The Comic Critic Reviews Ginger Snaps

Horror movies have been exploiting hormonal teenagers from the very beginning. The number of sex-themed horror movie tropes is immense—and legendary. What gave Ginger Snaps its box office kick and subsequent legs is how it openly embraced the parallels of the onset of puberty with lycanthropy. You don’t want to talk to your parents, who are at best “lame.” You’re a social outcast morbidly focused on death because you’d rather be dead than be living in high school. So, you’re stuck fumbling for information from such questionable sources as old-wives’ tales, the Internet, and some student nurse. And desperately trying to keep it all together before people notice – the rising body count. This isn’t an “I was a teenage werewolf” movie; it’s an “I was an angst-riddled teenage werewolf” movie. And that twist saves it from being another fly-by-night werewolf film.

The Werewolf - 1956

My friend Bill Barnes of Unshelved told me that I should be blogging my webcomics. So, until I’ve learned enough CSS to revamp me webcomic sites I’ll be using this blog as a way to promote my strips. Today you get a double feature; A movie review the classic B-movie The Werewolf (1956), and what might be a controversial The Return of Stickman.


This is just one of many movies that Sam Katzman produced. Katzman was all about keeping on budget and increasing the profit margin by getting them quickly in the can. Most of his films are B-Movie classics. He might have worked fast, with an eye for the bottom line, but somehow, most of his films have a solid professional feel. The Werewolf was made fourteen years after The Wolf Man, just a year prior to I Was A Teenage Werewolf. What I love about this film is its location. Sure, the sign on the sheriff’s office says Mountaincrest, but every other sign in town reads Big Bear, a nice hunting community from what we can tell. If the scenery around Big Bear City looks familiar, it’s because the town is a common filming locale for movies. From classics like Old Yeller (1956) to recent horror efforts like Ticks (1999), Big Bear City has played host to over 200 films. You might want to check out their annual film festival.

Featured in the film, the cool jazz of Mischa Bakaleinikovff.

And here is today's...

The full archives of these strips can be found at
The Comic Critic and
The Return of Stickman.