Line #31 YMMV/JennifersBody


1	* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
2	** Is Jennifer genuinely as ditzy as she appears, or is she [[ObfuscatingStupidity playing it up]]? (When she talks about needing help with her English homework, she asks if Hamlet is going to fuck his mom. Hamlet's outrage about his mother's new marriage possibly crossing over into Oedipus territory is a somewhat edge case but still valid reading of the text.)
3	** Does Jennifer only kill [[spoiler: Colin and Chip]] just to take what Needy has, as she has done throughout much of their friendship, or [[MurderTheHypotenuse does she do it out of having repressed romantic feelings for her friend]]?
4	** Everyone in Devil's Kettle become obsessed with Low Shoulder when the charity single comes out. Is that simply because they became local heroes because of the fire? Or is it actually part of the ritual making everyone love them? If the latter, why is Needy unaffected? And is it because of the same thing that gives her a psychic link with Jennifer?
5	** Did Jennifer [[spoiler: let Needy kill her? If so, was it because she realized that she needed to be stopped or because she realized she had lost Needy as a friend? Given that there was still some trace left of the real Jennifer that remained within her body after the demon took hold, could it be a mixture of both?]]
6	** At the end of the movie, Needy is able to [[spoiler: get the knife that Low Shoulder threw into Devil's Kettle, finding it in a stream next to one of the orange balls that a team of scientists also threw in. Did she find it because of her own demonic powers, or did the Devil let it be found to punish Low Shoulder for screwing up the sacrifice?]]
7	* {{Applicability}}: After [[spoiler: murdering Jennifer, Needy receives some of her powers but none of the bad parts of being a succubus]]. A lot of fans have interpreted this to parallel becoming stronger after leaving a toxic relationship.
8	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments:
9	** "St. Jude, patron saint of hopeless causes, please give me the power to ''crush this bitch''."
10	** Needy finally calling Jennifer on her shit during the fight at the pool.
11	** [[spoiler: Needy's murder of Low Shoulder.]]
12	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Through the Trees" due to its ear worm factor. Also, "Violet" by Music/{{Hole}} being played over Needy's murder of Low Shoulder.
13	* BestKnownForTheFanservice:
14	** The marketing of the film openly and fully embraced that it stars Creator/MeganFox as a LiteralManeater, ''significantly'' playing up the fanservice elements (often out of any context).
15	** The film's most famous scene is the big lesbian kiss between Needy and Jennifer. It's often forgotten that in context, the scene itself is quite disturbing - and however much genuine attraction might be involved, the kiss is an example of Jennifer trying to manipulate Needy yet again (keep in mind that right afterwards she essentially calls Needy crazy and suggests she's hallucinating). Much like ''Film/RequiemForADream'', much of this context was stripped away on the internet and being presented as straight up titillation.
16	* CantUnHearIt: Because Creator/BillFagerbakke played the role of the vengeful father of one of Jennifer's victims, it's hard to not imagine [[Franchise/SpongeBobSquarePants Patrick Star]] swearing up a storm.
17	* CatharsisFactor:
18	** [[spoiler: After Jennifer has murdered Chip just to hurt Needy, cue the latter breaking through her bedroom window, finally done with her shit and ready to dish some well-earned karma]].
19	** [[spoiler: Needy escapes from the asylum and hitchhikes to murder Low Shoulder. The viewer is treated to a very cathartic sequence of still images illustrating what she did. Thanks to her powers, it's almost certain she'll get away with this one]].
20	* CompleteMonster: [[FauxAffablyEvil Nikolai Wolf]] is the leader of the [[HollywoodSatanism Satan-worshipping]] indie band Low Shoulder, and is directly responsible for all the death and misery in the film. While performing in a bar one night, he prompts a fire to magically break out, burning dozens of people to death. Singling out Jennifer Check and believing her to be a virgin, Nikolai and his band abduct her and decide to use her in a [[VirginSacrifice ritual sacrifice]], with Nikolai savagely stabbing her supposedly to death. Nikolai then [[{{Jerkass}} lies]] about saving people from the fire, and uses at least one of Jennifer's killings to become famous and a "[[VillainWithGoodPublicity public hero]]", fooling pretty much everyone with Anita "Needy" Lesnicki unable to convince anyone of the truth.
