To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the cult classic Ginger Snaps, Lionsgate has debuted a 4K UHD Vestron Collector’s Series (#39) edition with tons of legacy bonus features, including extensive interviews and behind-the-scenes footage with the creators and cast, as well as a Lionsgate Limited Extra, The Pact: Ginger Snaps Forever.
It’s no secret that this coming-of-age teenage girl werewolf movie was a slow burn to success. But once it caught on, the wolf was out of the bag, and audiences latched onto the death-obsessed Fitzgerald sisters. Unleashed onto adoring fans, Ginger Snaps continues to find new audiences over two decades after its release.
The evergreen appeal of a film that shines a spotlight on all the strangeness of being a teenage girl in a world that seems designed specifically to sweep so much of the puberty process under the rug, combined with biting witty dialogue, iconic performances, and a practical werewolf design that’s a far cry from our favorite hairy beasts of cinema, have proven to be an ongoing recipe for success.
Director John Fawcett admits that it wasn’t until Lionsgate approached him about creating sequels that he realized it was going well. Katherine Isabelle, who stars as Ginger, shared that the film’s surprise success especially sinks in when she meets the fans. “Every time I see a tattoo of Ginger's face on someone, I'm like, ‘Holy shit.’ There's been amazing cosplays and amazing fan art, but yeah, the permanent tattoos take it for me.”
Isabelle’s co-star, Emily Perkins, added: “I love hearing people's personal stories. Katherine, do you remember those bone pens our characters wrote with? People will come up and be like, ‘Hey, me and my best friend made these bone pens.’”
Bone pens aren’t the only screen-accurate memorabilia Ginger Snaps fans are making by hand. Perkins showed off her fan-made bird necklace inspired by the ones Ginger and Brigitte Fitzgerald wear in the movie.
“They go through the effort of making all this stuff, getting tattoos, making fan art, and making t-shirts. That's when you know people love it.” Isabelle agreed.
Ginger Snaps director John Fawcett grew up a horror fan, and really wanted to do something specific with Ginger’s werewolf makeup. “FANGORIA was massively important to me. I was young, and I collected them. I got every issue, and I was really into all of these great, incredible designers that did makeup effects,” Fawcett explained. “When we were making this movie, that absolutely had a bearing on the decision to go with entirely practical makeup effects.”
“I think that was actually the most difficult look, that kind of transition after the janitor killing when Ginger shows up at the Halloween party. That one we fretted about a lot,” Fawcett continued.
“One of the things about creating a monster like this and trying to be unique was the fact that this monster was female. In that design, we wanted to see specific parts of the female anatomy inside the monster. That was part of it. That was a little something that we hung our hat on a bit, but we just wanted to make it as interesting and as unique as possible because it hadn't been seen very much.”
Isabelle explained that there were various stages to Ginger’s werewolf transformation. “There was a stage one, stage two, stage three, and stage three was the full deal,” she shared. “Just watching the artists do hours of work, getting the body casting and the head casting, you see it all come together bit by bit. Putting it all on is an out-of-body experience. It's definitely like there's a dissociation, but really, it's so helpful to your character even in regular stuff where it's not prosthetics. Once you get the hair, makeup, and wardrobe on, you're like, ‘Ah, now I feel like this person.’
“So to take that to the most extreme level with all these prosthetics, it really is so helpful to what you have to do as an actor. It was an intense process and definitely worth it in the end. I think the design really turned out well. There is this phase where she gets a little bit hotter before she gets super grotesque and terrifying. We all go through those phases.”
In a movie filled with killer one-liners and excellent understated jokes you may miss on the first watch, it’s hard to pick a favorite, but the trio was up for the challenge of choosing their personal favorites. For Isabelle, it’s “When Mimi Rogers says, ‘Maybe I'll just fill the house with gas.’”
“And light a match?” Fawcett happily finished the line.
“And light a match,” Isablle laughed. “I thought that was so funny.”
Perkins is a fan of the Fitzgerald sisters’ motto: “I like ‘out by 16 or dead in the scene. United against life as we know it.' I like that.”
As for Fawcett, “I like the creepy Ginger line when she says ‘We're almost not even related anymore.’”
Ginger Snaps writer Karen Walton has such a command of the particular brand of dark humor that keeps the film on best-of lists more than two decades after its release.
“One of the things that makes this movie really great is [writer] Karen Walton's words,” Fawcett shared. “There are so many iconic lines in this script that people remember because they really, really remember the words, so hats off to her.”
Walton’s words are brilliant, echoing the similar sort of dark humor and wit of Heathers. Fawcett’s direction and Isabelle and Perkins’ dark, deadpan delivery breathe a macabre life into Walton’s words. Isabelle reminisced on another favorite line from Perkins involving the Fitzgerald family dog, “You killed Norman?”, and pointed out “all the dark comedy” that makes the movie so great as a whole.
The Ginger Snaps new 4K release is now available from Lionsgate Limited and is a must for existing fans of the movie and highly recommended for first-timers who have yet to discover this iconic entry in werewolf horror. Check out a full list of the special features below.
For more, check out Mike Gingold's original Ginger Snaps review, where he calls it “Easily one of the two best independent horror films made in North America in the last few years (the other is Larry Fessenden’s Wendigo), and gives renewed hope for the genre, even as it continues to face trouble in the marketplace.”
Ginger Snaps Special Features on the BD + Digital Vestron Collector’s Series:
Legacy Special Features:
Audio Commentary with Director John Fawcett
Audio Commentary with Writer Karen Walton
“Ginger Snaps: Blood, Teeth, and Fur” Featurette
“Growing Pains: Puberty in Horror Films” Featurette
“Making of” Featurette
Cast Auditions and Rehearsals
Creation of the Beast
Being John Fawcett
Production Design Artwork
Deleted Scenes
TV Spots
Theatrical TrailersLionsgate Limited Extra:
The Pact: Ginger Snaps Forever
