“Bodies Bodies Bodies” isn’t a bad movie, but it’s a purposely unpleasant one. Five rich 20-something women, plus the slightly older David (Pete Davidson) and older still Greg (Lee Pace), throw a “hurricane party.” In the solidly built house of David’s parents, they’re stocked up on batteries, booze and cocaine for the night.
Beyond the game
You might’ve seen their titular game in a recent episode of “Only Murders in the Building.” Everyone draws a card; one is the “murderer.” The lights go out, the murderer “kills” someone, and the others guess who the killer is.
No one is likeable. This calls to mind late-Nineties slashers such as “Urban Legend” (my Frightening Friday review for this week). But for Gen-X it was considered cool to not care. Gen-Z’s brand of self-centeredness is meaner, “BBB” argues, because it’s aggressively targeted at others.
“Bodies Bodies Bodies” (2022)
Director: Halina Reijn
Writers: Sarah DeLappe (screenplay), Kristen Roupenian (story)
Stars: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott
These five women (Amandla Stenberg as Sophie, “Borat 2’s” Maria Bakalova as Bee, Myha’la Herrold as Jordan, Chase Sui Wonders as Emma, and Rachel Sennott as Alice) are aware of how they’re behaving. Or at least of how the other four are behaving. But I think they are more self-aware than they let on, as demonstrated in moments when they doth protest too much.
They know the Gen-Z buzzwords, but they use them to critique their “friends”: “toxic,” “privileged,” “triggered,” “ableist,” “his politics,” etc. Almost always the words are used wrong, or vaguely, or too freely.
Words, words, words
As with last year’s “There’s Someone Inside Your House” and other recent horror films, “BBB” is making fun of Gen-Z buzzwords and their superficial usage — but on a cursory level. In this film’s defense, though, the cursory level is the point. These words and issues can mean something, but in modern society they are thrown about so freely that they risk becoming meaningless.
As David responds when girlfriend Emma says he “gaslights” her: “What next? Are you going to say I’m a narcissist?”
Today’s young people are more articulate than past generations, but sometimes that makes them more ridiculous. One phrase we can safely attribute to all five young women is “self-centered.” There’s a gay love triangle among them, plus unresolved hard feelings about past betrayals of friendships.
Their self-focus is what makes them unlikable (on purpose by writer Sarah DeLappe). To match the visuals with the personalities, director Halina Reijn, cinematographer Jasper Wolf and the wardrobe and makeup teams make the women ugly.
All five are played by attractive young actresses, and their characters are sexualized to the hilt; plus, the soundtrack is thick with sex-obsessed female rap. But “BBB” undercuts its sexualization in an effectively uncomfortable way. Exchanges of kisses and cocaine are aggressive actions in this house.
Hurricane ravaged
As the BBB game transitions to a real murder mystery as every viewer knows it will, the women look hurricane-ravaged despite mostly staying indoors. They’re covered in blood and scrapes – but not in the pseudo-sexy way of some horror films. Jordan has armpit hair – more accepted nowadays, but still not the traditional grooming choice for maximizing sex appeal.
Wolf shakes the camera — not to the point where “BBB” is unwatchable, but to the point where it’s annoying. Scenes are lit by Alice’s glow hoops around her neck and wrists, or by smartphone lights. This makes for an effective mood when the game is being played. But later it hides the not-so-great action choreography when the women get into dust-ups.
It’s actually the murder mystery plot – with classic Agatha Christie trappings, including the fact that Emma is an actress by trade – that keeps “BBB” engaging. It’s capped by a surprising revelation. I didn’t guess it, and the writer plays fair, so that’s a win for “BBB.”
But while it keeps us engaged, the whodunit isn’t the point. The revelation crystalizes the theme of inwardly focused, reactionary people. “Bodies Bodies Bodies” secures its status as a film that knows exactly what it’s doing. That doesn’t mean I want to spend one more minute around these people, though.