Jennifer's Body: Movie Review

Jennifer’s Body: Movie Review

Stephanie Davidson

I first watched Jennifer’s Body back in July when I was laid up after an accident. I was hoping to watch some cheesy horror flicks, and I figured this one fit the bill quite nicely. I did not expect to enjoy it as much as I did, nor did I expect the storytelling to impress me as it did. The TV trailers with Megan Fox strutting through high school hallways in belly tops don’t do enough to attract viewers to this movie.

This movie is about girls. The very first line of voiceover (spoken by Amanda Seyfried) states: “Hell is a teenage girl.” High school girl politics are deftly explored throughout the film and significantly wound in amongst the horrific elements. It is reminiscent of Mean Girls at times—and I argue that when it comes to girl politics and high school relationships, this movie does it better.

The high school setting is fairly typical, except that in Jennifer’s Body, the dialogue is actually believable compared to bigger Hollywood productions. Nothing is too girly-girly. There are no expeditions to the mall or heart-to-hearts over manicures. It is, however, littered with an awesome brand of vagina humour. The girls greet each other with a casual “What’s up, Vagisil?” and, near the end of her reign of terror, Jennifer asks for a tampon in the most ridiculous context possible. The girl politics do serve as a precursor to the film’s lesbian moments, which milk the hell out of Megan Fox’s sex appeal. But even the gossip is atypical. It’s high school gossip driven by devilish motivations.

The typical high school setting gives way to the typical climax of a typical teen movie: the school dance. But again, I like how this movie veers away from the big public showdown/embarrassment/prank-gone-wrong moment. The whole film is very close to its main characters in this way. We’re intimate with their relationships and terror the whole way through, and a big prom-scene ending would have ruined the whole thing.

That said, the film’s scare tactics are pretty much from the same bag of tricks that every other movie uses. The doorbell rings, but no one’s there! A shadow just darted behind you! The stairs are creaking! The door is creaking! The sink is dripping! The streets are somehow deserted! AN ANIMAL JUMPS OUT AT YOU! Snore.

Standard scare tactics give way to some pretty impressive horror. I LOVE our first shot of (get ready for it) Jennifer’s “body.” She’s bloody, clearly possessed, behaving like some zombie animal after raw meat. Her inhuman scream and black puke sealed the deal on my love for this movie (even though the puke pile was subject to some really hokey CGI). We see more and more of the demon in her as the story progresses, and it’s so well done. There’s no overkill or CGI abuse or cheesy transformation sequences. The demonic features are flawlessly incorporated into Megan Fox’s face, and there are some nice touches with the changes in her eyes and her voice.

The other horror elements fit in with the aforementioned “closeness” of the movie, and they sure are disturbing. Death screams are mistaken for an outpouring of grief. Sensual, candlelit moments show a shadow play of evisceration. Jennifer’s display of invincibility mirrors the self-harm epidemic in high schoolers. And, oddly enough, I found one of the most disturbing moments of all to be the scene that reveals how Jennifer became possessed, as it is just so rife with the cruel and dehumanizing behaviour characteristic of high school bullies.

Megan Fox absolutely kills it as Jennifer. She pulls triple-duty, beautifully playing the hot vapid teen queen, the monstrous demon, and the vulnerable girl, scared and young. The movie obviously takes full advantage of Fox’s sex appeal, and it works. It works so well, I even copied her nail polish.

The last thing I have to comment on is something that made me laugh out loud—the woods scene is shot in a way that makes it look SO MUCH like Twilight (minus the stupid blue filter and stupid sparkly “vampires”). Hats off to that.

If you’re a horror fan in any capacity, I definitely recommend watching this movie. Don’t wait until you’re incapacitated like I did!