The 2009 comedy-horror film Jennifer's Body was directed by the extremely talented Karyn Kusama and written by the even more talented (if that's possible) Diablo Cody.
This 2009 comedy-horror takes place in Devil's Kettle, a small-town in Minnesota. It tells the story of a cold, snarky HS student Jennifer (Megan Fox) who's assaulted by some Satan worshippers and turns into a succubus. There are a lot of movies in this genre but this one gets my vote for the best of all of them. Rather than told from Jennifer's POV, it's told from the perspective of her much kinder, smarter bestie Anita, who everyone calls "Needy" (engagingly acted by Amanda Seyfried). How does Needy react to Jennifer's odd behavior? How does the behavior affect her own relationships, with Jennifer, with her boyfriend Chip, her friends at school?
One reason I think this is a great script to study is that Diablo Cody is a Acadamy Award winning screenwriter (for Juno), and it clearly shows in the detailed interpersonal dynamics surrounding Needy. Thanks to Cody's careful wordsmithery (if that's a word) we see the story from the perspective of someone losing a friend (an evil spirit has taken over Jennifer) but not her life (as Jennifer is not really evil enough to kill Needy). With a confident voice, this script tells a compelling story with especially strong dialogue, full of clever idioms, and creative visuals. This script is different from most horror scripts in the sense that it tells the story of a non-sympathetic character (Jennifer) entirely from the POV of a sympathetic one who's not a victim. (A comedy-crime/horror film that uses a similar narrative device is that of Arsenic and Old Lace, written by Academy Award winners Julius and Philip Epstein and directed by another incredibly talented director, Frank Capra.) A second reason I think this is a good example to study is because it is directed by Karyn Kusama, an exceptionally talented filmmaker (who also directed the truly frightening horror film, The Invitation).
Massive spoilers ahead.
Breakdown:
* The film opens with a flash-forward. Needy is confined in a women's correctional (mental) hospital. We see a bit of what her life is like there, with exercise and cafeteria meals, and so on.
* Another flashback to how Needy actually got there: she killed Jennifer, then even bragged about it to the police who arrested her.
* The main story opens as a much further flashback to two months earlier (which we'll call "present day", as the script does). The town is established, and the main characters (Needy, Jennifer, Chip) are established in their school environment. Chip is a drummer in the marching band, Jennifer is a cheerleader on the flag team, and Needy is just a sweet girl who's been friends with Jennifer since they were children. In a voice over (which might have been cut in the film), the relationship between the girls is described:
NEEDY (V.O.)
... back then, we were tight. Sisters, practically. People found it hard to believe that a babe like Jennifer would associate with a dork like me. But we’d been the Wonder Twins since we were practically preverbal. Sandbox love never dies.
* Jennifer tells Needy they are going out tonight (it's Thursday) to watch a rock band "Soft Shoulder" play at a local bar (Needy and Jennifer are 16-17 years old). Needy doesn't want to go but doesn't like disappointing her friend, so agrees.
* Before Jennifer is to pick up Needy, Chip sits on Needy's bed as they talk about her "date" with Jennifer. He complains about the seedy bar and then they start to make out. That's quickly interrupted by Jennifer arriving to pick up Needy. I like this exchange to describe Jennifer:
CHIP
I think you forgot, like, two buttons.
NEEDY
I think remembered two buttons.
(Sadly, I can't keep quoting great lines because I'd never finish this review.)
* The get to the "club" as Jennifer calls it - really a crowded crappy bar with a few pool tables on one end and a stage at the other - and Jennifer talks disparagingly about those there she knows.
* The band shows up - "all stylish and shit" as Jennifer says, and they start to set up their instruments as Jennifer flirts with them. The band leader Nikolai takes a liking to her. Jennifer goes off to get them a drink and Nikolai says to his bassist "She's exactly what we're looking for." Somehow they get convinced Jennifer's a virgin (the treatment here is different in the script than in the movie.)
* The band starts their set and a fire breaks out. Needy and Jennifer escape through the bathroom window while lots of people get trapped inside and die.
JENNIFER(dry)Oh look, they're united in grief. That'll last.
* After class, Needy hurries to talk to Chip. She tells him about Jennifer's visit. He's supportive but doesn't believe her. A goth, Colin, passes by and tells Needy he's glad she made it out okay.
* Jonas is out on the football field by himself. Jennifer joins him. They talk about his best friend Craig who died in the fire. Jennifer tells him she was the last one to speak with him before he died (a lie, of course) and that Craig told her:
JENNIFER
... he always thought you and me would make a totally bangin' couple.
Jennifer leads Jonas into the neighboring woods where they start to make out just before she eats him.
* Needy makes a fried bologna sandwich in her kitchen. At the moment Jonas dies, Needy reacts. She's scared, her knees shake, and she sees a flash of the carnage in the woods.
* The chemistry teacher is about to get into her car to go home when he hears Jonas' scream. He walks to the woods and discovers the dead body.
* Needy, still in shock, accidentally drops her bologna sandwich on the floor as her mom Toni comes in. She tells Needy she had a nightmare. They talk a bit, being supportive of each other. Toni has not heard listened to the news (she's been working). Needy doesn't want to spoil the mood so doesn't tell her about the fire.
