I’m not wrong.
Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is a simple concept: a group of rich asshole twenty somethings are stuck together during a house party and they all start getting killed off and inevitably blaming each other. While this is a pretty basic horror concept, the writers elevate the movie by twisting this into a commentary on the youth, technology, and the irony of these young influencers being able to say all the right things while also being incredibly callous towards each other. There’s this one scene where they are throwing around therapy speech while also accusing each other of being murderers which is truly one of the highlights of this movie. This movie is truly a product of recent times, especially as the market gets oversaturated with influencers and YouTubers. It’s the amped up version of The Bling Ring — a group of rich friends commit crimes and dance in slow motion and use progressive language ironically. You’ve seen this story before, but this is the volume turned up to max.
That doesn’t mean it’s not good — this movie is genius. It’s witty and brilliant and I gave it four stars on Letterboxd. I would watch it again.
I appreciate what the movie is trying to say; the writing and acting are sharp as a dagger and it is not condescending in tone; this isn’t mocking “kids and their phones” whilst looking down on them, but more like a general exhaustion with social media influencers from the perspective of the kids. There isn’t one likeable person in this movie despite an incredibly talented cast of people, Lee Pace, Amandla Stenberg, and Rachel Sennott give some incredible performances, and Maria Bakalova is absolutely precious as one of the final girls.
This black comedy sticks the landing in exactly what it wants to do, and as a horror fan with a squeamish side, I do like that there’s little gore. I was never a fan of Lord of the Flies, but this is a great spin on it that makes a difficult concept a lot more fun to swallow. This movie does it’s job, and wonderful performances really boost it up. The performances are subtly comedic, the dialogue bites but softly; the way they turn on each other and say the foulest shit while also saying things like “respecting my boundaries” is literally like watching a comment section come to life. And while that sounds frightening (it is), it’s also addicting to consume.
I don’t know if I loved this, but I will definitely watch it a million times over. Another movie this reminds me of is Spree, a great commentary on internet culture and wanting to be seen as something bigger than what you are. I love these post Fyre Fest movies that comment on asshole rich kids. And I will say the character of Alice (Setten) is my absolute favourite — definitely the closest to a kind person and has the funniest reactions. Pete Davidson is someone I generally love in everything, but I was hoping for his character to leave this movie pretty early on because wow what an asshole. I’m rewatching it now as I write this review, and I’ll probably watch it one more time before the weekend is out.