Something Cult, Foreign-Language or Indie #137: Jennifer's Body (2009).

Anita "Needy" Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) has gone from a studious yet insecure high schooler in Minnesota to a violent mental hospital inmate... and that's largely thanks to her former friend, Jennifer (Megan Fox). After a particularly seedy night out which ended quite brutally for her, Jennifer changed - into a vampire. When she turns up to school the next Monday, Jennifer seems her usual selfish cheerleader self, but then she secretly takes the school's football star into the woods and disembowels him. Before long, Jennifer becomes increasingly pale, the fatalities at school continue and Jennifer finally tells Needy the truth (which I won't disclose here for spoiler reasons). Now while Jennifer becomes increasingly supernatural, Needy must find a way of restoring her friend's true nature and stopping the deaths, particularly once Jennifer takes a liking to Needy's docile boyfriend Chip (Johnny Simmons).

This 2009 horror comedy bombed commercially but deservedly has since found its niche, especially with the advent of the #MeToo movement, and alongside the relentless violence and staunchly feminist message it is just irresistibly sexy and slick. Diablo Cody may have won the Oscar for writing the overrated Juno but here she has hit upon a deliciously Gothic and offbeat premise with legitimately well-observed and relatable adolescent characters as its anchor, and she gives them dialogue that somehow manages to sound intelligent but not incongruously erudite. Director Karyn Kusama visualises Cody's screenplay with gleeful assertiveness and consistently suitable colour schemes, and they both mostly have sought to avoid jump scares. Kusama also gets effective performances from most of her cast, even Fox (I'm sorry but she's more a sex symbol than an actor); the one exception is Adam Brody as a brooding local rock musician. His turn feels more like an impression of somebody like Billie Joe Armstrong than of his fictional character.

Throw a pulsating hard rock soundtrack and some hasty editing in, and Jennifer's Body adds up to a wickedly fun, amusing and seductive horror comedy that doubles as a strong statement on gender equality and roles. Just don't get into her that way.