* The parents of Jonas meet the police at the edge of the woods as they put his body bag into an ambulance. They react emotionally to his death with tears and screaming.
* Jennifer emerges naked form swimming in the lake, gets dressed, and calmly walks off into the woods. (It's in the script but I don't remember seeing this in the version of the film I watched.)
* Jennifer calls Needy and tells her how good she feels. She pokes herself with a needle and watches the wound heal itself. She lights her tongue on fire with a lighter, watching it heal as well. Needy has a call on her other line. She takes it, disappointing Jennifer who says "Pooh. I'm crossing you out."
* Chip tells Needy he has to meet her and talk. They meet at a local park. Chip describes Jonas's dead body to Needy. Needy says "this can't be a coincidence," both the fire and Jonas.
* The next scene is a montage of newspaper headlines, memorials, and so on. In a VO, Needy says "We were famous. We were saints. ... We were healing ... We had faith ... We were fucking idiots."
* In chemistry class the next day, Jennifer looks worn down and possibly sick. Needy asks her about it. Although Needy is confused by her response, we learn Jennifer gets run down if she doesn't feed. The chemistry teacher explains that the rock band from the fire is donating 3% of their profits from their hit song to the local families affected by the fire. Needy asks about the other 97% but gets criticized, showing how popular the band has become.
* In the hallway after class, Needy and Jennifer walk together. Colin approaches Jennifer and asks for a date. She says no, but changes her mind and tells him she'll text him the address. Colin leaves. Chip joins them. Jennifer leaves. Chip asks if he can come over that night. He bought more condoms.
* Colin drives to the address Jennifer texted him. It's a vacant house under construction or renovation. He meets Jennifer upstairs in a candle-lit room. They start making out and you can guess what happens to him next.
* The previous scene is intercut with the scene of Needy and Chip in Chip's bedroom having sex (yes the dialog a few scenes ago said Chip would come over to her place but they are in Chip's house now). As with Jonas, just when Colin dies Needy gets frightened and has flashes of his death. She screams and Chip stops, worried about her.
NEEDY
It's her.
CHIP
Do you need more foreplay?
Needy gets dressed and runs out of the house, drives home and homes her mom is home, someone that can comfort her. She's not and sits on the kitchen floor alone and miserable. She goes to her bedroom only to find Jennifer in her bed. Needy screams "Get out!" They argue. (In the film, not in the script, they end up kissing, which is weird.) Finally Jennifer tells her the story:
JENNIFER
Well, I got pretty messed up. I almost died. You know those guys in Soft Shoulder? Totally evil. They’re basically agents of Satan with awesome haircuts. I figured that out as soon as I got into their molester van.
* We get a backflash to the terrible things done to Jennifer by the rock band in the dark woods near Devil's Kettle (which are actually twin waterfalls near the town). The band said they sold their souls to Satan in order to be popular. Then they said an incantation and sacrificed their "virgin". Except the sacrifice doesn't work if they don't have a virgin. In that case, the "virgin" becomes a succubus.
* Needy kicks her out anyway.
* At Colin's funeral, Colin's goth friends try to say something poetic about him. Colin's mom will have none of it and tears each of them a new asshole. She ends with a gem of a speech ending with this great line:
MRS GRAY
... I got the monopoly on pain!
* The next day, Needy is in the hall day-dreaming of Jennifer as a monster when Chip runs up to join her. Needy tells Chip she has something to tell him that's very important.
* They meet up and Needy tells him about the occult research she's been doing on Jennifer. Chip tries to be supportive but is more interested in the dance they plan on going to together. (This dialogue is a bit different in the film, but they end up basically in the same situation.)
* Establishing shot/montage of the students preparing the school for the dance.
* Needy at home that night getting dressed in a nice gown. Her proud mom Toni takes a picture of them together.
* Chip's getting ready in his bedroom when his mom comes in and gives him her rape spray. (A small aerosol can of pepper spray.) He puts it in his jacket. Chip's mom takes a picture of Chip and his little sister.
* Alone, Needy nervously sips a drink at the dance. The chemistry teacher takes the mic on stage and interrupts everyone for an important announcement: the rock back Soft Shoulder will take a break from their sold-out national tour to play for them tonight. Needy gags. Then she notices Jennifer and Chip aren't there.
* In the dark, Chip is walking through the park in his suit when Jennifer interrupts him. She somehow convinces him that Colin was Needy's real boyfriend and that they can talk about it inside the abandoned pool house. They break in through a window and start to kiss when Chip stops, feeling both sad and guilty. Jennifer gets mad.
* This previous scene is intercut with Needy running to Chip's. His mom says he left 20 minutes ago. He always takes a short-cut through the park. Needy runs through the park when he hears Chip screaming in the pool building. Needy breaks in the same way. Chip has been bitten. Needy attacks Jennifer. She calls her insecure.
JENNIFER
I am not insecure. God, what a joke! How could I be insecure? I was the Snowflake Queen!
NEEDY
Yeah, two years ago. When you were socially relevant.
