Review: Bodies Bodies Bodies

Image courtesy of A24.

The slasher film/murder mystery "Bodies Bodies Bodies" vacillates between occasional cleverness and genre tedium before delivering an ending that I didn't see coming and that made me laugh. It's not a great movie by any means, but if nothing else it sticks the landing in its finale.

Although its foot is firmly planted in the horror genre - think a Generation Z "Scream" without movie references, but not-so-subtle nods to every social trend you might find on Twitter - the film's setup is something straight out of Agatha Christie: a group of wealthy young people - minus lead protagonist Bee (Maria Bakalova), an immigrant who has secrets about her financial struggles - gather at a mansion to host a party during a hurricane, one of them winds up dead, and the rest of the group suspect each other to be the killer.

There are numerous red herrings involving the various characters. Bee and Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) are in a relationship, but Bee has secrets and Sophie has been somewhat ostracized by the group at the mansion due to her behavior prior to her undergoing drug treatment. Emma (Chase Sui Wonders) and David (Pete Davidson), whose family owns the mansion, have a rocky relationship, while Alice (Rachel Sennott) has brought to the party an older guy, Greg (Lee Pace), who the rest of the group appears to find mysterious. 

Rounding out the group is Jordan (Myha'la Herrold), who is the grouchiest of the bunch and seems to have some type of crush on Sophie, although there's also Max (Conner O'Malley), who is barely seen after having gotten into a conflict with David before the story started and has disappeared.

As the group settles in for the storm, they begin to play the titular game, during which players roam around in the dark and try to elude the person who has picked the card to be the killer. The killer's job is to tap a person on the shoulder in the dark, killing them. The lights come on and the group tries to figure out who the killer is.

But in this case, as the storm becomes more fierce, one of the partygoers is found dead and the group quickly begins to suspect various members - of course, the outsiders (Greg and Bee) get the most grilling, although eventually even old friends begin to get into tense exchanges.

For most of its running time, "Bodies Bodies Bodies" is a well-enough made, but somewhat rote, slasher comedy. At one point, as the arguments heat up, we get a large serving of various Twitter memes in the form of an argument - one character accuses the other of being a trigger, while another accuses a friend of being "ableist" and another suggests she's an "ally" when race factors into the scenario. 

However, the film only seems to superficially tackle these concepts as movies with limited running times tend to do. Although handled in a somewhat humorous manner, the conversations feel a little tacked on to cross off a box, rather than explored with any depth.

But if there's anything worth the price of admission, it's the ending, which of course I wouldn't dream of ruining. Although, perhaps, I should have, I didn't see it coming, and it's the best buildup to a punchline that I can recall in quite some time. If only the rest of the film had been operating on that level, "Bodies Bodies Bodies" might have been more successful all around. As it stands, it's a moderately amusing murder mystery movie with a great ending.