DIRECTOR: Halina Rejin
CAST: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha’la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, Pete Davidson, Conner O’Malley
RUNNING TIME: 95 mins
CERTIFICATE: 15
BASICALLY…: A party game at a hurricane party becomes deadly for its rich young attendees…
NOW FOR THE REVIEW…
At the risk of sounding old (but not that old; as of writing, I’m a millennial who’s weeks shy of turning 30), Gen Z really are a strange bunch, aren’t they? They certainly seem to have more progressive and inclusive morals than previous generations, which is always great, but the constant domination of technology, social media and misuse of triggering buzzwords can leave some of them feeling alarmingly empty, and even insufferable to be around. It’s an opinion that director Halina Rejin shares with her dark satire Bodies Bodies Bodies, which takes the very worst examples of Gen Z stereotypes and has plenty of fun deconstructing them within the confides of a murder-mystery thriller.
The film is primarily set at a large secluded mansion, where a group of wealthy young adults – including recovering drug addict Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and her new working-class girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova), Sophie’s childhood friend David (Pete Davidson), his actress girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), podcaster Alice (Rachel Sennott), her older squeeze Greg (Lee Pace), and enigmatic Jordan (Myha’la Herrold) – have gathered for a house party while a hurricane unfolds outside. As everyone drinks and occasionally does drugs, they play a game called “Bodies Bodies Bodies”, a murder-mystery game that’s basically a non-sci-fi Among Us. However, the game takes a dark turn when people actually start dying, and everyone must now figure out who amongst them is the killer.
Except, Bodies Bodies Bodies barely feels like a proper whodunit – but that’s entirely the point. The movie, which Reijn directs from a script by Sarah DeLappe, is much more interested in pitting these incredibly vacuous, self-righteous, and deeply (but intentionally) loathsome characters against one another, each of them being all too quick to leap towards extreme conclusions without so much as a simple conversation, firing petty insults left and right about things that do not matter in the immediate situation, and using phrases and buzzwords like they’re a walking, talking far-left Twitter account. It’s a smartly written movie in that it keeps a healthy level of satire and self-awareness on its mind at all times (both things that the 2019 remake of Black Christmas lacks in spades), while remaining consistently dark and gruesome as a slasher that frequently bends the rules to suit its cunning purposes, often in some very laugh-out-loud ways.
DeLappe’s script works best when its narcissistic characters butt heads with each other, all while trying to posit themselves as the most caring and progressive ones at the party, even when there are actual dead bodies lying in front of them. Thankfully, that is a constant element throughout, with the actors getting some strong mileage out of how awful their characters can be – Rachel Sennott, previously of Shiva Baby, in particular sees no end to how shallow and self-centred she can make herself, and it results in some of the film’s funniest moments – and Reijn’s direction being on point with how low they really can go in order to further their own selfish goals. They are, however, fun characters to watch fall apart because they’re not written to be one-dimensional stereotypes, but have deeper layers to them which are slowly revealed as the night goes along, both raising the levels of suspicion amongst them and also making you just wish that you were the killer so you could wipe them off the face of the earth. Unlike 2019’s Black Christmas, you can tell that the filmmakers and writers are aware of these people’s overwhelming self-righteousness, and know exactly when and how to call them out on their fake-woke bollocks.
Sometimes, though, the point can be hammered in a bit too hard, with some scenes going on for longer than they should, in case it felt that the message hadn’t gotten through to its audience yet, which can undercut some of the nuance and suspense it’s otherwise going for. In addition, while it is a film with a clear sense of humour to offset its much darker themes and commentaries, it isn’t always apparent, and some moments go by feeling a tad too straight-faced where they perhaps needed to have a slightly lighter touch to them. Overall, though, Bodies Bodies Bodies is an effective satire that takes full aim at the very worst examples of Gen Z and completely opens fire on all of them, in ways that are smart and also mindful about how rotten its core targets are while also delivering a fun slasher with surprises, twists and bloody death scenes galore.
Not to bring this movie up again, but this is seriously what Black Christmas circa 2019 should have been but never could be, because unlike that film it actually knows everything that’s wrong with Gen Z and isn’t afraid to call itself out on it.
SO, TO SUM UP…
Bodies Bodies Bodies is a fun and dark slasher which gets a lot of mileage out of dissecting its vacuous and deeply (but intentionally) loathsome Gen Z characters, in ways that are smart and mindful, while also delivering an effective thriller with some serious bite.
