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Description

“You hear me, you bastard? I’ll cut off your nutsack and nail it to my door! Like one of those lion door knockers rich folks got! That will be your balls!”

I’ll admit that I never saw “Jennifer’s Body” when it first came out, nor ever since until just recently. For a time I thought of it as another of those 2000’s horror movies that came and went, but around the late 2010’s I was surprised by how it got a resurgence of interest, elevating the film to that of a cult classic. Looking into it further, I was more surprised that the film is indeed considered as such by feminists today, with examinations of its story and how it ties to subjects like female sexualization/attraction. It’s an interesting aspect, and having now seen it I can understand where some critics are coming from - and how furthermore it’s comedy/writing rings much stronger with today’s audience.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start off October Horror with a review of “Jennifer’s Body”, starting firstly with the story summary.

“Jennifer’s Body” is set in Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota - a small town whose landmark is the titular waterfall and pothole that lends the town its name. The story follows Anita (aka Needy), a socially awkward high schooler who is best friends with the much more popular and confident Jennifer - and although their friendship has Anita following Jennifer’s commands, Anita doesn’t see it as such and is instead happy with how things are. However it all starts to change when a local bar is burned down after hosting a band called Low Shoulder, who then take Jennifer away. When she comes back though Anita sees Jennifer covered in blood, and afterwards shows a ravenous hunger - and in the day after is back to normal. Over time Anita grows more suspicious and fearful of Jennifer’s change in attitude, and comes to the horrifying realization that in her time with the band she is now possessed by a demon. As murders occur in the town and Jennifer acts more strange, it becomes Anita’s responsibility to find a way to stop her best friend.

The writing and presentation of “Jennifer’s Body” is exemplary of the decade it came from, with the comedy calling back to stuff like “Mean Girls”. The dialogue and jokes have this absurdist feel that succeeds in making you laugh, and the actors delivering it possess the charisma and charm to make it work. Best of all is that the comedy isn’t constant - the film knows when to deliver the jokes and when to go for the horror/serious moments, and as such the humor remains effective. As for the horror, it’s not too bad. There’s moments of gore and violence, and maybe some weak jumpscares, but it's very easy to watch and something that casual horror fans can enjoy. I’d say overall that the film leans more towards comedy than it does for horror, but the film nonetheless maintains a balance that doesn’t ruin either.

The cast had some surprising faces like Chris Pratt, JK Simmons and Bill Fagerbakke (aka Patrick from Spongebob, and the one who delivers an absolutely hilarious line that was cut from the theatrical release and is only shown in the unrated version), but what matters is the main cast. Obviously you have Megan Fox as the titular Jennifer, who is the most perfect casting for this role thanks in part to Fox’s image as an actress and how it works for the character/story. She’s really great in delivering her comedic lines in that catty high school approach, and she is able to switch back and forth between a popular girl and a demon-infused killer nicely. The protagonist is played by Amanda Seyfried (“Mean Girls”) and she does nicely as the awkward underling to Jennifer, who over the course of the film’s runtime grows more confident in trying to defeat the monster. The two actresses have great chemistry, and you certainly buy that they are friends who have a complicated relationship that only gets worse because of the demonic possession. Honestly there’s not one actor who does a bad job in this film that’s worth mentioning, although I wish that there was more to do with the side-characters.

Moving on to effects and visuals, the film can be too dark at times - a problem with a lot of the 2000’s era horror movies. It doesn’t get as bad as something like “AVP: Requiem”, but it can make certain scenes hard to follow. The effects surrounding Jennifer’s possession is decent enough; nothing ground-breaking or worth pointing out, but it gets the job done. I would’ve liked it if somehow we could see the demon more or if Jennifer had other changes, but what’s there is fine enough.
In terms of complaints, it did feel like the second-act of the film was dragging. It didn’t grab my interest as strongly as the beginning and end did, and it felt like there was a lot of waiting around before things would happen, and so a few times I did turn my eye towards the clock. Still, when it gets going the fun parts are still great. The plot is simple and I think the film did all it needed to do with the given premise.
It’s a nice little film that does what it wanted to do, and overall it did so quite nicely. If you haven’t seen it, definitely check it out!

