
[Jennifer's Body]
Plot:Follows a cheerleader with a perfect life, who becomes the girl from hell thanks to a satanic rock band. Now she's possessed, and killing all the boys in a small town. Now it's up to her best friend to stop her, and the band before it's too late.
Cast:Megan Fox,
Johnny Simmons,
Amanda Seyfried,
Adam Brody,
Amy Sedaris,
Chris Pratt,
Juno Ruddell,
Aman Johal,
Nicole Leduc,
Josh Emerson,
Michael Brock,
Megan Danso,
Ryan Levine,
Sal Cortez,
Kyle Gallner,
Megan Charpentier.
My Thoughts:Good stuff!
Review:I never saw "Juno", because....I'm a guy. And that film wasn't a guy movie. However, people raved and ranted over Diablo Cody's screenwriting talent. And I for the most part took their words for it about how good she was. I had nothing personal against the woman, nor "Juno". It's just that I passed on seeing it because it wasn't my cup of Pepsi. So then Diablo scribbles out this flick "Jennifer's Body", a movie where a cheerleader who's really not a cheerleader, but more of the leader of the school flag team.
The flag team being like "Cheerleader lite", in small town america. Or atleast at this school. Her name is Jennifer (Megan Fox), and her best friend since they were kids, until now is Needy (Amanda Seyfried). For those most part, Jennifer treats needy like shit. But Needy in her own way pity's Jennifer because Jennifer has no boyfriend like Needy does. And spends most of her time soaking up her social relevancy at school. Although she's the hot girl around school, beyond that she's just another superficial suburban girl.
One night, the two go to a local dive to check out a rockband called "Low Shoulder". During the show, a fire breaks out, and some people die, but Needy and Jennifer, and the bands lead singer all escape. The bands lead singer than coaxes Jennifer into his van to hang out with him and his mates. Much to Needy's chagrin. Needy decides to then go home, but later on that night...Jennifer shows back up. But she's different somehow. She's covered in blood, has an evil look about her, and even ends up puking up a puddle of horrific bile right in front of Needy.
But that's not the only thing different about her. Jennifer now has an appetite for boys, as in she eats them...literally. Needy soon realizes that Jennifer is possessed by a demon, and has to shut her down before Jennifer turns her "appetite" towards anymore innocent people, including Needy herself and her boyfriend Chip. This movie is probably one of the most inventive horror films I've seen so far this year. It takes the A-typical demonic possession story, and adds some new tweaks and twists to things.
Fox and Seyfried also have good on-screen chemistry, and the two characters play off one another, and also duel with one another on-screen really well. It's interesting to watch their relationship go from hot girl and sidekick, to frenemies with a supernatural twist. There's also some underlying subplots about the people Jennifer picks to eat, why she picks them, and what happens to her physically when she doesn't eat boys. Seyfried's character Needy starts off the film inside an institution for the criminally insane, and narrates things a bit, but not too much.
Which is good because I'm not a big fan of voiceovers taken to the extreme. The death scenes in the movie are not of the super-gory sort because they are very quick and kind of censored. We see Jennifer bite into most of the guys she kills, but then it's a quick cut away from the action, or the action is shown in shadows on the wall, so you see what's happening, but in PG-Rated fashion. But that works for this sort of movie because "JB" doesn't really need to be super violent, as it's script and characters are entertaining enough on their own.
So this film in the end, can afford to dump any super hardcore graphic violence from time to time. It's also nasty enough with the bloody scenes of ripped open football players, Jennifer puking blood, and some trippy scenes involving lighters, and some other stuff so it keeps the weird, odd, and really out there tinge throughout. It doesn't need to rely too heavily on blood and gore, but it does just enough nasty things to be true to the genre.
People who say Megan Fox can't act? Well, in this film she does a great job, but that could be for two reasons. One, she plays off of Seyfried really well, or two, the character of Jennifer fits her well enough to where it allows her to shine moreso than a character like Mikaela from "Transformers". If there was one concern I had about "Jennifer's Body" it was the conclusion of the movie, as I really didn't see how this film could really bring it's A game at the end considering the storyline. But the finale did an excellent job at impressing me.
It mixes horror with some black humor and even some dramatic and emotional moments and really keeps things interesting for the most part. The movies overall ending is both tragic on one hand, and funny as hell on the other, and should bring a smile to most peoples faces who are fans of this sort of horror which falls along the lines of "Prom Night 2", "Buffy The Vampire Slayer", and other films in those areas.
Only this movie is a lot better written, fleshed out, and rough around the edges as well as modern and mainstream. "Jennifer's Body" is definitely worth seeing at the movies, it's a really creative entry into the genre, and has two good leads who keep the pace and overall intrigue and entertainment factor at optimal levels during the course of the picture.
Positives:Seyfried and Fox give good performances, the gross-out factor is ultra-high, witty dialogue, great overall story, and a good conclusion.
Negatives:The sewer confrontation late in act three is a bit too short, and some scenes from the trailer for whatever reason didn't make the final theatrical cut.
Overall:Three and a half out of four stars.
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