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Fox Home Entertainment Disclaimer: The manufacturer provided NewTechReview with a unit of this product for review. Reviewed by Scott R. Garrigus | ||
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Jennifer's Body… to be honest, I didn't think I was going to like this movie. The only reason I decided to watch it was that I like horror flicks and hot chicks. Well, maybe there was a little more to it than that – from the description, it sounded like it might be akin to some of the campy horror classics. In any case, I'm glad I gave it a chance because I enjoyed it. The feminist, girl-power undertones aside, Jennifer's Body is a decent horror story and the Unrated Version adds some good value to the title. Mean Girl Turns Into Monster Meet Jennifer (Megan Fox), queen bitch (and slut) of the high school in the town of Devil's Kettle (named after a bottomless whirlpool that some superstitiously believe is a gateway to Hell). Jennifer is tired of the small town life and wants some more excitement, so she takes her childhood friend Needy (Amada Seyfried) to a local bar to see a city-based indie band called Low Shoulder. Jennifer thinks the lead singer (Adam Brody) is 'saltly' (meaning sexy – although that's not what the slang term really means, but maybe the writer is trying to coin a new phrase). Anyway, the lead singer likes Jennifer too, but not for the same reasons. Low Shoulder wants to break out of the indie market and become famous, but instead of going the usual route, they've decided to try and make a deal with the Devil. After setting fire to the bar (and burning almost everyone inside alive), they abduct Jennifer and take her to the whirlpool. They kill her and drop the knife in the pool to seal the deal, but something goes wrong because the deal called for a virgin sacrifice and Jennifer is no virgin. While the band does get famous, Jennifer comes back to life possessed by a demon that must feed on human flesh to survive. Since Jennifer was a 'man-eater' in her previous life, she literally starts devouring the boys in town so that one-by-one a number of mysterious murders begin to occur right after the tragic bar fire. While most of the town of Devil's Kettle is in mourning, Jennifer's best-friend Needy figures out what's going on and she decides that she has to be the one to put a stop to it. Can she do it? You'll have to watch the movie to find out… Jennifer's Body Blu-ray There's really not too much to say about the picture quality of the film because it's very good… no problems to mention. The Blu-ray provides a 1080p, AVC, MPEG-4 encode with a widescreen 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The colors look nice, the blacks are well-defined (which is great for a horror movie), and the special effects are done very well. There's plenty of blood and gore to be seen here. The audio is provided as DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround and provides a great listening experience. This extends to both the music and sound effects. The surround channels are used very effectively (especially in the more active scenes) and the dialog is very clear (even during the crowded scenes). Jennifer's Body Bonus Features The biggest special feature included in this title is the Unrated Version, which also happens to be a director's cut of the film. While it's not really much longer than the theatrical version, the scenes are presented in a different order, thus telling the story in a more compelling manner. Also included, is a digital copy on a separate disc, which provides the Unrated Version for viewing on PC or media player. Surprisingly, there are two commentaries included (one for each version), although the second commentary is really just the director (Kathryn Kusama) occasionally talking about differences between the two versions. The first commentary includes dialog from both the director and the writer (Diablo Cody). Deleted Scenes provides six deleted scenes (running time: 13:55), which aren't terribly significant, but still interesting to watch. What's also nice is that these are finished scenes, rather than raw (with no soundtrack) like with many other films. Gag Reel is five-minutes of drivel. You can skip it. Jennifer's Body: The Dead Pool is a 14-minute, behind-the-scenes look of how they put together one of the final scenes in the film where Jennifer and Needy battle it out at the in-door pool location. This is worth watching and very interesting. Video Diaries is 13-minutes of behind-the-scenes looks presented by some of the cast and crew, most of it being uninteresting nonsense… even the diary by the writer is tiresome. While I agree with the title of the Megan Fox is Hot bonus feature, it's basically just 1-minute of Megan Fox poses, which really provides nothing of value. The Megan Fox Peer Pressure PSA is another waste of disc space that is basically one of those joke ads for promoting the film. Fox Movie Channel Presents 'Life After Film School' with Diablo Cody is probably the most interesting and informative feature (clocking in at 26:26), which provides a question and answer session between three aspiring film students and the writer Diablo Cody. I Like Jennifer's Body As I said earlier, I didn't think I was going to like this film. This is one of those titles where people either love it or they hate it. While it's obviously geared toward the teen crowd, I think most viewers who like horror (with a tinge of humor) will like it too. Is it a great film? No. But it's good and fun to watch. For more information: * Jennifer's Body (Blu-ray) * Jennifer's Body (DVD) |
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