Jennifer's Body – Jungs nach ihrem Geschmack (2009)

Jennifer’s Body – Jungs nach ihrem Geschmack: Directed by Karyn Kusama. With Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, Adam Brody. A newly possessed high school cheerleader turns into a succubus who specializes in killing her male classmates. Can her best friend put an end to the horror?

“Winning an Oscar for a first film is a perilous position for a screenwriter to be in, for with adulation comes high expectation, and with high expectation comes hype that is almost always self-defeating. Such is the case with u0026quot;Jenniferu0026#39;s Body,u0026quot; the sophomore script from Diablo (u0026quot;Junou0026quot;) Cody, which takes an uncomfortable union of concept, content, and direction (by Karyn Kusama), and transforms it into a film I really WANTED to like, but in the end couldnu0026#39;t. Marketed as a hip, self-aware horror flick, it never delivers much beyond the norm of the genre (it follows firmly in the tradition of Kevin Williamson, who gave us u0026quot;Screamu0026quot; and u0026quot;The Facultyu0026quot; over a decade ago), and passages of heartfelt emotion are shortchanged for ridiculous horror segues (an indie band sacrifices a virgin to make a pact with the Devil, for instance) and Codyu0026#39;s own contrived linguistic quirks. The quirks worked for u0026quot;Juno,u0026quot; which told a dramatic story populated by fully realized characters and peppered with moments of bittersweet humor. u0026quot;Jenniferu0026#39;s Bodyu0026quot; almost succeeds based on the strength of its central duo: the titular cheerleader (Megan Fox) and her bespectacled, dorky BFF, Needy (Amanda Seyfried), who undergo serious issues when Jennifer becomes a literal man-eater; the bond between them is so palpable and effective that it almost saves the film when it goes off into the realm of bloodshed and digital trickery. If Codyu0026#39;s script canu0026#39;t find a balance between the horror, the humor, and the pathos, director Kusama steers the film even more erratically, resulting in a tone that remains unsettled until the very end. Ultimately, u0026quot;Jenniferu0026#39;s Bodyu0026quot; has its share of visually arresting moments and fine performances (particularly Seyfriedu0026#39;s), but it has much less to offer than its obvious (and far superior) influences: Jacques Tourneuru0026#39;s (and Paul Schraderu0026#39;s) u0026quot;Cat Peopleu0026quot; and the u0026quot;Ginger Snapsu0026quot; trilogy (which took the metaphorical monstrosity of puberty and its own clever dialog into much more exciting territory).”