One can’t help comparing Juno and Jennifer’s Body in any assessment of either movie; they’re too similar not to. And so, if there’s anything that we can learn about Diablo Cody from her writing style, it’s that: She likes Hole (interpret that how you will), she has a strange fascination with Tony Little’s Gazelle, and she is something of an unofficial spokesperson for Benihana.

Promotional poster for Jennifer's Body

When Jennifer’s Body first came out in the theater, I was hesitant to see it, mainly because Diablo Cody has bristled my feathers by sashaying into the Hollywood elite without really trying, which is simply how the universe functions. Before I could swallow my pride and put aside my issues (As Jennifer would say, “You’re totally Jell-o, you’re lime green Jell-o and you can’t even admit it to yourself”), the movie had vanished from the theater, peaking at number five at the box office.

Megan Fox landed the ideal role as a teenage succubus in Jennifer's Body

Much to my surprise, however, I found myself liking it much better than Juno once I finally saw it. The ridiculous dialogue seems to work better in this movie than it does in Cody’s Oscar winning debut. One example is when Jennifer’s best friend Needy (Amanda Seyfreid) asks her boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons), “Who’s Phil Collins?” and Chip reservedly responds, “Forget it. He’s seminal, but whatever.” And from the moment Jennifer experiences demonic transference, there is a no holds barred outlook on aberrant lines (like when Adam Brody as Nikolai, lead singer of the band Low Shoulder, explains to Jennifer that he has to sacrifice her to Satan by saying, “Do you know how hard it is to make it as an indie band these days? There’s so many of us and we’re all so cute and it’s like if you don’t get on Letterman or some retarded soundtrack, you’re screwed.”) and general profligacy.

Needy: Putting up with the difficulties of being the best friend of a demon

Jennifer’s Body actually has quite a bit more going for it than Juno, and not just Adam Brody, who always plays an asshole so well. I think what prevented Jennifer’s Body from having the same success as Juno is the expectations that were put on Cody’s follow-up to such a critically acclaimed film and the fact that many audiences had a difficult time deciphering the tone of a movie that features both Megan Fox eating the innards of a boy in her English class and Amy Sedaris as a deadbeat mom (making a brief cameo in a role that is as close to Jerri Blank as you’ll ever get).

Adam Brody as satanist lead singer Nikolai

The main flaw, it seems, is that Cody is afraid to totally break away from doing the same thing: Jason Reitman is still her partner in crime, certain pop culture references are recycled (as mentioned above), Valerie Tian reappears as a correspondingly high-strung comic relief character (she played Su-Chin in Juno), and her main characters share one uniform voice–Cody’s.

El Diabo herself

With upcoming projects like Sweet Valley High and Breathers: A Zombie’s Lament, it looks as though Diablo Cody might be able to make something of this melding of the teen/zombie/horror genre, if she would only just let go of the tone responsible for her success, Juno.

Paranormal Activity will give you the chills, and proves again that you can make a good horror flick on a shoestring budget (estimated at a mere $11K). Hardcore horror fans will probably not be drinking the Kool-Aid, but if you’re like me, and don’t watch much horror, it’ll do the trick. There was a definite Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield feel with the non-stop handheld camera work, but much less jittery. With a pretty simple plot, and increasing suspense, you won’t be completely disappointed with Paranormal Activity.

Paranormal Activity Movie Poster

We follow a couple weeks of – get this – paranormal activity that Katie (played by Katie Featherston) and Micah (played by Micah Sloat) experiences in their home. They are a cute, young couple that come off as very normal, with what seems to be a demon haunting them. After some weird shit, Micah decides to buy a camcorder, and high-end audio equipment to track what’s going on. He carries the camera around at all times throughout the house, aside from when it’s on a tri-pod while the couple sleeps.

Katie has had a history of paranormal signs, dating back to when she was eight; they try to figure out what might be the cause of it, so they invite a psychic to speak with them. The psychic’s opinion is that Katie has been dealing with a demon, and refers the couple to work with a demonologist. Micah isn’t sold on the demon option, so he tries to take the matter into his own hands (e.g. a weegie board, online research, putting baby powder on the ground to trace physical steps, etc.). As the experiences get more and more intense, Katie is getting noticeably fed up with Micah’s sarcasm and disbelief (which we needed him so the audience kept their grounding in reality).

Paranormal Activity Bedroom Scene

I loved the authentic feel between the couple, because their chemistry and normal “couple quirks” continued to leave a realistic atmosphere. The acting was unnoticeable; what I mean by that is Katie and Micah’s interactions could have easily been any couple, that wasn’t on film. That being said, I wish more of their life would have been explained, since there were several scenes during the day and at night; how do these 20-somethings afford their nice two story house, without leaving for work? Another thing that bugged me was that, aside from one of Katie’s friends, who comes over to their house twice, neither of them contact other friends or family. I might be a pussy, but you better believe if there’s crazy shit going on at my place, I’m calling daddy.

The R rating comes from language, but there’s no gore, killings or other such “typical” horror features. But what the fuck – Katie has such awesome tits, yet we never get to see them – that’s fucked. The film was successful at freaking you out, with nearly every scare coming from an expected scene, which (to me) is even more impressive than forced screams with shit popping out of nowhere. If you have a vagina, you will be clinging to your armrests and / or boy toy, which makes it a good date movie.

Let The Right One In is a masterpiece directed by Tomas Alfredson. It’s cold, pale, bloody, terrifying, and it plays on audience’s number one fear, children. Probably the film’s greatest achievement is returning vampires to nightmare status. Twilight fans stop reading now. There are no teen heartthrobs here.

Don't mess with Oskar he has a vampire girlfriend

The story is about Oskar (played by Kåre Hedebrant), a little boy who is always picked on at school and is obsessed with newspaper clippings about murders. A little girl and middle age man move in next to him and things get weird. You quickly learn that the girl is a vampire and the man is her servant. He goes out kills people then bleeds them dry. Oskar becomes infatuated with her because let’s face it he has no friends.

After multiple bloody and gruesome killings that come out of nowhere, the people in the apartment complex start to get suspicious. Without giving too much away, all the conventions of a normal vampire story are there. I really like how they turned the relationship between a human and the creature on its head by having it be at a young impressionable age as well as switching the genders. They do get found out and Oskar is left alone towards the end of the movie. Then the greatest scene ever recorder in a horror movie happens. Watch this movie for that scene at the very least. I had to rewind it a few times to make sure I saw what I thought I saw.

This film is out on DVD now because it came out last year. The review is relevant because Hollywood is remaking it. I hate this because it was so wonderfully foreign and so well done there is no need to make American audiences suffer through a remake. The deafening silence of the Scandinavian landscape, the pale people contrasted with the white snow and the red blood make for overall a visually haunting experience. It is beautifully written, directed, and acted. My only complaint is that the slow pacing towards the third act is not really needed

They still haven't invented a 100 SPF for vampires

For the first time in a long time I was surprised and scared by a horror film. You really don’t know what is going to happen next. Best of all Dracula‘s legacy is intact. You don’t have any over sexed love story or any communion of vampires wanting to rule the world. It’s one vampire living in a human’s world at a vulnerable age who you end up liking. She is a godless killing machine but because of her innocent exterior the audience and the townspeople are fooled.

Rent it or buy it I don’t care just see this film. You will have restored faith in horror movies that don’t focus on porn and torture as well as vampires.