Customer Reviews

Jennifer's Body

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(49)
3 star:		(25)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(22)

 

 

What was it about Jennifer's Body that made it seem like it would be so worthless upon first glance? Was it due to the fact that it at its heart is a teen horror flick, or the fact that it was written by Diablo Cody, whose darling Juno I just didn't care for (I know, I know, blasphemy). Regardless of the reason, upon viewing Jennifer's Body, I can honestly say that it is a surprisingly good, funny, and even enjoyable flick that lampoons its high school setting as much as it celebrates it. Transformers beauty Megan Fox stars as the title character, who is the hottest girl in high school, and ends up falling prey to a devil-worshipping band (led by Adam Brody) who use her as a sacrifice. However, Jennifer ends up coming back to life as a demonic boy-devourer, and it's soon up to her unlikely BFF Needy (Amanda Seyfried) to save the day, and put an end to Jennifer's spree. While the film is a play on the sapphic relationships between teen females, there is enough hearty helpings of humor and gore for horror fans to eat up. Combine that with Diablo Cody's Juno-esque dialogue and surprisingly good turns by Fox and Seyfried, and Jennifer's Body ends up being surprisingly enjoyable. Give it a chance, you'll be pleasently surprised.

In 2009, the dark comedy horror film "Jennifer's Body" would mark the return of award winning writer Diablo Cody ("Juno", "United States of Tara") and would feature a collaboration with director Karyn Kusama ("Aeon Flux", "Girlfight"), actresses Megan Fox ("Transformers" films, "Hope and Faith") and Amanda Seyfried ("Mamma Mia!", "Veronica Mars", "Mean Girls").

"Jennifer's Body" which cost around $22 million to make, earned around $33 million worldwide and has received mix ratings from a variety of critics but earning praise from Roger Ebert and Peter Travers of "Rolling Stone Magazine".

Now "Jennifer's Body: Unrated" is released on Blu-ray with a special unrated version which includes both the original theatrical version of the film and also an unrated version. The Blu-ray release also includes a digital copy of the film.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"Jennifer's Body" is presented in 1080p High Definition (Widescreen 1:85:1) with AVC @ 26MBPS. Picture quality is pretty solid as you can see the detail in various surfaces around town. A lot of scenes featuring blood, dirt and grime on the characters which is quite detailed onscreen. There is a fine layer of grain, skin tones are natural and blacks are nice and deep.

The lossless audio is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA and Spanish, French and Portuguese in Dolby Digital 5.1. The audio is dialogue and music driven, so most of the audio is coming from the front and center channels. There are some scenes that utilize the surround channels, from the slight sounds of a police siren, crowd ambiance and some of the action sequences. Some of the bass you hear from the film comes from the music but for the most part, the film is front and center channel driven.

Subtitles are featured in English SDH, Spanish, Portuguese, Cantonese, Mandarin and Thai.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

"Jennifer's Body: Unrated" comes with the following special features:

* Audio Commentary with Director Karyn Kusama and Writer Diablo Cody (Theatrical Version) - An enjoyable commentary featuring director Kusama and writer Diablo Cody discussing the unique script and the structure of the film.
* Audio Commentary with Director Karyn Kusama (Extended Version) - While watching the film, a red box will show up on the corner (indicating an extended scene) in which you can hear Karyn discussing the differences of the theatrical version from the extended version of the film and how the extended version of the film which is much more closer to the original script.
* Deleted Scenes - (13:55) Six Deleted scenes which include the following deleted scenes: Dead Boys, Jennifer Check Is Gross, Needy Confronts Jennifer, Who's Cindy Crawford?, Needy Faces The Band, Ass, Gas or Grass...
* Gag Reel- (4:55) Bloopers from "Jennifer's Body".
* Jennifer's Body: The Dead Pool - (13:59) The cast and crew (including writer Diablo Cody, directory Karyn Kusama and the producers) talk about the concept of the film and working with the main talent of the film. And filming of the pool scene and the visual effects and make up effects involved.
* Video Diaries - Video diaries from behind-the-scenes on the set of "Jennifer's Body" featuring Megan Fox and Johnny Simmons (12:49), Amanda Seyfried (10:23), Diablo Cody (7:05) and Dan Dubiecki (3:02).
* Megan Fox Is HOT - (:53) A short special feature showcasing the sexy scenes of Megan Fox from the film.
* Megan Fox "Peer Pressure" PSA - (:37) A naughty public service announcement for "Peer Pressure" (ala promotion for "Jennifer's Body").
* Fox Movie Channel Presents `Life After Film School' With Writer Diablo Cody - (26:26) An interesting episode of "Life After Film School" with the three film students interview writer Diablo Cody about the film, her career, working with director Karyn Kusama, Megan Fox and more. Definitely love listening to Diablo Cody discuss her perspective of life and writing.

