Jennifer's Body

This article is about the 2009 film. For the Hole song, see Jennifer's Body (Hole song). For the Ken Carson song, see Jennifer's Body (Ken Carson song).

Jennifer's Body
Jennifer holding books in her arms sitting on a school desk, wearing a red top and short plaid skirt, in front of a blackboard with the words HELL YES! written in chalk. A hand can be seen trapped by the lid of the school desk. The poster bears the tagline "She's evil ... and not just high school evil" in white block capitals, with the film title underneath in large red block capitals.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byKaryn Kusama
Written byDiablo Cody
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyM. David Mullen
Edited byPlummy Tucker
Music by
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • September 10, 2009 (2009-09-10) (Toronto)
  • September 18, 2009 (2009-09-18) (United States)
Running time
102 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$16 million
Box office$31.6 million

Jennifer's Body is a 2009 American black comedy horror film directed by Karyn Kusama and written by Diablo Cody. Starring Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, J. K. Simmons, Amy Sedaris, and Adam Brody, the film follows Jennifer Check (Fox), a demonically possessed high school student who kills her male classmates and devours their flesh in order to survive, while her bookworm best friend Anita "Needy" Lesnicki (Seyfried) must find a way to end her killing spree.

Working with Cody again following their collaborative efforts on Juno (2007), Jason Reitman stated he and his producers "want to make unusual films".[2] Cody said she wanted the film to speak to female empowerment and explore the complex relationships between best friends.[3] As a tie-in to the film, Boom! Studios produced a Jennifer's Body graphic novel, released in August 2009.

Jennifer's Body premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2009,[4] and was theatrically released in the United States and Canada on September 18, 2009.[5] The film was a commercial failure, grossing $31.6 million against its $16 million production budget, and received mixed reviews from critics, with its dialogue, emotional resonance, and performances of the cast being praised, while the narrative and uneven tone were criticized.[6][7][8][9]

Following revelations that the film's poor marketing campaign was the result of the studio's desire to capitalize on Fox's sex appeal and gear the film towards a younger male audience, Jennifer's Body has undergone a critical reevaluation in the years since its release, and has been described as a feminist cult classic.[10][11][12][13]

  1. ^ "Jennifer's Body (15)". British Board of Film Classification. August 17, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  2. ^ Kit, Borys (November 13, 2007). "Reitman has the jump on Cody's 'Body'". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on July 5, 2008. Retrieved February 11, 2008. (subscription required)
  3. ^ Kwan, Jennifer (September 14, 2009). "Cody exorcises demons from "Jennifer's Body"". Reuters. Archived from the original on September 18, 2009. Retrieved September 23, 2009.
  4. ^ Evans, Ian; Lambert, Christine (2009), TIFF 2009: Jennifer's Body premiere photos, archived from the original on June 8, 2011, retrieved November 27, 2009
  5. ^ 2009 Toronto Film Festival: Megan Fox's 'Jennifer's Body' Premiere Archived November 29, 2009, at the Wayback Machine video from Access Hollywood Archived July 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved November 25, 2009.
  6. ^ "Jennifer's Body (2009)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. March 8, 2018. Archived from the original on April 28, 2020. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
  7. ^ Stevens, Dana (September 18, 2009). "Jennifer's Body". Slate. Archived from the original on September 22, 2009. Retrieved September 19, 2009.
  8. ^ Hartlaub, Peter (September 18, 2009). "'Jennifer Body' sags under weight of cleverness". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on September 30, 2009. Retrieved September 20, 2009.
  9. ^ Scott, A.O. (September 18, 2009). "Jennifer's Body (2009): Hell Is Other People, Especially the Popular Girl". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 22, 2009. Retrieved September 20, 2009.
  10. ^ "The Comeback Kid: Jennifer's Body – revaluated in the #MeToo era". The Everyday. April 19, 2022. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  11. ^ "How Jennifer's Body went from a flop in 2009 to a feminist cult classic today". www.vox.com. October 31, 2018. Archived from the original on January 15, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2023.
  12. ^ Ouellette, Jennifer (September 21, 2019). "Horror film Jennifer's Body bombed 10 years ago; now it's a cult classic". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on April 21, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
  13. ^ Colangelo, B. J. (May 5, 2022). "How Jennifer's Body Became A True Cult Classic". /Film. Archived from the original on January 11, 2023. Retrieved January 11, 2023.