Jennifer's Body

Reversing the usual trope of male predator and female victims, Jennifer’s Body, directed by Karyn Kusama (Girlfight, 2000) with screenplay by Diablo Cody, winner of a 2008 Oscar for Juno (2007, dir. Jason Reitman) was D.O.A. upon its release. (Part bad marketing failure and part media backlash against both star Megan Fox and writer Cody.) Yet within a decade it was being hailed as a cult queer feminist horror comedy classic.

Queen bee cheerleader Jennifer (Fox) falls victim to a virgin sacrifice to Satan, but not being a virgin, turns into a succubus who specializes in killing her male classmates. Only her best friend, bookworm Needy (Amanda Seyfried) may be able to stop her.

One critic who got the film on its initial release was Slate’s Dana Stevens: “luscious and powerful, sexy and scary, maddening at times, but impossible to stop watching… Kusama and Cody’s collaboration is a wicked black comedy with unexpected emotional resonance…Ultimately… [it’s] an allegory about female friendship, with all its attendant cross-currents of envy, competition, loyalty, and betrayal.”

The screening will be introduced by Hira Mahmood, PhD student in the Department of Performing & Media Arts.

Part of our Cult Classics series