What actually happens
A dog-kidnapping errand goes badly
Dogs keep getting killed in Bailey Downs, Ontario, a quiet suburb. The Fitzgerald sisters, Brigitte and Ginger, are teenagers who are fascinated by death, and as children they made a pact to leave town or else die together by the time they turned sixteen. One night they set out to kidnap a dog that belongs to Trina Sinclair, the school bully. On the way, Ginger gets her first period, and the smell of blood attracts the animal behind the attacks, and it bites her. As the girls run, a van owned by a local drug dealer named Sam Miller hits the creature. Ginger notices that her wound has already healed, so she decides not to go to a hospital.
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A silver navel piercing is not a cure
Ginger starts to change in ways that worry Brigitte. She becomes aggressive, grows a tail, bleeds heavily, and hair sprouts from her scars. She ignores Brigitte's warnings and has unprotected sex with a classmate named Jason McCardy. She also attacks Trina in front of other students and kills the neighbor's dog. Brigitte goes to Sam to find out what his van hit, and the two of them agree that Ginger was bitten by a werewolf and is turning into one. A silver navel piercing does nothing, so Sam suggests an extract of monkshood, a plant that shows up in werewolf folklore.
A freezer and a misplaced pair of fingers
Trina turns up at the Fitzgerald house and accuses Ginger of taking her dog. During a struggle she slips, hits her head on the kitchen counter and dies. The sisters stash her body in a freezer, and while Brigitte is moving it to bury it, she accidentally breaks off two of Trina's fingers and later loses them. On Halloween, Brigitte brings Sam the monkshood, and he makes the extract. Jason, now infected, attacks Brigitte, and she uses a syringe of the extract on him, which changes his behavior and shows that the cure works. At school, Brigitte finds out that Ginger has killed the counselor and watches her kill the janitor. Ginger says Sam is her next target, at a Halloween party he is hosting called the Greenhouse Bash. The girls' mother finds the fingers and Trina's body, and she drives Brigitte to the party, saying she will burn the house down to destroy the evidence.
A shovel doubles as a sedative
Brigitte arrives at the Greenhouse Bash to find Sam fending off a nearly transformed Ginger. She cuts Ginger's palm and her own and presses the wounds together, infecting herself with Ginger's blood, and convinces her sister that she is on her side. Brigitte decides to leave her mother behind. When Ginger feels the change coming, Sam knocks her out with a shovel, and they put her in the van to take her home and prepare more of the cure. On the way, Ginger fully becomes a werewolf and escapes. Sam and Brigitte hide in the pantry while he prepares the cure, and when he goes looking for Ginger, she mutilates him. That is the scene people dread most. Brigitte finds Sam injured and bloody and tries to calm Ginger by drinking his blood, but she can't go through with it.
The ending, explained
Ginger senses that Brigitte isn't sincere and kills Sam. She chases Brigitte, who retreats to the room where the sisters grew up and defends herself with a knife in one hand and the syringe in her other. Ginger throws herself at Brigitte and onto the knife, and it kills her. Brigitte lays her head on her dying sister's chest and weeps. Trina, the counselor, the janitor, Sam and Ginger are all dead by the end. Brigitte has infected herself with Ginger's blood, and she has left her mother behind. Many dogs die along the way.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: not fine, and many dogs die.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Ginger Snaps scary?
Yes, Ginger Snaps is a 5 out of 10 with medium dread. It is a teen werewolf story with real gore and jump scares, and the sad parts hit as hard as the scary ones.
How does Ginger Snaps end?
Ginger fully transforms and kills Sam, then chases her sister Brigitte. Ginger runs onto Brigitte's knife and dies, and Brigitte, who has infected herself with Ginger's blood, lays her head on her sister's chest and weeps.
Does the dog die in Ginger Snaps?
Not fine. Many dogs die in Ginger Snaps, starting before the sisters notice anything strange. Ginger kills a neighbor's dog, and only the aftermath is shown. The sisters also find a dead dog and try to move it.
Is there a post-credits scene in Ginger Snaps?
No. Ginger Snaps has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
What is the cure in Ginger Snaps?
Sam makes an extract from monkshood, a plant that appears in werewolf folklore. In Ginger Snaps it works on Jason, so Sam and Brigitte try to prepare more of it for Ginger.
