Jennifer's Body (2009)

February 13, 2024 2:51 PM

[TRAILER] When a demon takes possession of her, high-school hottie Jennifer (Megan Fox) turns a hungry eye on guys who never stood a chance with her before. While evil Jennifer satisfies her appetite for human flesh with the school's male population, her nerdy friend, Needy (Amanda Seyfried), learns what's happening and vows to put an end to the carnage.

Also starring Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody, J.K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, Kyle Gallner, Chris Pratt, Cynthia Stevenson, Sal Cortez, Ryan Levine, Lance Henriksen..

Directed by Karyn Kusama. Written by Diablo Cody. Produced by Daniel Dubiecki, Mason Novick, Jason Reitman for Dune Entertainment/Fox Atomic. Cinematography by M. David Mullen. Edited by Plummy Tucker. Music by Stephen Barton, Theodore Shapiro.

Criminally underappreciated by Rotten Tomatoes at 46% fresh.

Currently streaming in the US on Max. JustWatch listing.

posted by DirtyOldTown (8 comments total)

I did not vibe with this the first time I saw it, as I got caught up in the machinations of its ostensible plot.

The second time, when I just let Cody/Kusama's satire take the lead, I had a better time.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 2:52 PM on February 13 [2 favorites]

Loved the movie when it came out but it’s also a complete and total rip off of Monster by Christopher Pike.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:40 PM on February 13 [2 favorites]

This is one of the only movies that knew what to do with Jennifer Fox.

I think it gets weirdness of female friendships right (and yeah, the complication of desire/etc. -- I *personally* don't feel like Needy and Jennifer were "in love" in a "romantic" sense but they loved each other. But it's messy and complicated).

I like and dislike Diablo Cody. My opinion is mostly is that I get what she's doing but she's so obvious about it. I love so many things about this movie but I also don't think I need to watch it again.
posted by edencosmic at 5:45 PM on February 13 [4 favorites]

I like this movie; it's a mostly sharp little horror film with some good surprises, and if you haven't seen it in a while it's worth a rewatch. It didn't help that the movie was sold by the studio as, and majorly misunderstood by male critics as, a teen horror sex romp aimed at the usual straight boy audience. Ebert gave it an ok review but missed the point entirely when he called it "Twilight for boys" (Megan Fox was at the height of her sex symbol popularity then). Here's a smart 2018 article at Vox comparing the film's initial flop at the box office to its later reevaluation as a smart feminist gem.

And here's a good Vice article from the same year, 'Jennifer’s Body' Would Kill if It Came Out Today, which at the bottom alleges that the "Megan Fox called Michael Bay Hitler so Steven Spielberg told him to fire her from Transformers" stuff (see here) was another obstacle that hurt the film's reception. That was happening at the time Fox and Cody were doing press for their film and included vicious anonymous attacks posted at Bay's personal site against Fox as a prima donna on set.
posted by mediareport at 5:11 AM on February 14 [2 favorites]

I agree that this movie used Megan Fox to her utmost (at least so far) and was absolutely hit by a massive wave of missing the point. Kinda reminds me of how much fight club was viewed as a straight "fuck yeah" commentary by so many young dudes (including me at the time)

I'm not really a horror type of person, but this one has some real sharpness to it
posted by drewbage1847 at 8:48 AM on February 14 [3 favorites]

It took me a while to see it, and, when I did, it was smarter, funnier, and sadder than I expected. I shouldn’t have waited.
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:43 AM on February 15

Like when she’s bleeding out of a massive flesh wound and she deadpans: “got a tampon? No? Just thought I’d ask.” I was howling.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 8:22 AM on February 17 [1 favorite]

I think this movie suffered from the weight of peoples' expectations (of Diablo Cody, of Megan Fox, of it as a genre-buster, whatever,) but if you go into it just wanting a fun horror movie it's great. Since I don't expect any one movie to fix the problematic aspects of horror it was easy for me to enjoy it, and I really liked the performances.
posted by Lawn Beaver at 7:32 AM on February 20