Film review: Jennifer's body

Published on Thursday 5 November 2009 17:58

JENNIFER'S BODY (15) *** DIRECTED BY: KARYN KUSAMA STARRING: MEGAN FOX, AMANDA SEYFRIED, ADAM BRODY

FLOPPING big time in the US where teen horror films regularly top the box office, this second effort from Juno's Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody isn't quite the slam-dunk it should have been, especially considering it combines her pop-culture savvy insights and dialogue with buckets of blood and Megan Fox in her first proper starring role.

Blame director Karyn Kusama (Girlfight, Aeon Flux) for failing to transform those elements into the subversive horror flick this clearly had the potential to be. The satirical spin on female sexuality and high-school hierarchies implied by its Carrie-meets-Heathers cinematic reference points are more confused than cutting, and there's also a fatal lack of genuine scares. Still, this tale of a heartless hottie (Fox) whose inner demon is brought literally to the fore is worth persevering with for some of Cody's genre flourishes. Devil-worshipping as a necessary career step for struggling indie bands in the age of illegal downloads is just one of several amusing plot points that her script eventually pulls together in a terrifically executed finale.

As for Fox, she's fine, but hardly revelatory in the role of a soulless succubus, and her sparkier co-star Amanda Seyfried leaves her for dead in the on-screen charisma stakes.