Film and TV

Out on DVD: Jennifer’s Body (15) + trailer

By Anna Roberts
February 25, 2010

Stars Juno Ruddell, Kyle Gallner, Amanda Seyfried, Megan Fox, Ryan Levine

American High Schools and Colleges have long been haunts of the undead, weird and freakish – think Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Twilight and The Faculty.

Jennifer’s Body is no different combining two of teen Hollywood’s favourite genres: horror and high schools.

Throw in a ‘hottie’ – in this case Jennifer (Megan Fox) – and you have got it made. Alas babes and blood does not an interesting film make.

One night Jennifer and her best friend, ‘plain Jane’ Needy (Amanda Seyfriend), go and see a local indie-rock band at a bar. But disaster strikes when the pub they visit burns down. They narrowly escape death but really their problems are only just beginning.

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Later that night, Needy is surprised at home when Jennifer turns up.

She is, well, acting a bit odd: tearing into raw chicken, vomiting black goo – that sort of thing.

Being a stereotypical ‘brain’ Needy immediately cottons on to the fact something’s amiss.

Her suspicions are heightened when, over the next few days, she discovers a number of the boys at school have been murdered and not just killed but eaten too – a coincidence?

She does not think so and, in the style of American flicks before Jennifer’s Body, goes about tracking down the cause of her best mate’s malfunctioning.

Naturally she heads to school – what secondary library does not have an occult section (bar Hogwarts of course)?

Jennifer’s Body does have some good parts. The leads, especially Needy, are rather good.

Meanwhile there are elements of humour and Jennifer’s Body is not too clean-cut as many American films run the risk of being.

However, it really is not anything special.

The plot is predictable, the characters lack any true depth and it just is not very original.

Films like Jennifer’s Body have been done before and will be done again – proving ultimately an incredibly attractive woman in the lead is not enough to catapult a movie to something special.

Teenage boys might enjoy Jennifer’s Body – everyone else might be happier saving their cash and watching old re-runs of Buffy

The Vampire Slayer, a funnier, more intelligent predecessor.

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