21	* CrossesTheLineTwice:
22	** Mr. Wroblewski overhearing Jonas's screams as Jennifer murders him, assuming it's either GladToBeAliveSex or grieving anguish. He nods approvingly and says "let it ''all'' out".
23	** Jennifer is bound with ropes in preparation for a human sacrifice. The lead singer of Low Shoulder, having invoked a demon, raises the knife... and the whole band [[spoiler: breaks out singing "867-5309/Jenny" over her screams.]]
24	** Jennifer drolly asking for a tampon in response to [[spoiler:being impaled and bleeding profusely from her wound]].
25	* CryForTheDevil: Jennifer may be a mean girl prior to becoming [[spoiler: demonically possessed by a succubus but she didn't deserve such a brutal death by the band Low Shoulder]].
26	* CultClassic: In the years since its release, it's amassed a large cult following. Diablo Cody talked about how it's gone from being trashed so bad it affected both her career and mental health -- to now being all anyone wants to talk to her about. Megan Fox has joked that she doesn't consider it a cult film anymore because of how popular it's become.
27	* DirectorDisplacement: Some people wrongly assume that Diablo Cody directed the film, when in reality she only wrote the screenplay. It was actually directed by Karyn Kusama.
28	* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: Granted, it is an UrbanFantasy setting, but still. The story manages to show bloody revange and mass murder as the coolest thing possible, ''despite'' also showing the consequences of murdering someone and the sort of life Needy is stuck in as the consequence of her actions. Hell, it even manages to portray mental ward of a prison as a pretty ok place.
29	* {{Fanon}}: A lot of fans like the theory that Jennifer is bisexual, with a deeply concealed crush on Needy. Megan Fox - who is bisexual herself - says she played Jennifer this way (although she saw Jennifer as a lesbian).
30	* FansPreferTheNewHer: Even when Jennifer is in demonic mode - and she's at her creepiest when we first see her post-sacrifice at Needy's house - she's still a CuteMonsterGirl.
31	* FriendlyFandoms:
32	** With ''Film/TheCraft'' and ''Film/GingerSnaps'', due to their similar story and character beats, particularly with the protagonists' and antagonists' [[HoYay suggestive relationships]], as well as having an LGBTFanbase. The three movies are considered something of a trio in their fanbases.
33	** With ''Film/TragedyGirls'', another nichey, dark horror comedy about two high schoolers in a PseudoRomanticFriendship -- except in that one, they're ''both'' murderers (though [[spoiler:Needy kills the members of Low Shoulder at the end of ''Jennifer's Body'']]).
34	** With ''Series/{{Hannibal}}'', due to the relationship between a man-eating villain and their friend (which a lot of fans read as homoerotic in each case).
35	** And possibly with ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' as well as both movies involve a vengeful beautiful brunette villain going on a murderous rampage after being screwed over by a GreaterScopeVillain for his own amusement and a blonde hero trying to stop them and [[spoiler: eventually killing them, at the cost of their own life. ''Figuratively'' in Needy's case. And the fact both movies had an LGBTFanbase.]]
36	* GirlShowGhetto: A complicated example. This film, written and directed by women, is female-focused, and the studio decided the only way it could be marketed was to horny teenage boys. It was eviscerated by critics and audiences alike, Diablo Cody even saying she knew it wouldn't do well because it was not "a commercial movie".
37	* HarsherInHindsight:
38	** Megan Fox plays a character whose value is her own beauty, and she's killing people partly to sustain her own attractiveness. This ended up being sadly prophetic of how Hollywood treated the actress herself, with the marketing of this film in particular focusing entirely on [[MsFanservice her sex appeal]]. She admitted that the following years and resulting CreatorBreakdown were among the darkest of her life. She also admits that the scene where Low Shoulder sacrifices her feels extremely close to how various studios and producers exploited her.
39	--->"That was really reflective of what I felt was my relationship to the movie studios at that point. Because I felt like that's what they were willing to do; to literally bleed me dry. They didn't care about my health, my wellbeing, mentally, physically, emotionally at all. They were willing to sacrifice me physically as long as they got what they wanted out of it, and it didn't matter how many times I spoke up..."
