Tuesday, May 02, 2023

Bodies at (Final) Rest

I had heard -- both in online articles and from friends who watch a lot of movies -- that 2022 was an exceptional year for the horror genre. The list of 2022 horror movies I've heard praised, and would like to get to at some point, is quite long. Gotta start somewhere. And I did recently, with Bodies Bodies Bodies.

A group of young friends (and not really friends) are throwing a "hurricane party": they're all going to a mansion to play drinking games and ride out a coming storm. One of those games is "Bodies Bodies Bodies," in which the group tries to identify who among them is a "killer." But when the power goes out and someone actually turns up dead, the game turns terrifyingly real.

This movie is the English-language view of Dutch director Halina Reijn. With a screenplay by Sarah DeLappe (and a story by Kristen Roupenian), the result is an effective fusion of a horror movie with a teen comedy like Mean Girls or Clueless. You might even say it takes an already black comedy like Heathers and adds more blood and gore. In any case, it's a razor sharp work of satire and social commentary.

Ultimately, Bodies Bodies Bodies is about how shallow and empty these characters are, and how their priorities are completely out of order. (Even in a crisis. Especially in a crisis.) Force them to go without the internet for one night, and all hell breaks loose. The movie rides the line between comedy and horror incredibly well, generating a laugh one moment with precision dialogue, and honoring the horror genre with the next with a fun, tense set piece.

This is an incredibly smart use of a limited cast and a single location. Your buddies that maybe have said "we should make a movie some time?" You probably could have made this one... if you'd been clever enough to think of it and skilled enough to execute on the idea.

The most recognizable faces in the cast are Pete Davidson and Lee Pace... but it's the five women who really make the movie what it is. Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, and Rachel Sennott all trade verbal and physical blows over a tight 94 movie that entertains every step of the way.

And so I begin my survey of 2022 horror movies I've missed by finding one that makes me revise my Top 10 Movies list for the year. That's just by a bit; at a very solid B, Bodies Bodies Bodies just takes over that 10th slot. Still, I'm very glad I watched it, and I think plenty of my readers would enjoy it too.

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