"Ginger Snaps" takes a subversive attitude towards the horror genre.
This was one of my primary intentions. In general horror does one of two things: it鈥檚 either mainstream horror or it's B-movie horror. It鈥檚 not usually smart or intelligent horror. Certainly not in the last 15 years. The film to a certain degree just grew out of wanting to be as different as possible. On a superficial level I wanted it to have an entertainment value for the spectator who wants to see a monster and to see chicks. It needed to work on this very basic level. I also wanted it to have a whole load of other layers. I wanted it to appeal wider but I also wanted it to appeal to me.
Writing it with Karen Walton gave it a real yin and yang effect.
I agree. When I approached her I didn鈥檛 necessarily have a story. I had a concept. I went to her and pitched a chick werewolf movie. I knew I wanted to work with young girls, especially after working for most of my career with young guys. I was also interested from the start in making a metamorphosis film, something icky and biological. I also knew that I wanted sisters. I also specifically wanted a woman to write it because I wanted to get a realistic portrayal of what puberty is like for a woman. I was there to let her know when I felt she was falling into genre traps.
You put together a great cast.
I think I was very lucky. It was a sixth month process of casting the girls in Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, New York and Montreal where we almost got to the point where I considered coming to London to cast. The Brigitte character was easier to find but Ginger was harder. It all came together when we bought the girls together and simply stuck them in a room together. The chemistry was fantastic. I went out of my way to make Emily seem vulnerable so that putting her in these awful, horrific situations made you feel even worse for her. But then because of that, it was even better making her do all these sick things.
