FAQ for
Ginger Snaps (2000) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags have been used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

For detailed information about the amounts and types of (a) sex and nudity, (b) violence and gore, (c) profanity, (d) alcohol, drugs, and smoking, and (e) frightening and intense scenes in this movie, consult the IMDb Parents Guide for this movie. The Parents Guide for Ginger Snaps can be found here.

No. Ginger Snaps is based on a script by Canadian screenwriter Karen Walton. Based on the success of this film, two more films were made -- a sequel, Ginger Snaps: Unleashed (2004), and a prequel, Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004).

Brigitte (Emily Perkins) and Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) basically decided that, if they weren't out of Bailey Downs (or leading better lives) by 16, they would kill themselves together.

It's just a dog that the werewolf killed. Apparently, no one noticed it until the game got underway and Brigitte was pushed into it.

Two possible reasons have been suggested. One is that Brigitte saw something moving under the covers and went to check it out. Another suggestion is that Brigitte was reading up on werewolf lore and learned that one of the signs of turning is that the victim starts to grow a tail, so she went to see if that was happening to Ginger.

They called it Aconitum lycotonum, one of over 250 species of Aconitum, more commonly known as "monkshood" or "wolfsbane." Like Sam explains, Aconitum species are perennials and are easily grown in the flower garden, although they contain poisonous alkaloids that have a long history of medicinal use.

They were noticing, but they just weren't catching it. One of the themes here were of adults being unable to think outside conventions. Is Ginger getting fangs? It's Halloween, and she's apparently wearing costume teeth. Is she growing a lot of hair at once? Well, she has reached puberty. The fact that the mutilation of the dogs misled people, who should have been looking for a person, not a wild animal, but detective work for crimes against pets would be short in a place like Bailey Downs.

The very first death (Baxter) seems like a real mystery. Not only was Baxter living deep within the suburban neighborhood, but his backyard was surrounded by a tall fence, Baxter's kennel was behind a locked gate that was torn down, and his body was torn to bits. You would think somebody would have heard it. It would have been impossible thing for an animal to do. That was exactly why people couldn't find it. They were looking for an animal when the werewolf was in human form.

The scene suggests that Baxter was familiar with the person who killed him and knew exactly what was coming. This can be inferred from the fact that the werewolf mauled and mangled the back end of Baxter's body, but there were no apparent wounds on his head or throat, or anywhere in his front area. This meant that Baxter didn't fight. He was probably cowering in the back of the dog house, facing away from his killer, maybe frozen in fear, but probably trying to dig under the back wall. The dog was probably even too frightened to bark. Since nobody heard it, this meant Baxter was killed quickly (by snapping his spine?) and then the body was mauled. The torn down and damaged gate and the signs of a struggle were decoys set up by the killer after the fact; they were done after Baxter was dead to mislead people into thinking it was just an animal. It also terrorizes people more that way.

Baxter was killed by a werewolf hiding in human form, and it probably stalked and tore up those dogs up in that state-- the way Ginger and Jason did. Unlike them, this werewolf was experienced. Probably it attacked dogs (and wildlife?) to sate its blood-thirst between full moons knowing full well that if it attacked people real detectives would be brought in. During full moons, it lost total control, so went after Ginger. Werewolves in all other accounts despise dogs, and vice-versa.

All of this, admittedly, requires a lot of reading into the subtext. The film only deals with how werewolfism affected the Fitzgerald sisters over 28 days, and it goes into few details about werewolfism itself. What happens after the first full moon and first total transformation? Does the person change back into human form again? Ginger never reaches that stage, and the movie doesn't say. Obviously she would have had a far different personality. Would that personality have any control over transformations between full moons, or would it progress the way it did the first time? Unknown. All of this is important to having exact answers to how the original werewolf got away with killing so many dogs.