As someone holding an AMC Stubs A-List membership, I go to the movie theater constantly. While I always go in with the hope that what I am seeing will be great and groundbreaking, I am often disappointed. However, “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” the new horror comedy film distributed by beloved entertainment company A24, did the opposite.
The film tells the story of a group of young adults at a party during a hurricane who find themselves in the middle of a murder mystery after one of their friends is found dead. Secrets are revealed and relationships tested as the group tries to figure out who the killer is. The cast is full of familiar faces, including Amandla Stenburg as Sophie, Pete Davidson as David and Rachel Sennott as Alice. I thought the cast was perfect and every single character was distinct and memorable.
Director Halina Reijn did an amazing job with the movie and managed to surprise me. Because the trailers for the film showed off its funny and energetic scenes, I expected this film to be a lot more fast-paced and humorous than it was. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the slower pace. It built suspense and allowed me to become invested in the characters and their relationships to each other, which made the surprising moments all the more impactful. The drama in between the bloodshed and jokes was gripping in a way I was not expecting. I was so invested in the story that I didn’t even mind that the movie was not very scary.
The most impressive quality of the movie, in my opinion, was its ability to satirize the culture of young adults today in a way that is both funny and feels real. A lot of films attempt to capture the use of social media and the way young people interact, but often take it too far and lose any message they were trying to convey. “Bodies Bodies Bodies” is able to both sympathize with and criticize the youth of today by not overusing internet language and allowing the characters to have legitimate issues and relationships.
The set up of this movie is a great metaphor for the culture that social media discourse has created: everyone else is a victim, someone has to be the bad guy. The characters spend a lot of time psycho-analyzing each other and using terms like “ableist” and “toxic” superficially in their attempts to figure out who the killer is. They all want to one up each other with their problems and past “trauma.” Nobody wants to take responsibility for the hurt they may have caused, because as soon as they do, they might be labeled as the murderer.
“Bodies Bodies Bodies” drives home a point that a lot of people, young or old, need to hear: sometimes you can be both a victim and a villain. And having an obsession with being a victim, may just turn you into one.
