From Diablo Cody's pen (Oscar-winning writer of “Juno”) and director Karyn Kusama (writer-director of the brilliant “Girl Fight”) comes a film where the most familiar of high-school metaphors transforms into factuality in a universe of dry comedy and the teenage horror genre. Cody, with her wicked and quick style, presents a story where the characters are quick-witted and not half as moronic as the pretty boys and girls we have grown used to from previous films of the same genre, i.e., “Twilight.”Blessed with good looks and killer charm, Jennifer (Megan Fox of “Transformers” fame) is the most popular and prettiest girl in her rinky-dink town. Her best friend, the affable Needy (Amanda Seyfried), like her unfortunate name, is not quite as glamorous but has been accepting Jennifer's bossy aggression since kindergarten. Basically whatever Jennifer says, Needy does; there's a strange sort of admiration and tension in their relationship, almost bordering between romantic love and resentment, typical of the pretty girl and the not-so-pretty girl duo. Luckily, Needy has a sweetheart of a boyfriend called Chip (Johnny Simmons) who tries to knock some sense into her as he observes Jennifer's manipulative grip on her.
One night, Jennifer and Needy head down to the town bar to watch a band from the city and after a terrible fire at the joint, Jennifer heads off in the band's van and returns as a flesh-eating temptress possessed by a demon. One by one, she devours the hapless male classmates who fall into her trap -- when Jennifer is interested in you, you just can't say no. Of course, no one ever suspects her except for Needy, who observes a bizarre change in her best friend. Yes, Jennifer used to be evil, but now she “really” is evil, and Needy has to do everything she can to stop her -- especially when she realizes that Chip is also one of the potential victims.
Bizarrely intriguing rather than terrifying despite all the gore, “Jennifer's Body” is an intellectually stimulating ride rather than a raw expedition into primitive blood lust. The dialogue is extremely quirky and all knowing; one ponders whether high school students can possess such vigorous verbal intellect. As in “Juno,” the two main actresses of the film manage to pull off the trademark Diablo Cody banter flawlessly -- perhaps because their real ages were 24 when the film was shot. It isn't so much that the film indulges in the lure of putting the audience on the edge of their seats, but it tries to say something about the significant dynamics of high-school and adolescent friendship. Although Jennifer might arrive at her full succubus potential through being possessed by a demon, this incident might be the major catalyst that makes Needy stick up for herself and stop Jennifer from pushing her around. And of course, the final showdown between the two girls is not really about Jennifer's demonic murders, but the build-up of the girls' lifelong mutual jealousy, hunger for role-reversal and fake friendship.
If the classic high school horror flick “Carrie” was about a pushed-around shy girl taking revenge on her classmates/torturers, beyond female jealousy, “Jennifer's Body” could be about the popular girl taking revenge on the bearers of the male gaze that have transformed her into an object of desire. After all, it isn't a coincidence that all her victims are of the opposite sex. Or maybe, as Cindy Lauper once said, “Girls just wanna have fun.”
“Jennifer's Body” is the kind of film that will be incorporated into film studies programs, especially courses such as “women in film” or “film grammar.” Perhaps it doesn't completely hit all the right chords of cinematic rawness, especially considering its genre, but through its unapologetic style of drollness and idiosyncratic story structure, it definitely gives ample room to dissect and reflect upon the many meanings and layers of concepts such as female identity, sex, virginity and friendship brought about by its choices of editing, framing and dialogue. The film is an acquired taste, but a delicious one, at that.