40	** The entire joke about Low Shoulder is that a sappy emo band are secretly [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll depraved, hedonistic]], and [[RockMeAsmodeus worshiping Satan]] like any number of classic metal bands. In the 2010s, the Warped Tour, a major hub of PopPunk and EmoMusic, would gain [[https://medium.com/cuepoint/warped-behavior-sexual-violence-on-tour-8ad218d50bc9 a bad reputation]] as a hub of bands that fit that exact description (minus the devil worship), using sappy lyrics and sensitive personas to [[{{Ephebophile}} sleep with underage groupies]]. Suddenly, Low Shoulder looks like a disturbingly accurate portrait of what a lot of their contemporaries were actually like.
41	* HollywoodHomely:
42	** Creator/AmandaSeyfried as the "plain jane" Needy. However, the narration outright states that when they go out, Needy dresses herself down so as to not steal any of the spotlight from Jennifer, and is specifically forbidden from showing any cleavage, since Needy's is more substantial than Jennifer's. This means that, in-universe, the characters are entirely (if tacitly) aware of Needy's actual hotness. The commentary likewise notes that only in Hollywood could Amanda Seyfried play "the ugly best friend," even if she happens to be standing next to Megan Fox. Chip also tells her she looks "totally hot" in her prom dress.
43	** Also Jennifer. If she doesn't feed on schedule, she starts getting ugly... meaning "still Megan Fox but with heaps of makeup to give her shadows and sallow skin." Very likely intentional, as Needy describes this as being "ugly for her", to show how high Jennifer's standards are. Also, considering that her hair starts to fall out when she hasn't fed in a while, one could assume that she'd eventually [[BodyHorror end up looking even worse]] [[FridgeHorror if she went a]] ''[[FridgeHorror very]]'' [[FridgeHorror long time without feeding...]]
44	* InferredHolocaust: [[spoiler: Needy ends the movie getting some very well-deserved revenge...but she's still a fugitive and a pariah with no income or support network]].
45	* JerkassWoobie: Jennifer. It is implied there is more than she's letting it on, allowing her general jerkassness run her life. Also [[spoiler:her getting brutally murdered is another factor]], especially since she's genuinely ''terrified'' when it's happening. She's also shown on the verge of tears towards the end when [[spoiler: her hair starts falling out due to having not fed in a long time and her possible guilt towards [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone what she's about to do to Chip]]]]. Not long after this scene, an exchange with Needy indicates that Jennifer is deeply insecure about her social status, to the point where she apparently developed an eating disorder some time before becoming possessed.
46	* LesYay:
47	** Jennifer and Needy's friendship is absolutely ''dripping'' in it. The bedroom scene takes it way past subtext. If you were under the impression that the trailer exaggerated it, it didn't, it actually toned it down.
48	** Come to think of it, the girl who told Needy that she's "totally lesbigay" in the opening had her eyes practically glued to Needy just before dropping the bomb on her.
49	* LGBTFanbase: Despite Jennifer and Needy's relationship being described (not entirely inaccurately) as queerbait, ''especially'' the scene where they make out for no apparent reason, this film has a rather large following among UsefulNotes/{{sapphi\|sm}}c women. The film's iffy use of the DepravedBisexual trope is fully acknowledged, but the general attitude is, "It's schlock, but it's ''[[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales our]]'' schlock" (similar to how some queer fans view the older and even campier movie ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''). It helps that Megan Fox, herself bisexual, decided to played the character as a closeted lesbian.
50	* LoveToHate: Adam Brody makes Nikolai so entertainingly douchey that you enjoy his screen time, as well as anticipate his comeuppance.
51	* MemeticBadass: Chip. He [[spoiler: survived getting eaten long enough to get to dry land, impale Jennifer, ''and'' even calm his girlfriend down over his own death]]. If he were the star, the movie'd be over earlier.
52	* MemeticMutation:
53	** "You are totally lesbigay."
54	** "You're killing people!" "No, I'm killing ''boys''."
55	** And of course, the shot of Jennifer holding a lighter to her tongue has become many gifs.
56	** A character played by Creator/BillFagerbakke (in the unrated cut only) gives off a creatively graphic FreudianThreat at one point. Cue jokes about [[WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants Patrick Star]] finally losing it. Gained particular attention after the film was featured by WebVideo/DeadMeat.
