Welcome to Their Nightmare

strongWelcome to Their Nightmare emorem to Live and Die in SuburbiabrJohn Fawcett and Karen Walton Explain Why Ginger SnapsstrongbremBy Steve GravestockembrbrstrongSstrongtrange things are afoot in Bailey Downs a sleepy suburb on the edge of nothing or more accurately Brampton Ontario The sun appears to have gone into permanent hiding Neighbourhood pets are being horribly mutilated Stray body parts are turning up in sandboxes Even the roadndashhockey games somehow seem sinisterbrbrThe liveliest and oddest inhabitants of this eerily normalndashlooking town are the Fitzgerald sisters fiery extroverted 16ndashyearndashold Ginger Katharine Isabelle and her dependent younger sister Brigitte Emily Perkins Gothic types the Fitzgerald sisters are determined to keep as much distance as humanly possible between them and the other students at the conformist high school that Brigitte deems a ldquohormonal toiletrdquo Banding together against an img srcwpcontentuploads201503gingersnaps250jpg hspace3 vspace3 alignrightoppressive outside world they have sworn to get out by the time they both turn 16 or die trying Their bond has taken on an almost supernatural element neither of them has had their period yet and itrsquos about to get even closer and weirderbrbrWhile executing a prank on one of their more popular and vicious schoolmates Ginger finally gets her period and is promptly attacked by a huge ferocious animal The next day she starts sprouting long bushy hairs all over her body and develops an apparently voracious appetite for sex violence and neighbourhood pets though not necessarily in that order Itrsquos as if wersquore seeing George Baileyrsquos ideal housing project from emItrsquos a Wonderful Lifeem six decades later when the repressed have returned home to wreak havocbrbrIn a landscape where smart commercial and genre can seldom be used in the same sentence emGinger Snapsem is a novel and welcome addition to Canadian cinema Directed by John Fawcett emTheBoyrsquos Clubem and written by Karen Walton itrsquos witty biting and as antindashauthoritarian as its heroines Primarily a portrait of suburban teenage angst emGinger Snapsem feels entirely contemporary yet it avoids the smarmy selfndashconsciousness of most current horror films Instead its comic elements and allegorical equation of menstruation adolescence and physical betrayal evoke the great American and sometimes Canadian horror films of the 1970s Running underneath the film is the primal teenage fear that your body will invariably betray you force you to enter a duplicitous world you find despicable and make you abandon the people yoursquore closest tobrbrldquoWhen yoursquore actually considering making a horror film you sit down and ask lsquoOkay what scares mersquordquo says Fawcett while being interviewed in the Toronto office of the filmrsquos distributor TVA ldquoThe thing that I find frightening is the idea that you could wake up one day and find that you have a tumour you didnrsquot have last week In a sense your bodyrsquos betraying you and thatrsquos what itrsquos like in adolescence You think yoursquove got the world figured out and then all of a sudden things change on you All of a sudden yoursquore menstruating or yoursquore growing hair all over your body I think thatrsquos why teen films or films about adolescence are so interesting Itrsquos a period of your life about extremesrdquobrbrA wellndashmatched team Fawcett and Walton each bring something different to the film Fawcett provides an aficionadorsquos awareness of horror movies and an efficient crisp directorial style honed while working on his awardndashwinning short emHalf Nelsonem and his first feature emBoys Club emas well as episodes of the cult television series emXenaem Walton whose first professional gig was on CBCrsquos teen seriesem Straight Upem brings a feminist perspective and a background in capturing the way teenagers speak live and breathe The end result is a film thatrsquos as sharp in its portrait of teen angst as the best of emBuffy the Vampire Slayerem eventhough both Fawcett and Walton were more than aware of the risks they were taking on a variety of levelsbrbrldquoI liked the idea of a transformation movierdquo says Fawcett ldquoThen I started to think about horror and the werewolf legend which is where a person could transform into something else I realized that the werewolf movie hadnrsquot been done very well too many times so there was lots of room to explore But it was also kind of frightening because audiences have a bad preconception about what a werewolf movie is Therersquos a really fine line I didnrsquot want the audience to hear the word werewolf Acutally you do hear it once out of Brigittersquos mouthrdquobrbrLike the Fitzgerald sisters Fawcett and Walton swore their own oath back in 1995 when they first embarked on the project ldquoJohn Fawcett wanted to make a horror film and he wanted to make a teenage girl horror filmrdquo recalls Walton ldquoWhen he approached me I originally said ldquoGah No why would I want to do thatrdquo This was before emScreamem and I was a little concerned about making horror for my debut feature because I wasnt sure we could even get it done So we approached it this way I said lsquoOkay but the girls canrsquot be running around in tight shirts for the hell of it screaming and getting saved by a boyfriendrsquo That was my shtick His shtick was lsquoLetrsquos