'Jennifer's Body,' the 2009 horror film starring Megan Fox, is more than just a cult classic

• "Jennifer's Body," the cult horror film starring Megan Fox, has had a resurgence in recent years.
• Despite negative reviews upon its release, some have argued that the movie is a feminist statement.
• But more than that, it's a testament to the power of de-centering the male gaze and experience.

Without question, "Jennifer's Body" was a career-defining moment for star Megan Fox, who played the titular cheerleader-turned-succubus.

Known chiefly for her work in the "Transformers" movies before starring in "Jennifer's Body," the 2009 horror film was a departure for Fox, whose scenes in films thus far were mostly designed to show off her body and cement her as an object of desire for male viewers.

While the posters and trailer seemed to suggest that this movie was yet another vehicle for Fox's hotness, in reality, "Jennifer's Body" is a smart, witty, tongue-in-cheek story about a relationship between two women, written by a woman (Diablo Cody, of "Juno" fame).

Fox's Jennifer, with her movie star looks and blasé attitude about hunting and murdering men, is feminist satire at its finest.

Unfortunately for Fox, not everyone saw her role in "Jennifer's Body" as the revolutionary, slyly subversive performance that it was.

'Jennifer's Body' has found a new, far more appreciative audience in recent years

Numerous sites, including Vox and Refinery29, have argued that the film is actually good, and even a feminist cult classic.

This is definitely true. The way in which "Jennifer's Body" inadvertently draws in the male gaze (with the promise of Fox) only to turn sexist expectations on their head is clever and searingly funny.

With the advent of the #MeToo movement, the tale of Jennifer (who's abducted by an all-male indie rock band headed by Adam Brody, tied up, and stabbed numerous times with a knife) has taken on a whole new meaning. Jennifer, as fans have pointed out, stands in for the millions of women who've been similarly assaulted - women whose bodies have been violated.

Fox's role in the film, however, didn't automatically catapult her to superstardom. Following her turn as Jennifer, the actress appeared in films like "Passion Play," "This Is 40," and the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movies, and has recently made headlines for her relationship with Machine Gun Kelly.

Still, though, her work in "Jennifer's Body" is unforgettable. Seething with barely-contained bloodlust, and impervious to the efforts of her best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfried) to stop her, Fox's Jennifer is unapologetically feral - and a sharp rebuke to the male viewers who undoubtedly flocked to the film in hopes of ogling Fox.

Even though it ended up under-performing at the box office and getting mixed reviews from contemporary critics, it's clear today, in 2021, that "Jennifer's Body" is a testament to the power of the female gaze, and the stories women tell when they're not concerned with appealing to men.

Cody later said she knew from the jump that the movie wasn't going to appeal to everyone

In a 2018 interview with Vox critic Emily VanDerWerff, the "Juno" screenwriter spoke about the process of developing "Jennifer's Body," and realizing that it wasn't going to have a broad appeal.

"Once we actually started shooting it and particularly once we started cutting it, I was, like, 'Oh, I love this movie, but this is specific,'" Cody said. "I knew ahead of the reviews and everything that this was not going to be a movie that endeared itself to a mass audience in the way that 'Juno' had."

Critics definitely agreed. They infamously bemoaned the lack of attention paid to Fox's body, calling it "not funny, nor... sexy" and "clever for its own sake."

And the film's marketing also seemed to count on the attractiveness of its leading lady- the poster shows Fox perched on a desk in a short skirt, and the trailer focuses more on Fox and costar Amanda Seyfried's kiss than the violence against men that runs rampant in the movie.

In her interview with VanDerWerff, Cody reflected on the way in which "Jennifer's Body" was advertised.

"[The studio] said, 'We want to market this movie to boys who like Megan Fox. That's who's going to go see it,'" Cody recalled. "And I was, like, 'No! This movie is for girls [too]!'"

"That audience, they did not attempt to reach," she added.

It's no surprise, then, that "Jennifer's Body" was largely written off upon its release, considered a critical and commercial failure by most of Hollywood. Cody herself said it was a "challenging time."

"At the same time, there's nothing I would change about the movie," she told VanDerWerff. "And I have zero regrets about the experience."

'Jennifer's Body' was able to transcend the negative attention it first received

With its clever script, magnetic costars, and themes of female resilience, it's easy to see why "Jennifer's Body" has been enjoying a well-earned resurgence in recent years. Especially with the growing outrage against powerful men abusing people beneath them, watching a self-assured antiheroine like Jennifer ruthlessly destroy everything and everyone who threatens her is undeniably gratifying.

"Jennifer's Body" wouldn't pack the same emotional punch if it didn't have Fox in the lead role, though.

Fox has been consistently sexualized for most, if not all of her career, and as the bloodthirsty Jennifer, she finally gets to enact revenge on men who only view her as a sexual object, not a person.

Of course, the film is also about Jennifer's relationship with Needy, with plenty of slasher gore for horror fans too.

But for women who've been objectified by men, like Fox, or the victim of a violent attack, like her character, "Jennifer's Body" takes on a whole new meaning - and proves that powerful stories can come from ignoring the male gaze.

In fact, the movie succeeds on a critical level in spite of the fact that it was marketed to men, not because of that.

And while Hollywood has come a long way in recognizing the power of female-led, female-written stories in recent years (just look at all the awards "Promising Young Woman" and its director, Emerald Fennell, were nominated for this year), "Jennifer's Body" was one of the first to staunchly deny male viewers the scantily-clad, easily digestible female characters they were used to seeing onscreen.

Fox herself even recognized the subversive quality of the film, telling the New York Times in 2009 that "Jennifer's Body" is "a girl-power movie, but it's also about how scary girls are. Girls can be a nightmare."

"If I was to have a message, it would be to be a different kind of role model to girls," she said at the time. "With 'Jennifer's Body,' I want to say, 'It's okay to be different from how you're supposed to be.'"