Description

“You hear me, you bastard? I’ll cut off your nutsack and nail it to my door! Like one of those lion door knockers rich folks got! That will be your balls!”

I’ll admit that I never saw “Jennifer’s Body” when it first came out, nor ever since until just recently. For a time I thought of it as another of those 2000’s horror movies that came and went, but around the late 2010’s I was surprised by how it got a resurgence of interest, elevating the film to that of a cult classic. Looking into it further, I was more surprised that the film is indeed considered as such by feminists today, with examinations of its story and how it ties to subjects like female sexualization/attraction. It’s an interesting aspect, and having now seen it I can understand where some critics are coming from - and how furthermore it’s comedy/writing rings much stronger with today’s audience.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start off October Horror with a review of “Jennifer’s Body”, starting firstly with the story summary.

“Jennifer’s Body” is set in Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota - a small town whose landmark is the titular waterfall and pothole that lends the town its name. The story follows Anita (aka Needy), a socially awkward high schooler who is best friends with the much more popular and confident Jennifer - and although their friendship has Anita following Jennifer’s commands, Anita doesn’t see it as such and is instead happy with how things are. However it all starts to change when a local bar is burned down after hosting a band called Low Shoulder, who then take Jennifer away. When she comes back though Anita sees Jennifer covered in blood, and afterwards shows a ravenous hunger - and in the day after is back to normal. Over time Anita grows more suspicious and fearful of Jennifer’s change in attitude, and comes to the horrifying realization that in her time with the band she is now possessed by a demon. As murders occur in the town and Jennifer acts more strange, it becomes Anita’s responsibility to find a way to stop her best friend.

The writing and presentation of “Jennifer’s Body” is exemplary of the decade it came from, with the comedy calling back to stuff like “Mean Girls”. The dialogue and jokes have this absurdist feel that succeeds in making you laugh, and the actors delivering it possess the charisma and charm to make it work. Best of all is that the comedy isn’t constant - the film knows when to deliver the jokes and when to go for the horror/serious moments, and as such the humor remains effective. As for the horror, it’s not too bad. There’s moments of gore and violence, and maybe some weak jumpscares, but it's very easy to watch and something that casual horror fans can enjoy. I’d say overall that the film leans more towards comedy than it does for horror, but the film nonetheless maintains a balance that doesn’t ruin either.

The cast had some surprising faces like Chris Pratt, JK Simmons and Bill Fagerbakke (aka Patrick from Spongebob, and the one who delivers an absolutely hilarious line that was cut from the theatrical release and is only shown in the unrated version), but what matters is the main cast. Obviously you have Megan Fox as the titular Jennifer, who is the most perfect casting for this role thanks in part to Fox’s image as an actress and how it works for the character/story. She’s really great in delivering her comedic lines in that catty high school approach, and she is able to switch back and forth between a popular girl and a demon-infused killer nicely. The protagonist is played by Amanda Seyfried (“Mean Girls”) and she does nicely as the awkward underling to Jennifer, who over the course of the film’s runtime grows more confident in trying to defeat the monster. The two actresses have great chemistry, and you certainly buy that they are friends who have a complicated relationship that only gets worse because of the demonic possession. Honestly there’s not one actor who does a bad job in this film that’s worth mentioning, although I wish that there was more to do with the side-characters.

Moving on to effects and visuals, the film can be too dark at times - a problem with a lot of the 2000’s era horror movies. It doesn’t get as bad as something like “AVP: Requiem”, but it can make certain scenes hard to follow. The effects surrounding Jennifer’s possession is decent enough; nothing ground-breaking or worth pointing out, but it gets the job done. I would’ve liked it if somehow we could see the demon more or if Jennifer had other changes, but what’s there is fine enough.
In terms of complaints, it did feel like the second-act of the film was dragging. It didn’t grab my interest as strongly as the beginning and end did, and it felt like there was a lot of waiting around before things would happen, and so a few times I did turn my eye towards the clock. Still, when it gets going the fun parts are still great. The plot is simple and I think the film did all it needed to do with the given premise.
It’s a nice little film that does what it wanted to do, and overall it did so quite nicely. If you haven’t seen it, definitely check it out!