This pisses her off and Jennifer fights back with eyes blazing. Needy finds Chip's pepper spray and sprays it into Jennifer's face. Jennifer vomits blood and gore on Needy. Jennifer floats above the pool.
CHIP (croaking)
She can fly?
NEEDY
She’s just hovering, Chip. It’s not that impressive.
They fight some more, Needy is bitten or scratched by Jennifer at one point, and Jennifer says
JENNIFER
I’m gonna eat your soul and shit it out, Lesnicki.
Jennifer hurls herself at Needy but Chip rams a long pool skimmer pole through her.
JENNIFER
You losers are more trouble than you’re worth.
It seems they won but Chip dies of his wounds anyway.
* Chip's mom is told of his death.
* Needy refuses to go back to school. She waits for Jennifer to get weak again.
* In the film, here is where Needy creeps into Jennifer's bedroom with boxcutters and kills her. (In this script, this scene occurs in the opening.)
* It's night and we're back in the women's correctional hospital. Needy explains in VO that if you are wounded by a succubus you retains some of their power. Needy, locked in her jail cell, floats up to the window way up high, breaks out, and then walks out to the local highway.
* She hitches a ride with an old man, explaining to him she's following this band Soft Shoulder. She tells him it's going to be their last show.
Review of script:
Extremely well-written. A different take on a well-trodden horror genre. Smart writing Needy as the protagonist. Some things to watch for:
(1) Throughout the script there are scenes with missing sluglines (changes in location or time generally deserves a corresponding slugline).
(2) Another of Cody's stylistic choices is that names are sometimes in all caps after they've been introduced, as well as certain actions. I don't know but my guess is this is code for "close up on" that character or action. James Cameron also does this in his scripts but he tends to have the name in all caps name at the beginning of the line.
Some of this has been indicated above, but here are a few more comments on the difference between the script and the film. One minor scene was cut (explained below), one important scene was moved from the beginning to the end (also indicated below), and lots of dialogue was tweeked, rewritten or trimmed. But basically, IMHO the script has no weaknesses and the film more-or-less follows the script. I do think that moving that early scene to the end (probably the director's choice) made the movie more emotionally satisfying.
Review of film:
If my memory is working correctly (always a dubious statement), I've seen this three times. The first time was in the theater. It didn't make a strong impression. I watched it again a few years later. I think I saw it more of a vehicle for Megan Fox and judged it from that perspective. Then I read the script, was bowled over, and saw it was directed by Kusama, who I've since become a huge fan of, and decided to watch it again. Now, looking at it from the POV of Needy, I really enjoy like this film. Amazing what 3 viewings will do:-)
The plot was well-paced, as it followed familiar genre lines. The emotional core of the story deals not so much with people being afraid of being eaten but from the POV of a friend who's not sure how to process the realization that her BFF is evil.
The themes were not just the meaning of friendship between two girls, even if one is a killer. As their friendship cracks, their allegiances to each other erodes. Another theme is the hypocrisy of rock band fans who will accept any kind of behavior from the musicians they love. Finally, there is a bit of a vengeance theme, as Jennifer ends up going after Chip, and Needy gets her revenge by waiting until the time is right, them killing her. Symbolism, especially in the film (less so in the script), is played by the BFF necklace each of them wears. It's broken during the fight when Needy kills Jennifer.
Let me expand a bit on the plot and theme aspect of the film (and the script). In a "monster in the house" horror film (the monster being Jennifer and the "house" being the Devil's Kettle HS), it's typical for there to be a character flaw or sin of the victim(s) that precedes the arrival of the monster. As in a fable, as sin is punished in some way. In this film, the sin is the above-mentioned hypocrisy of the HS students. Needy, the science nerd, is not one of the socially relevant group (to borrow a phrase from Needy). When she leaves the school entirely, she's no loner part of the hypocrisy. Thus she's officially overcome the sin and can take on her problem.
The acting on the part of Amanda Seyfried I thought was spot on. Megan came off a little dull sometimes, missing the delivery of a nuanced phrase other times, but generally was good. Johnny Simmons as Chip was compelling and had good chemistry with Amanda in their scenes together.
Direction by Kusama was excellent. Some tweeks she made to the script helped out a lot, especially when she rearranged a few scenes form the beginning to the end. The camerawork and lighting throughout was good, and (wisely) followed the script closely.
The music was typical pop/rock music. It added to the atmosphere, grounding us in the HS scene the main characters live in. Maybe it's my own unusual taste, but I didn't find the music to be exceptionally good, just typical.
Production design was excellent. I'm sure they shot at a real HS. Special effects were good as well. The only CGI effects I remember were (a) one or two shots of Jennifer's mouth growing inhumanly wider, and (b) the gore in Jennifer's vomit, which turned into a needle-like texture, (c) scenes of Jennifer or Needy floating (likely shot using green screen techniques). The other special effects were all in camera or with extensive make-up. In any case, they all were important for the believability of the story.
Editing was excellent and for the most part (wisely) followed the script closely.
The dialogue really shines in this script. Some of the best I've read in any horror film. I like the funny, snarky tone and thought almost all the funny lines landed well. It kept the characters compelling and communicated exposition in a funny way.
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