A prime example of studio marketing getting in the way of director + writer’s vision, pithy horror comedy Jennifer’s Body has gained a cult status as a feminist queer classic in the years since its 2009 release. 

After tragedy strikes the small town of Devil’s Kettle on the night of a pop-punk concert gone wrong, Needy Lesnicki (Amanda Seyfried) notices a shift in her lifelong best friend Jennifer’s (Megan Fox) behavior. When their male classmates begin disappearing one by one, Needy and her boyfriend Chip take it upon themselves to put a stop to the terrifying succubus terrorizing the town.  

When it first hit the big screen in 2009, Jennifer’s Body was by no means a box-office hit, grossing a mediocre $31.5 million worldwide against a $16 million budget. The now-iconic horror comedy, which stars Megan Fox as a high school cheerleader possessed by a man-eating demon, suffered from a marketing campaign that couldn’t quite pin down its target audience.