Now technically I’m a member of the youth. Bold statement I know, for anybody whose met me, who I’m sure would suitably largely disagree. So heading into a film like the satirical darkly comedic pseudo-slasher Bodies Bodies Bodies, which has at its core a fashion of a takedown of the generation of today , I think it’s fair to say that I was nervous whether the satire would work for me or come off as awfully cringey. Mainly because the trailer isolates some of these lines to disastrous effect and makes them look God awful, but as always context is key and not only do these lines all work as a piece of a whole, but Bodies Bodies Bodies is one of the most fun, exciting and entertaining films I’ve seen all year.
The setting; ‘a hurricane party’, which are apparently real things. The cast of characters; a series of self-entitled rich narcissistic 20-somethings (and one hilarious older Lee Pace). The plot; one of them turns up dead in the middle of a ‘Werewolf’ or ‘Mafia’ style game and everything comes to the surface to make for a thrilling, surprising, violent, hilarious and pitch-black horror-comedy that is well-paced, very watchable and ultimately very satisfying. Now I’ve kind of just done my summary early, but if that’s enough for you, then just go watch the film. As with all murder-mysteries, the less known the better. However with the best murder-mysteries there is so much more to offer, especially on a rewatch once the initial compelling reason to keep watching is no longer found. This film has comedy and drama aplenty that will make re-watches undoubtedly in my mind as entertaining as the initial. The film’s best asset perhaps is this acid-tongued screenplay by Sarah DeLappe that places as one of its focuses what many are seeing as a takedown of this current brand of teenage nihilism and self-obsessed mania, forcing such people who have created whole new languages around trauma to come face to face with some true violence right on their very door-step. Now for me I was amazed to the fact that other than quite literally I think a few lines, all of this dialogue and text worked for me and felt perfectly pitched. I thought the film was funny, dark, witty and used these facets to propel a mystery that kept me guessing and worked for me until the very end.
Halina Reijn directs the film and keeps the tight 90 minute horror-comedy on its tracks with great effect and lots of great visuals. The cinematography of James Wolf blending neon and pitch-black darkness is beautiful at times, but largely very unsettling and unnerving. Reijn takes this setting and Wolf’s visuals to build a haunting place for her perfectly devised and delivered cast of characters to go about at first their game, before then their terrifying trap. The ensemble itself really doesn’t miss. Everybody is funny when meant to be and everybody is believable in their fear and horror when that is what is needed. At the core of the film I would say our two leads would be the new couple of Amanda Stenberg and Maria Bakalova, both of which are the most different characters from the rest of the troupe. Whereas the rest are all in the same sort of vein of entitlement, Bakalova is the clear outsider and is perhaps the hardest performance to tackle (she succeeds) and Stenberg is recovering and sober, whereas those who surround her are still in a rather hedonistic drugs phase (again she succeeds at bringing all of these layers). Beyond our two leads, everybody else as aforementioned is terrific and makes this really one of the great ensembles of the year. Lee Pace is hilarious and unexpected. Pete Davidson manages to convey so much pivotal and integral jealousy and emasculation that ultimately the film works as well as it does. Chase Sui Wonders and Myha’la Herroid are more reserved than the others in their own way, but place firm stances on the dominance needed in the situation at hand. All of these turns are great, but for me one of the best performances of the year and certainly the funniest so far is that of Rachel Sennott, who constantly continues to surprise me and excite me and above all else was the one I was rooting for most, for I knew if she left, the film would be a lot less funny.
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A fresh, entertaining, dark and hilarious 8/10 whodunit that not only has a terribly satisfying conclusion to it’s mystery, but also most importantly has a great ride along the way and is one that even with the reveal now known to me I will certainly return to in the future. Reijn does a great job directing a stellar script from DeLappe, with not a single bad performance in the bunch in the whole ensemble. Everybody is on the same page and with a film with this difficult a tone to balance, the fact they succeed as well as they do is the greatest achievement of all.
VAGUE SPOLIER P.S. One of the absolute unequivocally worst lines to a movie I’ve seen in some time. Is it fitting? Sure, I guess. But does it actually work? Not a chance for this humble reviewer. Never have I seen a movie land it’s ending so well, to absolutely shoot itself in the foot with its final line. The delivery didn’t help, but the line itself was abysmal in the first place.
- - Thomas Carruthers
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