The horror genre is a tricky genre to master, and with franchises like "Nightmare on Elm Street," "Halloween" and "Scream" setting the bar rather high, other movies in the genre easily fall under the 50% mark on various review sites. Normally, horror movies are known for the "predictable twist ending" and the "typical tasteless boob shot," although, in this day and age, rightfully so. Jennifer's Body isn't much different; though it is exotic in a way...
QUICK SYNOPSIS: Jennifer's Body follows the viewpoint of Needy (Amanda Seyfried), Jennifer's (Megan Fox) best friend. The movie starts with a hostile PTSD-like Needy in an insane asylum. She starts to narrate about how she was "normal" before the "killings." She then starts where the whole story begins, explaining how Jennifer was popular, how Needy was a nerd, and so on and so forth. Jennifer invites Needy to go see an underground indie band known as "Low Shoulder" at a local venue, and as they attend the show, the building the concert is held at burns down to the ground, killing multiple natives of "Devil's Kettle." Soon after, the town deals with many brutal murders. SURPRISE! (Well, it isn't really if you watch previews and, you know, look at the posters, trailers and any piece of advertisement for the film.) IT'S JENNIFER! Needy notices Jennifer acting strange, and tries to get to the bottom of what exactly is happening around the town... and to Jennifer... *cue the DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUHN*
PROS: Imagine "Mean Girls" making a sequel. But, instead of just Tina Fey writing the script, she collaborated with Wes Craven, the writer of the "Scream" franchise, and Roman Polanski, the writer of "Rosemary's Baby" to write with her. Imagine that, and you have "Jennifer's Body." This movie has a lot going for it, if I am being completely honest. The plot of the movie is actually quite original, if not cheesy and a bit annoying at times. Some moments can be quite emotional! While predictable throughout (since you already know that Needy ends up in the mental asylum), it is still fun to watch through and see how things end up. The movie is a lot more than just Megan Fox eye candy, too. Although she has many scenes where she comes across very sexually, there is no nudity, and it actually makes sense for the plot. Not to mention, the movie has an EXCELLENT soundtrack! I mean, the score is okay when it is there, but the majority of the music is filled in by popular artists, such as Hayley Williams of Paramore, Florence and the Machine, Panic! at the Disco, All Time Low--all with original songs written for the movie. I think that this feature in a movie is always great!
CONS: With that being said, some of the acting can be quite flat at times, leaving the audience wanting more in some scenes. I fell like Needy's boyfriend, Chip (Johnny Simmons) was a bit flat on a lot of parts. Megan Fox was a bit flat, too. The whole movie, while fitting in the horror genre, wasn't very scary either. It was entertaining and fascinating, but it was not frightening, nor was it horrifying. In fact, it wasn't even intense, which really makes this movie lose its punch. The fact that they have Needy in the insane asylum from the beginning kind of gives everything away, and this practically ruined the movie for me.
IN CONCLUSION: The movie had a fantastic concept, but unfortunately, it had a poor execution. The movie was a bit original, and can be quite quotable at times. Good movie? Yes. Good horror movie? Far from it. Imagine Mean Girls with blood, and you have Jennifer's Body.
I give this movie a 4.5/10, simply because this movie didn't execute what it set out to do in the first place.
P.S. - It was painful to do the review for this movie. I absolutely love this movie, but shredding this movie to bits was fair for the movie it was.
