Movie review #2 Jennifer's Body

Starring Megan Fox,

Directed by: Karyn Kusama, based on the screenplay by Diablo Cody (Juno, United States of Tara)


Bumps:2
Music Jumps: 0
Creeps: 2
Genuine Creeps: 5
Gross out: 3 (Does Megan Fox needing to eat a sandwich count as gross)
Creaky: Door 1, Floor 1, Faucet 1
Bullsh*t: 3
Wife Survival Time: Full length
Favorite line: "You gotta tampon?"

I was a little hesitant when Kay originally said she wanted to watch this when it came out. While I liked Juno and United States of Tara, I didn't think horror would be part of her skill set.  That and I thought it was just going to base it's money generating revenue on Megan Fox's sex appeal and less on actual scary plot.

I was wrong. Not dead wrong, but wrong in my perception that it wouldn't be scary enough. To me this movie felt like it borrowed from Juno, Carrie, and Ghost-busters (comedy mixed with horror, which fits considering that Ivan Reitmans son is the producer, the director of Ghostbusters. I actually just noticed that while looking at the cast list).

Diablo Cody has a way of writing dialogue for characters that isn't realistic, but that we wish we could talk like. How many times have we stayed up trying to think of a quick comeback to something that happened earlier in the day? It is angsty teen speak with liberal pop culture sprinklings. There's also a musical nod to John Hughes films with songs from Simple Minds buried in the background.

The film sets the rules up fairly quickly with a few misleads, that obviously I won't put here. It takes place in fictional Devils Kettle, and Megan Fox's (Jennifer) and Amanda Seyfried (the aptly named Needy) relationship is quickly established. Jennifer is a character that the viewer doesn't have much compassion for, which is fine because the movie is more about Needy and her dependance on Jennifer. She depends on Jennifer to be everything she feels she is not, which made me a little concerned of the state of feminism.

Maybe I'm too much of a misogynist (not really, but I am a man, and that's the stereotype), but I found Jennifer's sexual liberation and aggressive behaviour a step back for women. Our society has taught women how to act like men, but not taught them how to act like gentlemen. Somehow, somewhere it became acceptable for men and women to act crass and as long as they were both acting that way, it is “equal”.

I'm done social commenting for now, let's keep politics in movies like Night of the Living Dead.

The plot involves Jennifer's adoration of a punk band, the bar they play at burning down, the bands success, and the dissolving relationship between Jennifer and Needy.  All while Jennifer brutally murders the guys in her school.

Megan Fox does an amazing job being genuinely creepy. There were moments when Kay and I were actually unnerved at what was going on. However, Jennifer already has a “man-eating” philosophy from the beginning of the movie, and it seemed almost arbitrary to make her have demonic powers.  Her monster side is very creepy and not overdone.  The special effects crew should get an award for making Fox look so disgustingly skinny...oh, wait.

One part that I got that others may not have caught was the psychic link that is explained in a flashback. Basically Needy is having hallucinations and feeling what Jennifer is doing while she kills. In a flashback to when they are little girls, Jennifer gets a pin prick and Needy sucks the blood out. I knew from my own occult reading (more on that in a moment), that because Needy had ingested Jennifer’s blood at one point, in certain occult fields, it means you gain a portion of the persons power.

Occult reading; in a self referential moment one character says disbelieving “We have an occult section in the school library?”

There were a few moments of Bullsh*t, mainly the zero explanation of why there is an abandoned building with a pool in the middle of a field. It's never brought up beforehand, and the actual showing of the building seems tacked on since it was very clearly a photo-shopped picture of the building.

Another was a scene where a deer drinks blood. There is no explanation why the Disney critters show up for a blood orgy.  However it did cause Kay to look up "Deer drinking blood" which resulted in a very funny yahoo answers.

Final BS: What teenage girl doesn't carry a cell phone on her?! (Thanks for that one Kay).


Some people don't know what to make of this film, whether to laugh or be scared (or not scared at all). I thought that it was a good twist on the cliche horror movie where the virgin always lives, and the victim becomes the villain instead of the hero (Jennifer being the "hero" turned villain). It isn't always successful, but it is entertaining.

Watch it? Go for it. Even if you hate it with a violent passion at least you'll know to never watch a Diablo Cody film again.

I give this movie 4 out of 5 bloody tampons.