Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings! For this week’s Femme Fatale Friday, I have decided to focus on the idea of puberty-centered horror. “Hell is a Teenage Girl” is a quote from one of the films I will be focusing on here, Jennifer’s Body. I will also be looking at Carrie, The Rage: Carrie 2, and Ginger Snaps. Considering that it is Spooky Season, I thought that a look at the horror of puberty focused on girls going through puberty, in particular, would be an appropriate topic. Without further ado, let’s get into the topic!
Jennifer Check was literally turned into a demon, specifically a Succubus, due to an attempt to kill her in a Satanic Sacrifice Ritual. Carrie and Rachel, from the Carrie films, are both telekinetic due to being half-sisters. The torment each faced from their high school peers led to events at prom, and in the second one a house party, that ended up with an insane amount of bloodshed and death! Ginger was a teenager obsessed with death and a lover of all things morbid and macabre. She ended up getting attacked by a Werewolf when she went through menarche, which is the technical term for the first menstrual cycle. Literally, this film takes place at the beginning of puberty for her, and relates puberty to turning into a monster! I must note that the concept of menarche being the catalyst for the events of horror in this film is related directly back to the first Carrie film, as that film begins with Carrie White having her menarche, which fully activates her telekinesis.
Each of these four characters has something horrific happen to them during puberty. Both Carrie and Rachel have their psychic abilities become activated within the span of their puberty. While it is shown that Rachel has had abilities since childhood, it is during her teen years that the abilities expand. The expansion of her telekinesis served to show that she had little control over the powers. Jennifer has already gone through puberty and had her sexual awakening by the time the film is set, but she is still in her late teenage years when she was killed during the ritual. Ginger had just begun puberty and had her puberty and menstrual cycle surrounding the transformation into the Werewolf. It was a brilliant way to equate menstruation to the moon cycle (which it is related to) and therefore related directly to the Werewolf’s connection to the moon!
Finally, I want to bring this full circle by stating that the appeal of these types of horror films which relate to the changes we go through during puberty is that we have all been there. We can each relate to the fact that puberty is a hellish time in life. I know that I personally always took great comfort in watching Ginger Snaps during my teen years. It was the feeling of ‘Well life may suck right now, but at least I do not have it as bad as these characters do’. There is catharsis in that feeling! I hope you have enjoyed this short Femme Fatale Friday look at the concept of “Hell is a Teenage Girl.” What is your favorite puberty-centered horror story? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is Ginger from the film. I found the image on https://mutantreviewersmovies.com/2013/01/04/ginger-snaps/.
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Watching
- Carrie (1976)
- The Rage: Carrie 2 (1999)
- Ginger Snaps (2000)
- Jennifer’s Body (2009)