Movie Review: Jennifer’s Body

Overall, ‘Jennifer’s Body’ 2009, is a movie with really strong strengths but additionally lacks in certain areas that would have highlighted the horror elements more. Therefore, I would argue this movie aligns closer to the chick flick genre. Acknowledging that this movie is labelled as a horror and comedy, after watching it, it is clear that the movie is leaning towards more comedic however, I can understand why horror has been used to describe it. 

A key achievement of this movie that I feel is important to highlight first is the metaphor of it all. One consequence of experiencing a traumatic sexual experience is that hypersexuality becomes a coping mechanism and that is represented in Megan Fox’s character Jennifer. 

Jennifer becomes a literal man-eating demon and she lures them in through suggestive behaviours, and through acknowledging this metaphor as a trauma response gives so much depth to this movie, the act of representation is really useful in acknowledging what so many people go through yet is too taboo to talk about, therefore it carries shame. Furthermore, I applaud the representation being put in a movie like this, that is targeted mostly to teens/ young adults because the movie acts as a support, as if a friend was to say “you aren’t alone” and that diminishes the build up shame of going through an event similar to Jennifer experienced. 

In contrast to this very enlightening positive, I must acknowledge the downsides to the movie, one being the lack of chemistry between the two main characters, Jennifer and Anita (Needy). It is obvious that the relationship between the two girls is meant to present to us as a toxic friendship and that does convey through the screen. However, I would argue that this could have been amplified much more, through making Needy less independent and more trying to impress Jennifer. This wouldn’t be such a weakness if their friendship wasn’t the complete plot of the story, but unfortunately the half-hearted attempt in presenting a toxic friendship makes the ending extremely predictable because we can already see Needy having her own mind outside of Jennifer. 

Outside of the positive I mentioned at the beginning of this review, it is noticeable that there is no substance of depth in Jennifer’s Body. Quite simply, this is a good movie to sit down with and not have to think that much about, it is super easy to watch and relatively predictable. The horror elements of the movie fail to build and hold tension therefore, lack in depth and additionally, the whole plot and characters never go deeper than what you see on the surface, causing the film to feel very flat. 

A technicality that complimented the film was the lighting used. In almost every scene the lighting was kept quite dim, which worked really well to emphasize the dark natured movie. It reflects the darkness of the action inflicted upon Jennifer, keeping it relevant throughout the movie and acts as a reminder of how and why we got to where we are. 

Overall, Jennifer’s body is a movie that was very easy watching but definitely too easy. Nothing about the film requires the audience to do their own thinking and I would argue that because of that the film doesn’t keep intrigue on what will happen next. 

I rate this 2.5 stars.

Written by, Jasmine Molineux