57	* MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales: The movie is popular among UsefulNotes/{{sapphi\|sm}}c women even though the [[AntagonistTitle eponymous villain]] is a DepravedBisexual and LiteralManeater with HomoeroticSubtext between her and her best friend Needy. It helps that Jennifer is a TragicMonster who starts out as a sympathetic LovableAlphaBitch, as she was only [[DemonicPossession demonically possessed]] in the first place after being captured and [[HumanSacrifice sacrificed]] by a [[RockMeAsmodeus devil-worshiping rock band]] who thought she was a {{virgin\|Sacrifice}}. It also helps that she seems to genuinely love Needy (albeit in an increasingly possessive and violent way) even after becoming a FullyEmbracedFiend, that Needy herself is AmbiguouslyBi too while being the heroine, and that Creator/MeganFox is openly bisexual and was the one who decided to play Jennifer as a deeply closeted lesbian.
58	* MisaimedMarketing:
59	** Cody wrote and geared the film for a female audience, but, due to the presence of Megan Fox, the studio aimed its marketing squarely at boys. When Cody asked the studio how they planned to market the film, the answer she received was, "Megan Fox Hot." Test screenings were not shown to general audiences, but to groups of teenage boys; when asked what they thought of the film, one of them wrote, "Needs Moar Bewbs."
60	** What's more is that this R-rated horror comedy was marketed to boys aged 12-14, who wouldn't be able to see the movie unless a parent or guardian was with them. And considering how it was marketed as a Megan Fox sex romp, the chances of that weren't high.
61	* MoneyMakingShot: Quite literally. The slow motion shot of Jennifer walking down the school hallway like a supermodel. Karyn Kusama recalls that being shot very early in production, with the knowledge that once the studio saw ''that'', she'd be spared any ExecutiveMeddling.
62	%%* {{Narm}}: Jennifer's last words are either this or NarmCharm.
63	* NauseaFuel:
64	** Jennifer's attempts to eat the roast chicken are [[VomitIndiscretionShot less than successful]]. [[TooHungryToBePolite And very messy.]]
65	** Jennifer finishes feeding on [[spoiler:Colin]] by reaching into his torn-open belly and slurping up his blood from her cupped hands.
66	** The shot of [[spoiler: Jonas' intestines being eaten from his corpse by a forest deer]].
67	* OneSceneWonder:
68	** Creator/LanceHenriksen shows up as a driver who takes hitchiking Needy right before the credits and has a short, BlackComedy dialogue with her - and it's still one of the more memorable bits of the film.
69	** Creator/BillFagerbakke as Jonas' father, using the same voice he does for [[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Patrick Star]]. He's only in one scene, but his FreudianThreat to his son's killer is epic.
70	--->'''Jonas' Dad:''' You hear me, you bastard? ''I'll cut off your nutsack and nail it to my door!'' Like one of those lion door-knockers rich folks got! That will be your BALLS!
71	** Gabrielle Rose as Colin's mother, who gives one hell of a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to a couple of angsty Goths.
72	* OneTruePairing: Most of the film's fandom ships Jennifer/Needy. Other ships are basically nonexistent.
73	* PortmanteauCoupleName: "Needifer" has gained some traction as a ship name for Jennifer/Needy.
74	* PresumedFlop: It's often touted as the film that killed Creator/DiabloCody's career after her Oscar win for ''{{Film/Juno}}'', and convinced studios that Creator/MeganFox was not a bankable star. While the film received a critical thrashing due to its MisaimedMarketing focusing on the actress's sex appeal rather than the feminist satire - it was actually quite profitable; its budget was only $16 million and it grossed $31 million worldwide. It ''still'' affected the careers of people involved in making it, thou.
75	* ProtectionFromEditors: Depending on who you listen to, Diablo Cody either had this directly from managing to parlay her success with ''Film/{{Juno}}'' into getting a "no-rewrites" clause for this film, or indirectly as a result of the 2008 WGA strike meaning there wasn't enough time for another writer to come in and fine-tune the screenplay.
76	* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/ChrisPratt, who would later be better known for his roles in ''Series/ParksAndRecreation'' and ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', plays Officer Roman Duda.
77	* SciFiGhetto: As it wasn't until TheNewTens that horror films started to really get appreciated for their artistic merit, this was dismissed as either schlock or a Megan Fox sex-fest (to be charitable, the 2000s was not a good decade for horror). Nowadays it's appreciated for its feminist satire a lot more.