JUDGMENT CALL:

I suppose that there are horror fans who felt cheated that "Jennifer's Body" was less of a horror, teenage slasher film (despite it having horror elements) and was more of a film that was character driven and really focused on the relationships between Needy and Jennifer.

"Jennifer's Body" is quite interesting because Diablo Cody is pretty good of writing films, her way, her style and it's a carefree style of showing school popularity and the cruelness that happens amongst students. And what better way to take on the role of Jennifer than Megan Fox who has wanted to play this type of role.

But "Jennifer's Body" for the most part is not a great film nor is it the worst film ever made. I suppose it all comes down to the viewer and what they were expecting. Looking for a slasher/gory type of film, well "Jennifer's Body" has scenes that look quite disgusting but for the most part, it's not a scary film. In a way, "Jennifer's Body" plays more like a "Lost Boys" style of film with the music, dark groups of students in town where bad things happening. Also, the film manages to incorporate dark humor to the violence, teenage life and relationships.

But everything comes full circle at the end of the film and I really dig how "Jennifer's Body" ends so rock n' roll but with tragedy. A possible sequel in the future? Who knows.

Megan Fox did a fine job, this may not be the role that utilizes her in a non-sex kitten serious role but for Amanda Seyfried, she really shined in "Jennifer's Body" portraying a variety of emotions from anger, fear, sadness, you name it. It was really good to see her play the character of Needy since her previous films tend to showcase her in a more ditsy type of role. So, it was good to see her utilized in the film emotionally in a variety of ways.

If you enjoyed the film "Jennifer's Body: Unrated" comes with a good amount of special features and you get both the theatrical and extended versions of the film and a digital copy. But I really enjoyed how the Blu-ray release also gives us a much more in-depth glimpse of the writer Diablo Cody and her involvement in film. You don't get to see her shown all that much, so it was really cool to see several features with her.

Personally, for "Jennifer's Body: Unrated", it all comes down to the viewer. If you are a guy who wants to see Megan Fox, you'll dig the film. If you are a big Diablo Cody fan, you'll dig this Blu-ray release. If you're wanting to see the film for a scare, well... "Jennifer's Body" is not exactly that scary. But if you are wanting a popcorn flick that has elements of your favorite teen film and horror elements, you may find the extended version included on this Blu-ray release of "Jennifer's Body: Unrated" more to your liking.

The author of Juno, the star of Mamma Mia and the movie world's frequently voted sexiest woman, all rolled up into one movie, and about the supernatural. What could be more zeitgeist..? And yet, alas, this is a pretty woeful mixture of a movie.. told with polish in places, perhaps, but still a mess.
Jennifer (Megan Fox) is the most popular girl in town, her best friend is the geek (and hehehe... she's called Needy - gettit? What a laugh..). Jennifer is not shy - hormonally driven, one might say, and known to exploit her looks. However, she bites off more than she can chew when she falls fowl of Adam Brody's rock band, who turn out to be minor students of witchcraft. She ends up possessed, and needs human flesh to keep her looks. Can Needy handle the situation and bring an end to the series of deaths in town..?
The tone clearly wants to be this decades Heathers [Blu-ray], but fails miserably in nailing the subtle black humour of that movie. Here, the language, which likes to dwell on descriptions of body parts and functions, in a way that is normally best left unspoken and for good reason, sits uneasy with the attempt at some sinister and almost Gothic goings on in the town of Devil's Kettle. The visuals are not bad, admittedly, in places.. but it can't save a lurching storyline with poorly drawn characters, and soundtrack which strives for smooth and hip but only manages jarring and out of place.
Overall, interesting idea, which could have been a quirky and trendy teen Gothic horror with black comedy overtones.. but only manages to raise laughs for the wrong reasons, with the only horror the discovery that Juno really must have been a one off for Diablo Cody's writing talents. Megan Fox and Amanda Seyfried have done nothing to further their career by being in this unholy mess.

