Lady Bits
A collection about ladies who bite, about lady bits, about ladies who bite with lady bits.
Bit (2019) d: Brad Michael Elmore
Jennifer’s Body* (2009) d: Karyn Kusama
All Cheerleaders Die* (2013) d: Lucky McKee
Teeth* (2007) d: Mitchell Lichtenstein
I won’t have to try hard to convince you to watch Bit. It’s synopsis is “A transgender teenage girl fights to survive after she falls in with four queer feminist vampires, who try to rid the city's streets of predatory men.” Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
Jennifer’s Body is finally having its moment in the sun. Honestly, there are so many think pieces on it circulating right now. Like, so many. Reviled when it first came out, it’s now a treasured gem (echoing the career trajectory of star, Megan Fox, whom Hollywood dramatically failed). If you haven’t seen it, give it a chance.
You can see even from the movie poster that All Cheerleaders Die is a spiritual sister to Jennifer’s Body, but it’s even more explicitly queer. At its heart, this is about high school girls in love, fighting against the evil of high school boys. Yes please. It’s campy, goofy, bitchy, and a ton of fun.
If you have somehow never heard the premise of Teeth, you only need two words: “ Vagina Dentata.” The tagline is EVERY ROSE HAS ITS THORNS. I think that pretty much sets you up to understand what this is going to be. And boy does it deliver. On the one hand, this movie is exactly what you expect, and there are a bunch of bitten off dicks. But it’s also a smart commentary on bodily autonomy, purity culture, and female agency. So that’s a win-win for me.