78	* SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct: As time has gone on, Creator/MeganFox's performance has been seen in a better light - providing plenty of irony and self awareness to a character completely obsessed with herself - and also making her into quite an effective Woobie in the sacrificial scene. WebVideo/ChrisStuckmann highlighted a scene in which Jennifer sadly smears make up over her face to cover how not feeding is taking its toll on her - and she brings it in a subtly tragic way. It's widely agreed that the film wouldn't be what it was without Megan Fox playing Jennifer.
79	* SignatureScene:
80	** Jennifer and Needy's kissing scene.
81	** The scene where Jennifer burns her tongue with a lighter is also very well-known, to the point that people share gifs or screencaps without realizing they're from this movie.
82	** The scene in the unrated version where Jonas's dad, played by Creator/BillFagerbakke, dishes out [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YgShjfre1k a pretty colorful threat]] towards his son's [[spoiler:murderer]].
83	* ToughActToFollow: ''{{Film/Juno}}'' was a BreakthroughHit for Diablo Cody, and she was given free rein to do whatever she wanted. Needless to say, this film had the bad luck to not make the same impact. It ended up going the other way around, where ''Juno'' has gotten a HypeBacklash and ''Jennifer's Body'' is now seen in a better light.
84	* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: In a way this movie captures the mid-00s 2000s in the same way a Creator/JohnHughes movie captures the 80s. The swooping fringe haircuts, the skinny clothing style, the subtly mocking horror comedy tone (especially about {{EmoTeen}}s, the omnipresent soundtrack of {{emo music}} and indie rock (not to mention posters of them in every bedroom)). The main antagonists are also a near parody of the alternative indie/emo bands that were popular at that time. To say nothing about omnipresent flip-phones and lack of social media.
85	* ValuesDissonance: When it came out, it was trashed for being a really sleazy teen horror entirely build on Megan Fox's image as the new "It girl" and sex symbol. Fast forward ''a mere decade'' and it managed to get VindicatedByHistory as a ''liberating LGBT+ FeministFantasy''. To make it all that weirder, the film is ''both''.
86	* VindicatedByHistory: The movie was poorly received upon its release and was written off by some critics as "''[[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Twilight]]'' for boys". As noted above, after a decade passed it came to be regarded in a much better light, [[https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/10/31/18037996/jennifers-body-flop-cult-classic-feminist-horror hailed as an unsung classic of feminist horror]] that was ahead of its time in both its treatment of rape culture and in how it portrayed the friendship of its two teenage girl leads. Unfortunately, it had the misfortune of [[NeverTrustATrailer being marketed as a campy sex romp]] and alienating its target audience ([[https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/louispeitzman/jennifers-body-diablo-cody-karyn-kusama-feminist-horror according to Kusama,]] the marketing team wanted to use ''an amateur porn site'' to promote the film), while also being a victim of the pop culture HypeBacklash that was going on at the time against both Megan Fox (who was seen as a [[BrainlessBeauty vapid glamour model]] due to her association with the ''Transformers'' movies) and Diablo Cody (who was seen as a [[{{Hipster}} pretentious one-trick pony]] after ''Juno''). Diablo Cody even outlined in an interview how it went from being eviscerated by critics to being the first thing most people asked her about.
87	* TheWoobie:
88	** Poor, poor Needy. She witnesses the deaths of lots of people in a fire, her best friend is abducted, murdered and brought back as a demonic being, and several of her schoolmates are brutally murdered by said best friend, [[spoiler: including her devoted boyfriend.]] Then, to top it all off, [[spoiler: she kills Jennifer and gets incarcerated for her murder.]] Also, following the ending, [[spoiler:she's likely going to be spending [[YouCantGoHomeAgain the rest of her life on the run or in hiding from the authorities]].]]
89	** Jennifer too, as mentioned above under JerkassWoobie. You have to keep in mind that, throughout all of this, she's still a ''teenager'', and a deeply insecure one (to the point of ''bulimia'') if the exchange with Needy at the climax is anything to go by. The members of Low Shoulder [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything take advantage of her post-fire shell-shock, take her into their van, pump her with drink, drive to a remote location, bind her with ropes]], then brutally murder her. In the beginning, it also seems like she really does not want to kill and eat people, but it's proven it's the only way she can stay alive. Although possessed when it happens (as one is), she finally loses her best friend and [[spoiler: dies]]. Happy endings all around.

Context YMMV / JennifersBody