Adam Brody says he felt like the criticism following the release of Jennifer’s Body turned him into a “punching bag”.

The 2009 horror-comedy received poor reviews when it was first released, but has since gained a cult following and been embraced as a misunderstood triumph.

Speaking to The Independent in a new interview, Brody admitted that the film’s reappraisal had “surprised” him “in a wonderful way”.

“It definitely was derided at the time and that felt a little unwarranted because I saw it early and I was like, this movie is great,” Brody recalled. “I was really happy with it and pleasantly surprised. I thought it’d be good and I liked it more than I thought, even.

“To have it have such tepid reviews and box office, et cetera, and in a way to be a punching bag, felt s****y. It wasn’t my movie so I didn’t take the brunt of it but still it felt a little unjust,” he continued. “It’s been lovely to have it take its place in the pantheon of horror-comedy, heavily metaphorical movies.”

In a piece revisiting the movie back in 2020, Clarisse Loughrey suggested that a poor marketing strategy and ill will towards writer Diablo Cody and star Megan Fox were behind the film’s frosty reception.

She also credited the #MeToo movement with helping Jennifer’s Body be re-evaluated as a feminist work.

“They couldn’t have missed the mark harder,” Brody said, criticising the marketing for the film. “What I remember liking the most about it was the palette. I loved it. It’s neon but it’s goth and then to see that marketing [mangle] it. So it’s Goosebumps, Maxim magazine. I don’t get what we’re doing.

Megan Fox in ‘Jennifer’s Body’ (Fox)

“It’s about, among other things, the sisterhood that’s corroded and you don’t have both friends on the poster. It’s just her in nothing she wears in the movie. I just thought there’s such great visuals in the movie, I can’t believe you’re not using these great visuals. This is the marketing person’s dream and I feel like you’re shying away from it.”

Brody continued: “It was directed by a woman, starring two women written by that year’s screenwriting Oscar winner and they’re like, bury all of that. Don’t tell anyone that. It’s irrelevant that Diablo Cody just won an Oscar and she wrote this.

“We don’t want anyone to know; this is for people who like Transformers. And look, I don’t know how much it would have changed if it had hipper marketing. Probably a little.”

You can read The Independent’s full interview with Brody here.