The world of horror movies is an interesting one – it seems like there are many films out there that flop upon release, but get a second wind a decade or so later. Take Jennifer’s Body, for example. The movie still holds an abysmal Rotten Tomatoes score, but it enjoyed a little resurgence recently after a round of new reviews came out that asserted that it was an underrated gem.
And it turns out, those new reviews are right. The movie is pretty great! Megan Fox’s performance in the film is fantastic. She stars as the lead, Jennifer, who ends up being mixed up in a ritual sacrifice that accidentally turns her into a boy-eating demon. It’s honestly one of the only roles where Fox really gets to shine. So many films that star her, like Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, seem content to use her as set dressing. But in Jennifer’s Body, she gets to be funny, murderous, and even a bit vulnerable.
It’s funny, because many horror movies totally would have been content to relegate the Megan Fox cheerleader character to little more than a damsel in distress. This time, she’s the antagonist of the movie, and that rules. What girl can’t relate to thinking that the resident popular hot girl is absolutely terrifying?
Which brings us to our second main character, Needy, played equally wonderfully by Amanda Seyfried. Needy is used to playing second fiddle to Jennifer. She’s not as conventionally attractive and not as confident, but she’s fine with that as long as she gets to stay friends with Jennifer. Well, she’s fine with that until Jennifer turns into a monstrous demon, that is.
Jennifer eating boys is scary and all, sure – she does the horror movie monster thing where she eats dudes and it’s a bloody mess. According to one character, after she’s done ravaging her victims, they look like “lasagna with teeth.” One scene has her seducing a charming emo boy and then promptly eating his insides. Another scene shows her jaw unhinging as she lunges to attack a jock who had a crush on her.
It’s interesting, though, because these really aren’t the “scary” scenes. Honestly, the bits where Jennifer is antagonizing her supposed best friend and popping in to freak her out are the ones that are more chilling. Female friendships in high school can be pretty damn unhealthy, and it’s totally believable that an insecure girl might use her newfound demonic powers to terrorize the friend she perceives as better than her. High school girls are scary, man! That’s why Jennifer’s Body’s tagline is so fitting: Hell is a teenage girl.
The movie also has a comedy element to it. I’m a big fan of the horror comedy film, so this is a huge plus in my book. Understandably, though, not everyone wants teen jokes in their monster movie. Diablo Cody, who had written the quirky Juno, wrote Jennifer’s Body, so you get a lot of goofy lines throughout the movie. I think they’re fantastic. Jennifer pulling a guy’s pants down and saying, “nice hardware Ace,” or getting an invite to see Rocky Horror Picture Show and responding, “I don’t like boxing movies…” are all great moments.
Seriously, this movie is endlessly quotable. If you’re down for comedy mixed in with horror, you are in for a treat. I keep finding myself jokingly saying things like, “do you need a tampon, because you seem like you might be plugging,” in reference to a line from the final showdown of the movie.
Another huge selling point for the film is the soundtrack. The movie came out in 2009, and it features songs from all the emo and pop-punk heavy hitters. In fact, emo titan Fueled By Ramen distributed the soundtrack. FBR famously had big names like Paramore and Fall Out Boy on their roster. As a result, the soundtrack has a charming solo song from Hayley Williams, and the hit song “New Perspective” by Panic! At the Disco.
There’s also a song that plays numerous times throughout the film called “Through the Trees,” which is a song from an in-universe band called Low Shoulder. See, this little indie band were actually the ones responsible for Jennifer’s demonization. They sacrificed Jennifer’s soul in order to become famous, which is an amusing satirization of the record industry. Adam Brody plays the lead singer of the devil worshipping band, and he does a great job at playing this sleazy hipster guy. It’s one of those characters where you want to smack him in the face, not so much because he’s kidnapping young girls and turning them into demons, but just because he’s so darn smarmy!
All in all, this movie holds up really well after all these years. It’s no wonder it had its little renaissance in the public eye recently. I remember when the movie first came out in theaters, and it had just been promoted as a horror movie where Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried make out. I vaguely remember there being a clip in the trailers that showed Megan Fox topless, but I’m pretty sure whatever scene that was didn’t even make it into the film. That marketing did a huge disservice to the movie. It’s not a sexy thriller or anything like that. It’s essentially a teen dramedy with a dash of horror thrown in.
I wonder if the film would have been reviewed better if it was marketed as “Mean Girls with monsters” instead. That’s a much more fitting description of the movie than whatever those old trailers were trying to pitch. Admittedly, the movie isn’t perfect – some of the comedy parts don’t meld with the horror as well as they should, and the horror scenes aren’t particularly scary – but it definitely deserved better than the response it got in 2009.
Do yourself a favor and revisit Jennifer’s Body if you haven’t. It’s totally worth it, and makes me yearn for more movies like it. Hopefully a horror movie in the future will be inspired by it and give us another interesting mix of teen comedy and monsters once again!
