Ginger Snaps (2000)

Ginger Snaps is a Canadian horror film about two sisters who have a death obsession. The stylish film begins with a series of elegant staged photographs of fake death scenes. The credits sequence alone is worth the price of admission. The girls are outcasts in their school and devoted to one another, with a possible suicide pact planned. However, everything turns upside down when the older sister gets bitten by a werewolf. She gets her period at the same time (little symbolism there much?) and begins dressing sexily and acting uncharacteristically. Her sister, the younger, frumpier one, finds herself with the task of cleaning up for her sister, covering up for her sister and attempting to find a way to save her life. She enlists the attractive drug dealer in town for help.

One of the best aspects of Ginger Snaps is its fully developed and unique characters. The sisters are strong, complex characters and their complicated relationship is portrayed really effectively. As opposed to most romantic bad boy leads in teen horror movies, the drug dealer is smart, ambitious, AND pretty. Plus, he's able to see beyond people's looks to their personalities. All of the characters in this film are non-stereotypical and complex, as well as non-traditional-looking. There is no way that an American horror film would allow the younger sister to remain her frumpy self – there would have been a makeover planned at some point.

The film is a bit on the gory side, maybe even a little unnecessarily so. But the characters are so interesting and the plot has such unexpected twists that any complaints about the film are mere trifles. This film has a number of sequels as well as prequels.  It's like Friday the 13th for Canadians!