"Bodies Bodies Bodies" Film Review

Bodies Bodies Bodies

Rating: 3.5/5

By: Nathaniel Simpson

    The best thing about Bodies Bodies Bodies is the perfect interpretation of how the youth culture is nowadays. It seems like everyday, the Gen-Z society just dive further and further into the online world, focusing on how many likes you get on Instagram or what it's like to be woke and making sure everyone knows it. Director Halina Reijn throws a group of toxic 20-somethings that are obsessed with the new and, perhaps quite dumb, fads and shows how they would react if they were placed smack in the middle of a murder mystery. Not only is it quite hilarious at times, but it presents a great commentary on how screwed this young generation could be in the future. 

    The film is set in a gigantic mansion that is owned by a billionaire's son David (Pete Davidson), who has his other influencer friends over for a hurricane party. This is where they basically hang out inside during the hurricane and wait for it to pass. The group of people that show up to his mansion is his girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), their friends Jordan (Myha'la) and Alice (Rachel Sennott), Alice's new boyfriend Greg (Lee Pace), and Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and her girlfriend Bee (Maria Baklova), who were not expected to show up to the hurricane party. 

    While they are at the party, they decide to play a game called "Bodies Bodies Bodies", where they pretty much pick a killer and turn the lights off. Then when the body is discovered, they must figure out who is the killer in the game. However, when there is an actual murder that the friend group discovers, they must find who is the real killer amongst them and try to escape the mansion of horrors before they are the next victim.

    I think there are a lot of things here that are done incredibly well or are quite unique. For starters, I think its mad impressive that most of the lighting used for this film relies on the flashlights on cell phones, as the power is out for most of the film and they use their phones for their only source of light. not only is this a pretty cool filmmaking strategy for the cinematography aspect, but it also adds a bigger sense of horror as the characters don't really know what is lurking around the next corner. I also appreciate how the film rarely relies on jump scares to be scary for the most part, and just want the viewer to be on edge due to the darkness and the fact there is a killer running amuck around the house. 

    However, at the same time, this movie is not supposed to be that scary. It's more of a parody of horror movies, in a sense. There are numerous segments that can be found here that have been in numerous horror flicks before this one. Yet, this parody works as it is parodying the Gen-Z youth more than it is horror. Consider one of the scenes towards the end of the film. They all are trying to get the gun out of one of their friend's hands, and instead of learning about a huge traumatic past, they learn how she is "hate-listening" to her other friend's podcast and how they turn the words "middle-class" into a slur pretty much. This all culminates to lead to one of the characters actually being shot and killed. 

    I would say that is easily one of the best and funniest scenes in the entire film. Not only does it have this horror element to it, but it shows how ridiculous the youth culture are today. I'm 21 at the time of writing this, and there are definitely many people I know that remind me of some of the characters here in the movie. The commentary and the performances do a fantastic job of presenting this way of living, using words like "toxic" and "gaslighting", while also just being so self-absorbed and not caring about anyone else but themselves. In regards to the social commentary on how members of Gen-Z would react if they were in a real murder mystery situation, I think they ace it. 

    However, while the commentary and dialogue are great, I think the story is weak at times. Some of the scenes feel bland and too long, while some of the kills in this movie are honestly very interesting. While the movie goes on and you find out how some of the characters die, some are great and some are just downright disappointing. While they weren't real concerned with being scary, I wish they tried a little bit harder to add a bit more in the horror and gruesome departments. 

    I also felt like they tried a little too hard at times with making the characters so self-centered and annoying, especially Sennott's character. I enjoy Sennott in what I have seen her in, and she is definitely the funniest character here. But, there are times when she and the filmmakers take it a little too far and it comes across as more annoying and over-the-top than funny. At the same time, some of the scenes, especially in the early minutes of the film, don't really work for me and I don't really develop any attachment to these characters. 

    As a whole, I think Reijn and her cast does a pretty good job creating a horror comedy that parodies the Gen-Z youth quite well. It shows how the technology and internet around them affect their whole lives, and how many conflicts now exist due to these newfound innovations over the last twenty years. You can tell this film is definitely unique and does its job well when it has you cracking up over a murder about to take place due to someone "hate-listening" to a podcast.