Ok, I finally did it. I watched Jennifer's Body last night. I can't believe how badly the movie was trashed while it was in theaters. It really wasn't that bad. Actually it was a decent horror flick, and Megan Fox held her own in her first leading role. Granted this isn't Shakespeare, but people, the movie is absolutely worth watching. I do question the writing with lines like, "You give me a wettie", "Put it in", "Am I too big", "Am I hurting you" and my favorite line, right after Megan Fox was stabbed with a 10 foot pole and blood was squirting out of her gut says, "do you have a tampon?" It jumped pretty quickly from a true horror flick to a comedic spoof I believe. I must have missed the leap though.

Jennifer (Megan Fox) is a high school cheerleader and by far the hottest girl in school, now this doesn't take a stretch to believe. She hangs out with her best friend Amanda Seyfried and the two lean towards lesbianism, even though Amanda has a long term boyfriend. Sorry, but I might have to watch the movie again based on the above sentence alone. I do have to throw a snapshot in here as well about the kissing scene. It might be one of the all time best girl on girl kissing scenes in any movie to date. OK, now back on track. Jennifer and Amanda head to a bar for a night out, and that is where all hell breaks loose.

It appears that the band worships the devil and they need a virgin to sacrifice in order to push their career over the edge. They choose Megan Fox; now how they thought she was a virgin is beyond me. With her already having experienced sexual relations, in several different ways according to her monologue, the sacrifice goes badly and our darling Megan turns into a flesh eating demon. How can you fault her for getting a little carried away with her dietary supplements? She is Megan Fox after all. Let her feast on as much flesh as she would like.

So things start going a little whacky when half eaten bodies begin to show up, and in the end it really begins to piss Amanda off. She might be the nice book worm side arm to the smoking hot Megan Fox, but even she has her limits. Once Megan threatens Amanda's boyfriend the war commences and the girls start to battle. I guess that long drawn out passionate kiss they shared did little to heal the animosity a demon can stir up in the loins. So crazy girl Amanda does her best and without giving away the ending, if that matters, you do get to see a little blood spilled before the finally curtain call.

Again, not an Oscar level movie, but not a bad showing for what the movie was intended to be. I do think the writers and director should have made it a little more clear cut on whether it was a comedy or an all out horror flick. It really did seem to flip too suddenly and the comedic undertone almost seemed unintentional. It is worth taking a look at if you get bored one evening. Don't expect anything ground breaking but you will be entertained for a couple of hours if you like seeing smoking hot girls, lots of blood and listening to one liners like Megan saying, "My tit" and Amanda responding, "No your heart" when she stabbed her in the chest with a box cutter from Home Depot.

You want a good high school set Horror film about a teenage girls being possessed? You want a movie with naked teenage girls and gore? You want a movie that's entertaining? If you answered YES to all three then don't waste your time with Jennifer's Body. It's boring, stupid and is a Horror movie for the type of braindead tweens that watch Twilight. Instead, watch Hello Mary Lou Prom Night 2 as that movie was made in 1987 and is infinitely better then this garbage written by that overrated hack Diablo Cody who tries to makes every piece of dialogue sound like a catch phrase.

Seriously, Hello Mary Lou Prom Night 2 FTW!

