Jennifer’s Body appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 1.85:1 on this Blu-Ray Disc. This was a good but unexceptional presentation.
Sharpness created some minor inconsistencies. While most of the film looked tight and concise, a few shots looked a wee bit soft. Those weren’t major concerns, though, as the majority of the film appeared well-defined. I witnessed no signs of jaggies or moiré effects, and edge enhancement failed to appear. Source flaws didn’t show up at any point.
Colors were restricted but fine within the flick’s visual design. Most of the film went with a desaturated look, though some sequences gave us more vibrant tones. Across the board, the hues were solid within the cinematographic restraints. Blacks seemed to be dark and deep, and low-light shots exhibited nice clarity. This was a satisfying presentation that just lacked consistent excellence.
As for the DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack of Body it worked quite well. The soundfield offered a nice range of information. When action-oriented sequences occurred, these gave us a lot of material. For instance, the bar fire used the various speakers in an involving way, and a few of the supernatural scenes also threw out good details around the spectrum. The surrounds added strong reinforcement and fleshed out the room well.
Audio quality appeared positive. Speech was natural and concise, without edginess or other issues. Music was usually robust; I thought the band performance at the bar was a bit flat, but otherwise, score and songs seemed solid. Effects were also clean and dynamic. This was a very good track that served the film well.
Quite a few extras popped up here. We open with two separate audio commentaries. The first comes from director Karyn Kusama and writer Diablo Cody; it accompanies the film’s theatrical cut. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at cast and performances, sets and locations, script/character issues, editing, music and a few other subjects.
Kusama strongly dominates this discussion, as Cody offers little along the way. Not that Kusama fleshes out the flick with tons of interesting details. We do learn some decent facts about the flick, but usually Kusama just tells us how much she likes various elements. Her fondness for the word “totally” also lends an odd Valley Girl vibe to the proceedings. This is a generally mediocre commentary.
One more thought about the track: I must admit I find it distasteful at best to hear Kusama go on about how the Jennifer character should be “proud” she’s not a virgin. Yeah, I get it: girls shouldn’t feel like sluts just because they like to have sex. But I think it’s a questionable choice for Kusama to advocate high school sex. Those kids don’t have the best judgment, and I don’t think teen mothers are something we need more of in society. What the heck was Kusama thinking?
For the second commentary, we get director Karyn Kusama all on her own; this chat discusses the film’s extended version. This is a very scene-specific piece, as Kusama only pops up for the sequences altered for the longer edition. The disc doesn’t execute this well. If you choose the commentary, a little icon will pop up as you view the film; this tells you that Kusama’s remarks are live.
What’s the point? If you could watch the flick with its standard soundtrack and just branch off to the commentary on occasion, those icons would be helpful. As it stands, if you select the commentary, you’re stuck with 2.0 audio, so you still can’t view the movie in a satisfying way.
This makes the extended cut commentary tedious. Oh, Kusama actually offers some good notes when she speaks, as she details the changes made to the unrated version. However, the format just doesn’t work well. Maybe there’s some easy way to access her remarks that I can’t discern, but to me, it looks like you’re stuck with a problematic presentation. If you want to hear Kusama’s sporadic notes, you’ll find it a chore.
Six Deleted Scenes fill a total of 13 minutes, 55 seconds. These include “Dead Boys” (1:08), “’Jennifer Check Is Gross’” (3:32), “Needy Confronts Jennifer” (1:59), “’Who’s Cindy Crawford?’” (0:35), “Needy Confronts the Band” (5:32) and “’Ass, Gas or Grass’” (1:09). “Cindy” is actually interesting, if just because it shows more of Amy Sedaris as Needy’s mom. “Band” provides more info about Needy on prom night and her pursuit of justice. The others aren’t as much fun, though a few add a little in terms of story material, so they’re worth a look.
A Gag Reel runs four minutes, 55 seconds. Should you anticipate anything more interesting than the standard assortment of mistakes and laughing? Nope, so don’t expect the reel to be too interesting.
Jennifer’s Body: The Dead Pool. It presents notes from Kusama, Cody, producers Jason Reitman, Dan Dubiecki and Mason Novick, visual effects supervisor Eric Nordby, special makeup effects creator Greg Nicotero, on-set key effects makeup Mike Fields, best boy special effects John Sleep, stunt coordinator Scott Ateah, special effects coordinator Rory Cutler, and actors Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, and Johnny Simmons. “Dead” looks at story and themes, cast, characters and performances, sets and production design, action and effects. “Dead” starts in a fluffy manner, but once it focuses on the pool scene that inspires its title, it becomes more absorbing. We get a good overview of the various methods used to bring this sequence to life in this useful program.
Under Video Diaries, we find four clips that last a total of 12 minutes, 50 seconds. These focus on “Megan Fox and Johnny Simmons” (2:26), “Amanda Seyfried” (3:19), “Diablo Cody” (4:04), and “Dan Dubiecki” (3:01). In these, the folks I named carry around video cameras on the set. We see occasional instances of interesting shots, but don’t expect anything fascinating, as it usually remains pretty superficial.
Megan Fox Is Hot provides a 56-second snippet. Essentially this is just a compilation of shots of Fox looking… well, hot. Or cute, at least. Does it serve a real purpose? None that I can discern other than to make a full viewing of Body totally superfluous.
Something unusual shows up under Megan Fox “Peer Pressure” PSA. This 40-secon clip offers a fake PSA intended to promote the movie. It’s mildly clever.
We hear more from the writer via Fox Movie Channel Presents: Life After Film School with Writer Diablo Cody. In this 26-minute, 27-second piece, three film students interview Cody about aspects of her experience in show biz. Cody’s “Anne Heche Circa 1998” haircut/dye job is a tragic mistake, but she’s a fairly enjoyable subject, so she offers a good array of interesting statements here.
A few ads open the disc. We get clips for Gentlemen Broncos, All About Steve, Whip It and Fame. Elsewhere on the disc, we find ads for (500) Days of Summer, Something Something Something Darkside and Wrong Turn 3: Left for Dead. No trailer for Body appears here.
Finally, a separate disc provides a digital copy of Jennifer’s Body. This allows you to slap the flick onto a computer or portable viewing device. There you go!
How is it possible that a flick about Megan Fox as an undead teen could be so entirely dull? I’m not sure, but boredom is the only emotion Jennifer’s Body provokes. It fails as both comedy and horror. The Blu-ray presents good picture and audio as well as a generally positive package of supplements. While I have no problems with this release, the movie itself ends up as a dud.