★★★ out of ★★★★★
Directed By Halina Reijn
Twenty-somethings Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and her new girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova) are headed out of the city to a remote mansion owned by the parents of Sophie’s best friend David (Pete Davidson) to ride out a hurricane that is hours away from making landfall. Other houseguests ready to ride out the storm are David’s girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), Jordan (Myha’la Herrold), Alice (Rachel Sennott) and her much older boyfriend Greg (Lee Pace).
They have all the tools needed for survival: food, flashlights, water, booze, and drugs. As the storm rolls in, they decide to play a party game called Bodies Bodies Bodies. The rules are pretty simple: whoever draws the card with the X is the killer. They turn out the lights and all hide but if a player is caught by the killer they have to fall to the ground dead. If another player discovers them, they yell “bodies, bodies, bodies” and the remaining players turn on the lights and try to discover who the killer is.
The game brings out the worst in the friends and ends in bickering and some of them say things they can’t take back. However, shortly after the game, the generator goes out, Bee finds David dead (for real) and things begin to spiral out of control.
Bodies Bodies Bodies is a fun movie and worth a watch but I didn’t really connect with this film. As it progressed, the jokes covered the same ground and didn’t really land with me (probably because I’m an old Gen X’er) but I did love the ending when the mystery of David’s death is revealed. The biggest issue was that I had absolutely no empathy or connection with any of the characters so there were no stakes in their survival. However, many of the performances were really great, especially comedienne Rachel Sennott’s portrayal of Emma that stole the show.
Bodies Bodies Bodies will be released by A24 August 5, 2022.