How Jennifer’s Body Became A True Cult Classic
Society really, really hated women in 2009
Marketing executives failed Jennifer’s Body
Karyn Kusama echoed Cody’s sentiments, saying she was concerned that the marketing didn’t even include Amanda Seyfried, and when she reached out to remedy the situation, it was not well received. “You know, I tried to be diplomatic, and what I got back was essentially, “Megan hot. Focus on Megan hot,” she said. “It, it was just such a strange — it was a dark time.” The boys who came out to see “Jennifer’s Body” left disappointed that the film was not in line with what the marketing had promised, and the women who would have surely loved the film felt alienated by the marketing, and had no idea what sort of film “Jennifer’s Body” actually was. The audience that would have felt seen by this story were left in the dark, and so, “Jennifer’s Body” flopped.
“This movie was extensively focus-grouped which is hell. People hated it. I still have one of the cards. I’ll keep it forever. They screened this movie for young men, of course, and the question was ‘what would you improve about this movie?’ and the guy wrote ’needs moar bewbs’ [sic]. That’s what we were up against. It makes me sad in retrospect.”
Hell is a teenage girl
This sleeper cult classic from director Karyn Kusama and screenwriter Diablo Cody infuses the teen horror movie with a dark wit and a subversive feminist sting. pic.twitter.com/h16lt1hdko
— Criterion Channel (@criterionchannl) September 29, 2021
The reclamation of “Jennifer’s Body” came with a vengeance, as the queer and women-led movement began a revolution. In 2021, the Criterion Channel tweeted about “Jennifer’s Body” calling the film a “sleeper cult classic” eliciting many requests for the film to be considered as part of the coveted Criterion Collection. Of course, there are still those that falsely believe “Jennifer’s Body” to be a garbage movie, but as Jennifer Check so wisely stated, “Nice comeback, Hannah Montana. Got any more harsh digs?”