Jennifer's Body (Karyn Kusama, 2009)

After I first watched Jennifer's Body, I opined that while I had seen movies as bad as this in 2009, I hadn't seen any that were worse. After a couple of days of reflection, I've revised that sentiment. I haven't seen any movies as bad as Jennifer's Body in 2009.

Karyn Kusama, who directed the incredible Girlfight, seems to have hit a slippery slope right after that. First came Aeon Flux, which was silly, if at least watchable. Now comes Jennifer's Body, sporting an almost unintelligible script from Diablo Cody (Juno), almost no cast with any acting ability whatsoever, and a plot so ludicrous most studios wouldn't have touched this with a ten-foot pole had Cody not gotten an Oscar nomination for Juno. In this one, Jennifer (Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen's Megan Fox) is your typical (in the movies, anyway) restless small-town glamour girl, keeping a geeky friend, Needy (Mamma Mia!'s Amanda Seyfried), around to make her look better and spending most of her time trying to find a one-way ticket out of town. She thinks she may have found it in indie band Low Shoulder, but the band have a different idea; they're looking for a shortcut to success and need a virgin to sacrifice in order to make a deal with the devil. A well-timed lie by Jennifer convinces them that she's their girl. Unfortunately, the band finds out that when the girl they try to sacrifice isn't a virgin, bad things happen...

The first problem with this movie is that while Cody's attempts to write hip, cynical teen dialogue were at least a little constrained in Juno, she's thrown off any sort of inhibition in that regard here. This is not only the worst dialogue I've heard in a movie in 2009, I can't remember the last time I heard dialogue this bad. Starship Troopers and Highlander have Oscar-worthy scripts compared to this idiocy. If you find humor in the line "you need to just move on dot org, Needy!", then (a) you'll like this movie a whole lot more than I did, and (b) please stop reading my reviews, because you and I watch movies for entirely different reasons. The second problem with it, as mentioned earlier, is that Megan Fox can't act her way out of a paper bag. I've been hearing for years about how awful an actress she is from younger people, but I've never seen her in anything, and I have to admit I take anything my daughter says about anyone's acting talent with an entire salt lick. In this case, however, she's spot on. She has a repertoire of two expressions, at least in this movie, and delivers every line in a monotone. (She probably would have worked quite nicely in Surrogates.) She's backed up by a cast of actors who are competent at best; Seyfried is by far the most talented person in the cast. As an aside, and this is a far less objective complaint, this is yet another movie where the casting director messed up; for some reason, in movies where there's a glamorous lead and a frumpy sidekick, they always cast the hotter actress as the frumpy sidekick. (Janeane Garofalo is better looking than anyone she's played that role against, for example.) Amanda Seyfried is hotter than Megan Fox any day of the week and twice on Sundays, even when the makeup department frizzes out her hair and gives her supposedly unattractive glasses. (Note to Hollywood: girls in glasses? Hot. End of story.)

I would rather feed myself into a woodchipper than ever have to sit through this monstrosity again. I want back the hour and a half of my life that I wasted on it. I'm sure worse movies have been released this year. I hope to god I never run across one. (zero)

Someone should print the script for Jennifer's Body in 48-type face font, double-spaced lines, on cardboard, wrap it in plaster, and beat Diablo Cody within an inch of her life. That's how bad the script for this film is. I have never heard such forced hipness in a film with 20-somethings playing teenagers. It makes the dialogue from Disturbing Behavior almost Shakespearean.

Beyond the unignorable script is a braindead plot that involves a little bit of Carrie, some faux Devil worship, and Megan Fox in a lot of outfits that make viewers wish that some of the fabric covering her body were covering her mouth. Simply put, she shouldn't have made Spielberg mad, because the well of roles she is allowed to butcher is running dry, and she'll soon have to abandon her no-nudity clause if she hopes to get work. Hint, hint, it sadly doesn't happen in this movie.