do it but letrsquos break every rule that we think confines us in any wayrsquordquobrbrThat pact was tested by a lengthy prendashproduction process and two false starts including an offer to produce the film by a midndashrange American company ldquoI got kind of afraid of themrdquo confesses Fawcett about his last foray into Hollywood ldquoFor one they didnrsquot want to put the kind of money in the film we thought it needed to pull it off even on a lowndashbudget level And they wanted the world for that But then they started getting weird conceptually They started saying things like lsquoInstead of Ginger growing a tail maybe she could just get bigger breastsrsquo At the time emSpecies 2em was playing with Natasha Henstridge on the poster looking like a babe That was their whole angle on emGinger Snapsem They wanted a very sexual sort of werewolfrdquobrbrSo Fawcett and Walton headed back to Canada where they found more supportive backers including Telefilm Canada But it wasnrsquot exactly smooth sailing The Columbine High School massacre took place around the time Fawcett began casting and the Taber Alberta copycat killing not long afterwards These events made everyone ferociously sensitive about teens and violence and some people in the media and the industry misrepresented the script Long before filming even began emGinger Snapsem became fodder for radio talk shows and generated a variety of false reports At one point it was described as a vampire film and scenes that depicted accidental deaths were reported as grisly murders where corpses were dismemberedbrbrldquoI think that Telefilm took a lot of flack for putting money in the film because it was perceived early on by people in the press as basically a kind of slasher bloodletting exploitative kind of a thingrdquo recalls Fawcett ldquoThey the press didnrsquot understand what we wanted to do with it That whole thing came on the heels of the Columbine killings I thought the comparisons were completely unwarranted but the story became exaggerated through several tellings I got a little scared because I knew that Telefilm was getting swamped with emailsrdquobrbrThe degree of misinformed reporting is painfully evident from the filmrsquos skillful opening sequence and even more shocking when you see the scenes that were alluded to in the press For example the death of a classmate is to some degree accidental And the body isnrsquot cut up It falls apart because the two girls panic stuff the corpse in the freezer then have to wrench it loose in order to bury it The scene is designed in part to reflect a teenagerrsquos revulsion about bodily processes and other facts of life ldquoI was very conscious of the messages that I would be giving about being a young womanrdquo says Walton ldquoI didnrsquot want to see guns in kidsrsquo hands I didnrsquot want it to be a world where that was considered a viable option Did I worry about emGinger Snapsem glorifying violence No because the entire story is about the girls trying to avoid violence and trying to stop Ginger before she loses control of herselfrdquobrbrldquoIt hurt for awhilerdquo says Fawcett of the furore that erupted around the film ldquoIt definitely hurt while casting in Toronto I had a partial boycott by agents who werenrsquot passing the script onto their clients But in the end I have to say it backfired because frankly the controversy was good for the filmldquo The boycott helped the film in a variety of ways facilitating the casting of Vancouverndashbased actresses Emily Perkins and Katharine Isabelle as the sisters Both deliver stellar performances aided by a rather unique bond Unbeknownst to Fawcett and his collaborators the girls had known each other since childhood The quality of their work is evident in the way they capture not only the nuances of their own characters but the complex and sometimes parasitical bond between the sistersbrbrAll they have is each other Walton says That relationship was crucial for both of them Itrsquos a relationship that has to change for either of them to continue Brigitte needs to come into her own Itrsquos her story the story of a kid who is incredibly dependent on her sister in order to survive a day Ginger is just as dependent but in a different way The dynamics of a condashdependent relationship fascinate me People who need each other for all the wrong reasons Itrsquos subtle but very early in the movie you understand that Ginger is a lot of talk But I think shersquos really lonely She knows shes missing out on something and she knows shersquos not going to get it from Brigitte Brigitte is the brains of the operation and Ginger is the passion Shes a rock star in her own mind and Brigitte is her only fan She is Brigittes mom in many respects until she can no longer fulfil that role Its really hard for Ginger to come to grips with the fact Brigitte should be taking care of herrdquo Ginger and Brigitte become surrogate parents for one another a fact that only makes their doomed relationship seem even more tragic Their teachers are confused and uncertain how to respond to anything Witness the quizzical reaction of Mr Wayne the guidance counsellor played by Peter Keleghan to the sistersrsquo photo essay on life in Bailey Downs a presentation comprised of ludicrously staged death scenes in one of the shots Ginger is run over by a lawn mower and garish graphic suicides The flustered guidance counsellor first compliments them