Climbing Higher Pictures

Before I get a chance to do all of the archive work for the site, getting all of the old projects uploaded with their set photos, DVD extras, etc. I wanted to take a moment and share a review I just finished writing for Diablo Cody’s latest film, Jennifer’s Body. The review will also be published on TheCinemaSource.Com in a short time, though it may not appear on the front page until the movie actually premieres.

Jennifer’s Body Review

By Ryan Hamelin

Movie Grade: B+

If you’re already shocked by the grade, believe me, I am too. I will preface this by saying that if you were born before 1980… you will not get this movie. In all likelihood, you won’t find it all that funny, and you won’t understand how teenagers can look or sound so stupid. If you are a horror fan, you will get more out of Jennifer’s Body due to the way it cleverly twists age old horror clichés while managing to maintain a feeling of dread not unlike its classic roots in Brian De Palma’s Carrie. The enjoyment to be found in this film is how wholly 2009 it is, and should it gain a cult following over the next few years, I guarantee revisiting it will slam you right back into the same seat where you saw it for the first time.

Diablo Cody is an interesting example of a screenwriter who doesn’t make a distinction between what she says and what she writes. Whenever you attempt to create dialogue, it’s almost always a conversation you’re having in your head, not something that you know real people will say. Cody leapfrogs the barrier between written and spoken word to deliver lines that are full of her own crackling wit while playing at perfectly natural, almost improvised levels of honesty. This movie, along with Juno and Superbad, is the closest Hollywood has come to writing a screenplay that accurately reflects how modern teenagers communicate, and here is where it is likely to become dated in the future. Sure there are plenty of references that feel a little contrived, but the majority of them are so spot-on that they have a painfully sharp quality, a barbed sting against the vain consumerism of pop culture. Cody knows she’s good with dialogue, and even where the set ups for the words falter slightly, they lend more than enough energy to revitalize the scenes.

That brings us to the cast, an eclectic collection of different types of people, the kind of diversity not normally associated with a horror film, but which would be right at home in your local high school cafeteria. Megan Fox is that girl, the self obsessed hot chick that eats men… only now she does it literally. Amanda Seyfried does a wonderful job as the sandbox best friend who’s still our title character’s go-to-girl despite not growing up to be gorgeous and man-eating. Her character, named Needy, is the true heroine of our story and manages strong turns in both the dramatic and comedic moments. The film switches between the horror and the comedy at lightning pace, and they needed actors who could believably keep up. Seyfried is the definite highlight, as we think we know where she’s going to end up, without really believing how she gets there.

Megan Fox is the obvious draw of the film, and not unlike marketing Star Wars with Darth Vader’s helmet, the antagonist here manages to command much of the runtime. Possibly more frightening than the scares in the movie itself, Fox actually manages to have some acting chops, and though Jennifer has a lot of similarities to Transformers’ Mikaela from an eye candy perspective, she spends just as much time looking hideous or disgusting, a level of transformation which Fox sells surprisingly well.

The story is modulated at a brisk pace, supplemented by some great musical cues and a repeating motif surrounding the rock group who set the story in motion. They attempt to sacrifice a virgin in order to gain fame and fortune, and since Jennifer is not a virgin, the ritual goes horribly wrong, sending a demon into her lifeless body. The fact that Cody brings the band back into the story at so many points speaks to the twisted nature of fate, especially horror movie fate, as each reference or appearance gets a laugh as well as advances the story closer to its bloody conclusion.

Here’s where it all pays off. You can almost judge horror films completely on the strength of their final act, as it is here where the vast majority of them are unable to sustain the weight of what came before and collapse, breaking their own rules in the process. Jennifer’s Body never breaks its own rules, having built a world in which almost anything could conceivably occur. With such a surreal set up, the conclusion nails the emotional core of the movie, and does what so many serious films of the genre fail to do, believably resolve their original premise. For that reason, I feel honor bound to praise the effort as not only a great satire of horror conventions, but a well designed horror film in its own right.

Megan Fox will ensure that teenagers will buy a ticket, and they’ll end up with a lot more than they bargained for. This is a movie with a female protagonist and a female antagonist, written by a woman, and directed by a woman. The fact that both genders will find this movie so entertaining is a testament to good storytelling across the board, and I predict it will be a surprisingly big hit at the box office… though I have been wrong before. Is it the next… anything? Sort of, if only that it’s a story and a setting that this generation can actually embrace as their own. You won the Oscar with an indie drama, and you follow it up with an incredibly entertaining horror flick. Diablo Cody, I salute you.