I recently rewatched Jennifer’s Body, a 2009 cult classic written by Diablo Cody. If you haven’t watched it yet, you’re missing out on some epic Mean Girl-caliber one-liners and Megan Fox as a man-eating succubus.
This movie’s 46% Rotten Tomatoes score is wholly undeserved; the plot is thin, but who cares? This movie does exactly what it sets out to do: entertain, thrill, shock.
It also represents a very specific best friend dynamic underscored by manipulation, obsession, and ideas of loyalty. What we have in this film is a highly subversive, ahead-of-its-time (if not altogether nuanced) treatment of queerness and friendship.
Don’t let the movie poster fool you. The marketing of this movie is notoriously stupid, and the cast has been vocal about that. This is a movie written by women, starring women, and for women — the fact that it was marketed with Megan Fox in a schoolgirl outfit is... well, disappointing, but not surprising.
What’s the deal?
Needy (Amanda Seyfried) and Jennifer (Megan Fox) are BFFs. During a disastrous night out, Megan is mistaken for a virgin by a rock band (ft. lead singer Adam Brody aka Dave Rygalski from Gilmore Girls) and sacrificed to the devil in exchange for fame. But because she is not a virgin, the sacrifice leaves her undead. She is now a demon/succubus, and has to eat people to retain her powers.
She does just that for a very entertaining mid-portion of the movie. But a line is crossed when she targets Needy’s boyfriend Chip. Needy and Jennifer have a face-off that results in a dead demon and an incarcerated high school killer.
But because she was bitten by a demon and survived, Needy now has some of Jennifer’s powers. She escapes from her facility and goes to track down and kill the rock band that ruined Jennifer’s life. Awesome, right?
I can’t stop thinking about...
Absent adults, incompetent adults. I love this horror movie trope. We see it in Heathers, It Follows, other examples (help me out here).
Sometimes the adults are not merely incompetent, they actually bring the evil upon the next generation, like in Stephen King’s IT.
But very often, horror movies center on teenagerdom, with adults relegated to the periphery. Why? Why are adults missing from so many horror movies?
An easy answer is that most horror is marketed towards teenagers, who make up a significant portion of viewership. But is this really true? Maybe it was ten years ago — but look, the horror lovers have aged. And if I know anything about time, they will continue to do so.
But aging aside, no one can argue that adolescence isn’t difficult. It’s a terrible time for many, ready to be filtered through the funhouse mirror of horror.
It’s also a semi-general experience. After a certain age, our paths may vary, but adolescence? High school? We’ve been there, for the most part. Writing horror about teenagers may be a way to appeal to a largely shared experience.
But enough of that. I will leave you with Megan Fox being iconic, as is her wont.
Xoxo,
Horrorshow Jane