on all the work they put into the presentation then shifts gears admonishing them ldquoWell I was totally disgusted by that wasnrsquot IrdquobrbrldquoTherersquos a complicated admission of defeat that Peter plays so wellrdquo says Walton ldquoOur parents were the rebels of their generation These were cool people who fought for a lot of things that we now enjoy but itrsquos almost as if they took early mental retirement Theyrsquore at a loss about what to do with themselves in terms of continuing to develop their own lives So it becomes all about the kids or the house or the vacation to get away from the kids and the house It must be hard to sit around and continue to obey the tolerant party line and not be their parents which they try so hard not to dordquobrbrThe key representative of the adult world is the sistersrsquo mother Pam who is essentially hamstrung by her good intentions Even when her daughters do something completely bizarre she looks away not wanting to be a pushy mother Shersquos bossed around by Ginger and by the end of the film Brigitte figures out how her sister manipulates her ldquoKaren and I had huge conversations about what that mum character should be likerdquo says Fawcett ldquoWe knew that she was going to be a funny character We didnrsquot have a problem making fun of adults I always had this idea of her as this terryndashcloth wearing fannyndashpack mum who is really interested in everything that is going on and wants to be a part of her daughtersrsquo lives She is different from the 1950rsquos mum because she has read enough emChatelaineem magazines ndash at least enough about how to deal with teenage daughter issues ndash that shersquos taken a lsquoTheyrsquoll talk to me if they want torsquo handsndashoff approach Itrsquos basically trying to be a friend instead of a mother to your children Ultimately that character is funny because you assume that she has no idea whatrsquos happening but she actually puts two and two togetherrdquobrbrFawcetts casting coup was Mimi Rogers emSomeone to Watch Over Meem and Tom Cruises first wife who plays Pam While many actresses of her stature and beauty would have balked at playing such a frumpy seemingly clueless character Rogers embraced her role wholeheartedly improvising one of the filmrsquos most amusing scenes When she discovers Gingerrsquos underwear coated in blood after she contracts the werewolf virus Pam simply pulls out a bottle of Spray lsquoNrsquo Wash and continues with the laundry ldquoBecause of the size of picture its final budget was 5 millionrdquo says Fawcett ldquowe were looking for an adult an actor who had a name that we could put into that part who would help give it some name recognition But itrsquos a scary business hiring actors of that stature because you canrsquot get to know them You canrsquot call them up and talk to them You pretty much just have to offer them the part Mimi just went for it 100 per centrdquobrbrLike its ancestors from the 1970s emGinger Snapsem rests on rather uncomfortable truths Pam and Mr Waynersquos good intentions are contrasted with the insatiable primal urges that overtake Ginger and there are urges that canrsquot be resolved or dealt with using advice from emChatelaineem The girlsrsquo bedroom functions as a parentsrsquo worst nightmare a private place where Brigitte pierces Gingerrsquos belly button with a silver hook in a failed and bloody attempt to cure her That desperate and deluded need for comfort and security is one of the filmrsquos favourite targets a desire for vengeance inspired in part by the creatorsrsquo own spell in the suburbsbrbrldquoI was not a happy camper in the suburbsrdquo confides Walton ldquoI did have belonging issues and Irsquod never seen anything like it Identical homes with two cars in every driveway Big fat wide streets that nobody parks on freshly paved every other year Because itrsquos so homogeneous culturally dry and barren it felt like a desert I had a keen desire to comment on that as the perfect world and for good reason Itrsquos the classic model of suppression Look at emAmerican Beautyem where you are what you keep in your garagerdquobrbrOf course ultimately what drew both Walton and Fawcett to the project is the Fitzgerald sisters themselves ldquoUsually with teenagers who are misfits itrsquos all about fitting in or getting acceptedrdquo says Walton ldquoThat was important for me because my biggest personal problem in high school was I too had no desire to fit in I really wanted two female leads to reflect that attituderdquo Fawcett adds They started off as Edward Gorey stick figures as cartoons in my head I knew that they were these sort of Gothic girls who didnrsquot fit in at all But as they grew and developed personalities I knew what the film had going for it was different from other teen horror films It had characters that were weirdly real Certainly more real than we normally see teenagers portrayed in films Theyre both tough characters Its nice to see girls like thatbrbrAlso see the Cast Crew of a hrefhttpwwwnorthernstarscagingersnapsemGinger SnapsemabrAlso see a hreffawcettjohnJohn Fawcetts filmographyabrbrimg srchttpwwwnorthernstarscawpcontentuploads201511leafjpg altleaf width17 height17 alignabsmiddle hspace4 wpimage180318 This article by Steve Gravestock was originally published in the Spring 2001 Issue 31 of Take One Magazine Northernstarsca acquired the digital archives of Take One in 2007brbrbr