It looks like 2022 will be the year of the deconstructed slasher movie, with scream hit theaters in January, now A24s Bodies Bodies Bodies arrive before late summer. Horror fans can count themselves lucky with this clever, satirical and suspenseful horror comedy.
Directed by Halina Reijn from a screenplay by Sarah DeLappe based on a story by Kristen Roupenian (known for “Cat Person”), Bodies Bodies Bodies never holds back from what it means, but unlike other satirical films, it never lets its commentary catch up with the story, instead deftly interweaving it into a story that builds its mystery over the course of the film.
Bodies Bodies Bodies finds Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) on her way to reunite with some old friends. With her comes her new friend, Bee (Maria Bakalova or Borat: next movie movie and the coming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3). Bee is the odd man out among Sophie’s young, talented upper-class friends. These include cranked up David (Pete Davidson), avid podcaster Alice (Shiva Baby‘s Rachel Sennott) and her tag-along Tinder date Greg (Lee Pace), emotional actress Emma (Chase Sui Wonders) and the skeptical and tough Jordan (Myha’la Herrold).
The friends plan to ride out a hurricane at David’s parents’ mansion with lots of loud music, dancing, glow sticks and a healthy (or unhealthy) amount of alcohol and drugs. Sophie suggests that the gang play the title game, a sort of whodunnit party game in which one person is the “killer” and once one is “killed”, the rest must determine who the killer is. Of course, things get way too real and too fast, and the friends are trapped in a huge house with no power, no cell reception, a storm raging outside and a corpse on the porch.
One of the most refreshing parts of Bodies Bodies Bodies is how it takes more inspiration from Agatha Christie than something like Halloween or scream. Despite its perfect slasher setup, the film plays more like a classic murder mystery, complete with a huge estate and a dwindling cast of characters. Accusations are thrown and an uneasy trust is built between people who would otherwise completely ignore each other. There’s even a missing friend who is often mentioned but never seen by the other characters. Is the mysterious Max the killer, or is he just a red herring?
Reijn’s direction cleverly reflects the course of events, with steady camera work and bright light accentuating the early hours of the meeting, before playing with stifling darkness and more handheld shooting to build on the confusion and fear that the characters feel as the night progresses . With the electricity in the house there is a lot of opportunity for creative lighting of glow sticks, emergency lighting and in one case a light therapy mask.
While it has a lot of visual weight, the real strength of Bodies Bodies Bodies is in his characters and their relationships with each other, all of which are clearly defined from their first scene. Despite the mostly friendly nature of everyone in the house (except the confrontational and aggressive Jordan), there are obvious cracks in this group of friends that are slowly teased over the course of the film, with small exchanges and conversations that seem on their edges. As an outsider, Bee suffers most from awkward social interactions, forced to be nice to people who don’t really understand why she’s there. This social tension is then put to the test as blood begins to flow during the night.
Bodies Bodies Bodies manages to combine its horror elements with comedy much more easily than other films. Many of the funniest moments are in the characters who use what might be termed quintessential millennial speak, the kind of language that attempts to turn real emotional issues into Tweet-ready buzzwords (the term “gaslighting” is mentioned early on by David, although in the context of the scene he gaslights almost the entire group of friends). Some of this dialogue may seem a little too obvious in DeLappe’s script, reading more like commentary than actual character conversations, but the dialogue remains sharp and biting throughout. This is especially true of the way the friends choose to cut each other off with increasingly personal attacks that betray their seemingly progressive attitudes to social class, addiction, and mental health.
In essence, however Bodies Bodies Bodies is a film about friendships, and how vague they can be at times. It builds its entire plot on the idea that sometimes people are only friends with someone because they are already friends with them. It’s a bit of a confusing chicken-and-egg idea, but the film makes it clear that the characters have only remained friends because at one point they found each other acceptable enough to spend time with. Then there are Greg and Bee, the two outsiders whose personalities contrast perfectly. Greg is outgoing and youthful, despite the obvious age difference between him and everyone else there, while Bee is more shy and reserved and tries her best to avoid confrontation. Neither approach prevents them from being charged with murder.
Bodies Bodies Bodies is the kind of horror comedy that only happens once in a while. It’s a near-perfect blend of the two genres, using many of the funniest moments to contrast an act of violence or break the tension of wandering dark hallways. Bodies Bodies Bodies is definitely more funny than scary, but it cleverly uses the elements of horror to great effect. The film’s plot and theme are also both equally represented. It never sacrifices its clockwork story beats in favor of its satirical commentary, nor does it omit its themes of modern friendship and dishonesty to advance the plot. It’s a great, caustic look at millennial culture through the lens of a slasher mystery, one that even those outside that generation can relate to.
Bodies Bodies Bodies is now in cinemas.
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