Countering Fox's hotness and inability to act is Amanda Seyfried's awkward cuteness and decent acting. Word to Hollywood: We're all tired of the "add glasses to cute girl and make her unattractive"-nonsense. If you want an unattractive counterpart, get Rosie O'Donnell. All other characters are pointless and forgettable, which should tell you all you need to know. If not, I'll spell it out for you: Megan Fox doesn't get naked and is the second most important "actor" in this atrocity. Pass.

I guess I was expecting "Jennifer's body" to have something to do with the story. But no, Jennifer isn't even the main character here. The protagonist is actually Amanda Seyfried's character, you know the actress given second billing. Marketing I guess. Jennifer/Megan Fox and her body would sell more I suppose was the thinking.

Anyway, Seyfried and Fox are supposed to be BBF's I guess. We know this because we are told they share "sandbox love", whatever the hell that is. Apparently "sandbox love" involves children sucking blood from each others cuts which leads to a psychic link. Yeah. This is supposed to explain why Seyfried's alleged nerd status (ala Hollywood's idea that any girl with glasses is automatically a "nerd") and Fox being the most popular cheerleader/slut in high school, allows them to be best friends.

So this unlikely pair of stereotypes head off to a bar to see a boy band called Low Shoulder. These boys are looking for a virgin it seems and for reasons beyond comprehension they decide that Fox is the most likely candidate. Apparently Seyfried used her psychic powers of "sandbox love" to hear this plan being discussed from across the room in a crowded noisy bar. Despite this, the members of Low Shoulder will whisk Fox away anyway.

At this point the bar burns down and the two girls narrowly escape the fire that kills several of their classmates. Fox is then taken away by the boy band, we assume for sex. But Fox returns later, covered in blood and puking up black goop. But that's ok, she's fine the next day. This is where the "mystery" is supposed to start.

Then the film goes off on a watered down detour through Heathers country as the high school students go through grief counseling. Seyfried suspects something is wrong with her friend now. I suppose it's because Fox is slightly more callous/manipulative/shallow than she used to be. Turns out Fox is some sort of demon/vampire/werewolf/succubus/whatever the hell she is thing now and she eats the Stereotypical Dumb Jock.

Next on Fox's hit list is Stereotypical Goth Emo Kid. Seyfried has shown an interest in this Goth kid despite already having a nebbish boyfriend under her thumb. Apparently Seyfried has a thing for weak, easily controlled men. At any rate Seyfried gets some psychic impressions of the killing while she and her boyfriend are having sex.

At this point Fox decides to tell Seyfried all about her transformation "cause they are BBF's". The boy band tried to sacrifice her to Satan in exchange for fame and wealth but since she was not a virgin, she became this weird monster. (but the band gets famous anyway) End of "mystery". Yeah, what mystery. There is no reason this could not have been shown to us right away as it being withheld has no bearing on the plot. Seyfried is horrified but this does not stop the two of them from having an inexplicable lesbian makeout session in the middle of this revelation. (???) Maybe Fox has hypnotic powers or something. Whatever.

Now Seyfried breaks up with her bf "to protect him". But what do you know, this all leads to Fox getting her mitts on him. Psychic Impressions to the rescue though as Seyfried senses this and rushes to save the dude in distress. (Isn't all this subversion of the genre clever?! No? Yeah, not really)

Seyfried finally figures out what we knew all along: that Fox has never really been a good friend/person. (Yes, the women in this film are only marginally less completely stupid than the men. Is this supposed to be empowering?) Not before Fox kills Seyfried's worthless boy-possession though. He "was dead before she got there....but Seyfried's voice brought him back just long enough to say goodbye..." and impale Fox with a metal pole. Which prompts Fox to ask if Seyfried has any tampons. No, really. Of course the boyfriend missed Fox's heart (the only way to kill her apparently) and she just runs off.

