Bodies Bodies Bodies

Director Halina Reijn brings this dark comedy horror to the screen. Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and Bee (Maria Bakalova) are in a new relationship and are heading to Sophie’s childhood best friends David’s (Pete Davidson) palatial parental home for a “hurricane” party. There Bee is introduced to a a group of people from Sophie’s past including their relationships and old grudges. As the hurricane sets in they decide to play a game of Bodies Bodies Bodies. But when the game becomes real, the house guests have a long night ahead of finding a killer, before the killer, their grudges or their own paranoia finds them first.

This wasn’t really the film I was expecting, the trailers painted it more as a satire and genre parady. But in reality it is just an update of a very well trodden horror/thriller story.

While it is not particularly original, I did quite enjoy it. The story is relatively light hearted and the ending has a fun “twist”. It’s well shot and makes good use of mobile phone torches as a way of lighting with the small circle of light helps building tension as people move cautiously around the house avoiding what may be in the shadows.

The films occasional satire was best highlighted in the conversations between the group. With use of current vernacular such as triggered, toxic, silencing me amongst other “popular” phrases that are over used or misunderstood. One scene particularly, where four of the protagonists have a particularly angry confrontation which includes the reckless use of a gun. But rather than done in a way to “attack” a new generation the film instead shows that the generations behave the same. Even if the language is different.

The cast are all very watchable and Amandla Stenberg continues to show her talent in an ever widening variety of roles.

While it wasn’t particularly original it was a solid example of its type and nicely updated to reflect a modern generation. The story whizzes along at a pace and the humour that is there is delivered well by its cast. While it won’t last long in the memory, while it was there I enjoyed it.