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‘Jennifer’s Body’ Is Girly Pop Horror Perfection [The Lady Killers]

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Presented by Lisa Frankenstein1989 Week is dialing the clock back to the crossroads year for the genre with a full week of features that dig six feet under into the year. Today, The Lady Killers revisit Diablo Cody’s 2009 slice of horror,  Jennifer’s Body.

“Hell is a teenage girl.”

By now it’s safe to say that the world was not ready for Jennifer’s Body when it first released in 2009. Call it bad marketing, Juno fatigue, or audience aversion to a female-led horror comedy, this progressive film not only bombed at the box office, it sent director Karyn Kusama to what she calls “movie jail” for the better part of the next decade. But nearly fifteen years later, this beloved film about female empowerment seems to have finally found its audience. Not only is it a prime example of Boys In Danger horror, but Kusama and writer Diablo Cody take their female characters seriously and cast a loving light on the pain of feminine adolescence. With Lisa Frankenstein just around the corner, the Lady Killers are zipping up their pink hoodies, twirling their flags, and hitching a ride with Lance Henriksen for a girly pop conversation about Cody’s original stab at the hell of teenage girlhood.

Jennifer Check (Megan Fox) and Needy Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) have been BFF since their sandbox days. But lately, this friendship has started to curdle. Needy’s boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons) doesn’t really approve of the way she talks to his girlfriend, and Jennifer has been transformed into a powerful succubus by an evil emo band. What can we say? Sometimes friends just grow apart. In the second edition of their series on Bad Romance, Jenn AdamsSammie KuykendallMae Shults, and Rocco T. Thompson will cross out Jennifer and chat about Lesbi-gay lingo, hook-handed teachers, and Evil Adam Brody – the patron hunk of the Lady Killers podcast.

Are Chip and Needy destined to be together or is she truly meant for Jennifer? What does “wear something cute” actually mean? Who invited Chris Pratt to the party? Does Low Shoulder have any other songs and what kind of monster would want to kill a gothed-up Kyle Gallner? They’ll tackle all these questions and more while munching on Toast Ems, throwing tennis balls into a well, and killing boys in this super good episode on the hot pink horror classic Jennifer’s Body.

We kinda thought you might be plugin.


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Podcasts

A Little Fear of Penetration in David Cronenberg’s ‘eXistenZ’ [Horror Queers Podcast]

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Game Loop.

Trace and I inadvertently bookended our April discussions of John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London (listen) and Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) with Jude Law films. At the start of the month, we tackled Matt Damon’s Italian grifter in The Talented Mr. Ripley (listen) and now we’re closing out April with David Cronenberg‘s eXistenZ (1999).

The unofficial sequel to Videodrome (listen) and precursor to Crimes of the Future, eXistenZ takes place in the world of  virtual reality and simulation. Game goddess Allegra Gellar (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is forced to go on the run with PR nerd Ted Pikul (Jude Law) through the Canadian backwoods when ‘Realist’ terrorists declare open season on her life.

Featuring no shortage of strange encounters and oddball characters, including Willem Dafoe‘s queer-coded Gas and Canadian film royalty like Don McKellar and Sarah Polley, Allegra and Ted must travel between the real world and the game world, all the while keeping track of who is friendly…and who is foe.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get a new episode every Wednesday. You can subscribe on iTunes/Apple PodcastsStitcherSpotifyiHeartRadioSoundCloudTuneInAmazon MusicGoogle Podcasts, and RSS.


Episode 279: eXistenZ (1999) feat Vannah Taylor

Lube up your industry standard bio-port because we’re playing David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (1999) with someone friendly: Vannah Taylor!

David Cronenberg’s meditation on the dangers of gaming and simulation is the middle entry of an unofficial trilogy. It’s also a film that gets real confusing, real fast, so good luck figuring out if we’re still in the game!

Plus: criticisms of a “bland” game world, praise for Jennifer Jason Leigh, Canadian royalty, comparisons to Serenity, disgusting gristle guns, and Pikul getting his back blown out (several times!)


Cross out eXistenZ!

Coming up on Wednesday: We’re continuing our celebration of 1999 films with a look at Stephen Sommers’ bisexual awakening, action adventure film, The Mummy (1999).

P.S. Subscribe to our Patreon for over 306 hours of Patreon content including this month’s new episodes on Hannibal S01E04, Late Night with the DevilThe First OmenFemme, Abigail and a brand new audio commentary on the original The Omen (1976).

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