Time for the big showdown. This involves lots of lame callback dialogue quips, Seyfried getting bitten, and breaking Fox's BBF chain necklace which seems to render her powerless enough for Seyfried to stab her in the heart. Unfortunately Fox's mother bursts in and Seyfried is shipped off to the mental institution, where she becomes known as "the kicker", you know cause she now kicks people's teeth out for making harmless comments in her direction. You see, the bite Fox gave her has transferred demonic powers to Seyfried, who breaks out and goes on a quest to destroy that evil boy band that caused this whole mess. Cut to end credits sequence showing her decimation of the band. I guess Satan wins? I'm not really sure. But that Seyfried sure can kick a lot of butt so...whatever, dude. Awesome and stuff.

Boo.

I hope teens don't actually use the witless slang that is peppered throughout this film. It's so uncreative and direct that it comes across like bad puns. "Groovy" may not be a great word, but it's better than "you give me such a wettie" or "You need to move on...dot.org." That doesn't even SORT of make any sense. Seriously, please tell me actual teens are more imaginative than this.

It's ridiculous how many songs are shoehorned into this movie's soundtrack. I lost count. Some songs don't get more than a few seconds worth of play before another one kicks in, one after another. I assume it's suppose to seem "artistic", but it plays more like they couldn't decide what song to play over a scene so they just used them all.

The film is good on a technical level. They know how to work cameras and such. But basically its just a dumb teen slasher/monster movie with some "genre subversion" involving role reversal. Which isn't really anything new in slasher films. Woman as heroine is basically a staple in this sort of film. I'm told the woman who wrote this thing won an Oscar for Juno so, she must be at least competent. Are these people just ignorant? It's as if they assume people who might like a horror film are dumb, so their idea of elevating the genre is to just feed them the same generic crap with a some "clever hipster dialogue" and "genre subversion". Just to get the kids thinking...subliminally...about...uh, something. It's sort of condescending.

Or maybe their agenda was no more than "horror movies tend to be cheap to produce and make money". Either way, this movie is just awful.

They say that the way to distinguish good wine from bad wine is by drinking lots of wine; in the end though, it is entirely up to the person to determine what he/she liked about a particular bottle. Who will admit to liking a $5 bottle of wine at a gathering? Movies are a lot like wine in this same way, and we all have our guilty pleasures - you know, that movie you really enjoy but hate to admit liking to friends & family because it may be contain nothing but gratuitous violence, sex, etc.

This movie has the capacity for serving as a guilty pleasure for lots of people because it's a teen flick disguised as a horror flick. Megan Fox's character (Jennifer) is a girl who not only enjoys using her body to get what she wants (drinks, etc.) she relies on it. She sees no problem using males as well as females such as her best friend Needy - Needy has been instructed never to look better than Jennifer on a night out together.

Of course, Jennifer's sense of entitlement and years of abuse to others are about to catch up to her in a very unusual way. Her appetite for preserving herself as the `it girl' of the school, town, county, etc. becomes a physical one and it is this unrelenting hunger that leads to her destruction at the hands of her best (and only) friend Needy, played by Amanda Seyfried. Needy is genuinely concerned for her friend but her awakening of herself as a person with a voice becomes clear when her boyfriend's life is threatened.

It's easy to see how Diablo Cody has masked the teen drama as a horror movie by adding enough gore to keep the average male entertained, not to mention the kiss/lesbian scene between Fox and Seyfried. And really there is no harm in that - you can appreciate it at face value because the movie is not asking you to take it seriously. Proof of this lies in the campy acting and less than cleverly-written dialogue.

The tone, look, feel and non-existent content of the movie are not enough for me to recommend it but if you enjoyed the movie `Idle Hands', you love Megan Fox or you're just in a funny mood and feel like watching gross-out senseless scenes of varying degrees, you will likely revel in Jennifer's Body.

So I will admit I bought this movie just for Megan Fox eye candy plus it was like $12 bucks, and it sat unopened on my bluray collection for about 3 months until I had nothing else to watch and I was in the mood for a thinkless horror movie but I must say I was rather pleasantly surprised at the movie as a whole, I actually laughed out loud a couple of times and enjoyed the story but just when I started to get a little bored the Megan Fox/Amanda Seyfried Kiss (OMG!!!) this is the best reason to buy this movie on BluRay and watch on your HDTV, it is pure movie magic.