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‘Jennifer’s Body’ is criminally underrated

PHOTO PROVIDED The poster for “Jennifer’s Body” is pictured.

We’re going to switch gears from child friendly, fun-for-all-ages like last week to something a lot more teen/adult rated. (Although ethically teens shouldn’t be watching movies rated R either but I’m not your parent.)

I have been planning to review this movie for MONTHS since starting this Throwback Thursday column. “Jennifer’s Body” is one of those films that was severely underappreciated when it came out and I need other fans of horror to take it seriously.

It’s got gore, demonic possessions, best friend drama, comedy and a wild storyline. Not to mention it’s one of the first films I ever saw that let Megan Fox take the lead and not reduce her to just eye candy.

“Jennifer’s Body” premiered in 2009, directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Diablo Cody who previously worked on the Indie film “Juno.”

The movie opens with a narration from Anita “Needy” Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) who is a mental patient at a prison. After causing a major disturbance she’s sent to solitary confinement where she starts explaining how everything went wrong.

Before prison, Needy was a soft spoken sweet girl from Devil’s Kettle, Minnesota, who happened to be best friends with cheerleader Jennifer Check (Fox).

One night Jennifer convinced Needy to leave her boyfriend Chip Dove (Johnny Simmons) for the night and see Indie Rock band Low Shoulder at a local bar.

During the band’s performance a mysterious fire sets the entire building ablaze, killing a lot of people in the process. Low Shoulder acts very nonchalant about the whole ordeal (suspicious) and “rescues” a couple of people during the chaos.

Needy and Jennifer manage to escape but the former, enraptured by the lead singer, is taken away in the band’s van.

They take Jennifer to a large whirlpool — Devil’s Kettle — where the town got its name.

At the isolated space the band ties up Jennifer and ritually sacrifices her — believing she’s a virgin — to further their music career. (Fellas… ladies too, let’s not resort to ritual sacrifice for such things ‘kay?).

The sacrifice does work but not quite like the band expects. Due to Jennifer not being an actual virgin she doesn’t die. A succubus possesses her body and brings her back to life.

Next comes the single most terrifying scene from a movie I’ve ever seen. Post-sacrifice, Needy finds Jennifer in her house covered in blood with the most deeply unsettling expression I’ve ever seen. Major props to Fox for pulling off a performance that sent chills down my spine.

She also pulls another horrifying stunt later that also makes me terrified to be in the dark some days. Who knows when a demon possessed Megan Fox is going to appear in the corner of my room… you just never know these days.

The following day, a mentally scarred Needy (me too girl, me too) confronts Jennifer who brushes off her concerns. That same day Jennifer lures the captain of the football team into the woods and disembowels him (typical teenage girl stuff ya know?).

Meanwhile, Low Shoulder has taken the world by storm and agrees to perform at the high school’s spring formal.

Needy spends the next month keeping a close eye on her friend, convinced there is something seriously wrong with her. She’s right of course but finding evidence will prove to be difficult.

Meanwhile Jennifer, having not fed on the blood of a dude (that’s the secret to youth I guess), is becoming weaker. She lures a goth/emo kid Colin to an abandoned house where she devours him.

Needy senses something dreadful happened and confronts Jennifer who explains what happened to her. She further told her that when she feeds that she’s virtually invincible and feels more powerful than ever.

Needy vows to not let Jennifer kill again much to the other girl’s disappointment.

The girls’ feud comes to a head at the spring formal when Jennifer lures Chip to an abandoned pool house.

The two girls fight, banter such as “Nice insult Hannah Montana,” are shared and Chip unfortunately is caught in the cross fire. The boy dies in Needy’s arms, Jennifer escaping to her home.

Needy breaks into Jennifer’s room and the two get into a fight. It ends with Needy stabbing the other girl, successfully expelling the demon.

Jennifer’s mom hears the commotion and enters the room, finding Needy on top of a dead Jennifer.

The story comes back to present day Needy who has discovered she’s manifested some of Jennifer’s powers from a bite during their fight. Needy uses these powers to break out of the prison with the goal to find Low Shoulder… the cause of her suffering.

Seyfried did a great job portraying pre-possession Needy as the quiet, push-over while giving off “don’t mess with me” vibes post-best friend murder too.

Fox of course is the star and rightfully so. From that creepy performance after Jennifer’s initial possession to firing off one liners like it’s her day job. I’ve always felt that had her career not blown up due to drama she could have gone far.

“Jennifer’s Body” is rated R for good reason and can be viewed on Starz with a subscription; Hulu, Sling TV and Amazon Prime with a premium subscription and rented from YouTube, Google Play, Vudu and iTunes for $3.99.

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Laura Jameson is a staff reporter for The Express.

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