the relationship between the sisters. They are believable.
This picks up on something we should have learned from 28 Days Later, you need to have characters that are interesting, believable and ideally, you care for them. The spatterfests of the 80s (Friday the 13th, Halloween, etc) missed this. You can't just have scores of naked co-eds getting cut up to make an effective horror films. That kind of horror borders on a voyeurism of violence. Good horror creates characters and situations that are believable and horrific.
Example- the scene were Jack Nicholson is chopping up the door in the Shining and the wife can't escape. That's terrifying and horrorifying- great horror. But you care about them because you have spent a good chunk of the movie getting to know them. This was also true in The Ring. You might not even like all the characters, but they are human- subject to both weaknesses and strength. They are not just innocent co-eds that happened to be working at the wrong camp in the wrong sequel.
Ginger Snaps does that. The two girsl are dark, into death and torture and we see them first in an array of pictures for a "death project" they are doing for school. They don't fit into the "right" crowd at school because of their darkness, but their bond is great. It is that bond that holds the film together, and which in the end makes it so effective.
Enjoyable, good pick and good recommendation Kharn.
