Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.5
Audio		5.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		4.0

Bodies Bodies Bodies Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman October 9, 2022

Director Halina Reijn overtly states she knows nothing or next to nothing about horror films and considers Bodies Bodies Bodies to be an "update of Clue", but really neither description adequately captures the madness, mayhem, and, perhaps unexpectedly, mirth that ensues when a bunch of bickering overly privileged young folks get together for a "hurricane party" and launch into the titular game, which some may know under any number of alternate titles including Werewolf. Bodies Bodies Bodies might initially seem like it's going to riff on "teenage slasher" entries after the first victim dies from a rather gruesome neck wound from a kukri (a kind of curved knife - sword type blade), but what actually ends up happening is a deconstruction of how absurdly helpless those who have things handed to them their entire lives become when confronted not just by the possibility that there's a real murderer in their midst, but perhaps more saliently (and comically), when a loss of power deprives them of any use of their cellphones other than as flashlights. If any perceived horror element is therefore really not all that germane to either the narrative or in fact how it's presented, the Clue side of things is also not exactly straightforward, since at least in the original board game formulation there's only one victim and a slew of suspects, whereas Bodies Bodies Bodies does live up to its title with an aggregating corpse count, and therefore a diminishing group of potential perpetrators.

The first characters introduced are Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) and Bee (Maria Bakalova), who are engaging in a little lip locking as the story opens. Sophie announces her love for Bee, but insists Bee doesn't have to reciprocate, and the two dispense with further fondling in order to finish driving to a "hurricane party" being held by a bunch of Sophie's wealthy friends. The mansion where the party is being held belongs to the parents of David (Pete Davidson), who is in a relationship with Emma (Chase Sui Wonders). Also there are Jordan (Myha'la Herrold), who seems to have some kind of history with Sophie and who is the sole "lone wolf" in the crowd, as well as Alice (Rachel Sennott) and her new main squeeze, Greg (Lee Pace), who is a bit older than the rest of the crowd. There are manifest dysfunctions in any number of these interrelationships which the film quickly offers without a bunch of additional information.

Bee is apparently a relatively recent Russian émigré, and that "outsider" status makes her the obvious stand-in for the audience's perspective on meeting all these obviously privileged Young American types. When the gang decides to play "Bodies Bodies Bodies", wherein one person is secretly designated a "murderer" via an "X" on a scrap of paper and who then must sneak around in the darkness and tap other players on the back, thereby "killing" them, all hell of course breaks loose, first emotionally, since this game evidently has a history of bringing out the worst in these players, but then physically, when that aforementioned "kukri incident" takes place, all within the context of the hurricane visiting the location and wreaking its own kind of havoc, including the power and internet going off.

Without getting into too much spoiler material, suffice it to say that this particular death leads to a spate of recriminations and increasing paranoia among the initial survivors, which of course then spirals completely out of control, leading to several other shufflings off this mortal coil, albeit shufflings that are at least occasionally "helped" by outside forces. In a very real way, Bodies Bodies Bodies turns out to be the very model of a modern shaggy dog story, especially when a revelation right before the final fade out offers a kind of cheeky "oops" for everything that has gone before, but also in a very real way, the actual "story" in Bodies Bodies Bodies is hardly the point.

While as outlined above the film toys with both horror and murder mystery aspects, in essence it might be more consistently appreciated as a kind of underhanded character study of a bunch of spoiled youth suddenly having to contend with things that Daddy's trust fund can't solve. The film has a very black sense of humor about things, and the comedy may in fact not land for everyone, but it gives the film an undeniably snarky tone that is quite unique, and different, for example, from the kind of "meta" snark that informed Scream. Now that said, it can definitely be argued that Sarah DeLappe's screenplay never really fully explores these characters, and in fact all of them are kind of amorphous "types", despite fitful attempts to differentiate them.

As someone who has had to slog through any number of less than memorable "slasher" films, I found Bodies Bodies Bodies to be a rather brisk piece of entertainment, one that probably isn't as deep as it maybe pretends to be, but which is still often presentationally interesting (large swaths of the film play out in near total darkness) and kind of refreshingly free of epic amounts of blood and guts. The performances are very enjoyable, and the film has a kind of ingratiating winking quality that, when combined with a kind of akimbo feel, keep things perhaps appropriately "breezy", given a hurricane and all.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf was considerably less enthused about Bodies Bodies Bodies. You can read Brian's thoughts here.

Bodies Bodies Bodies Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Bodies Bodies Bodies is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films and A24 with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The IMDb doesn't yet have technical information on this, but I found interview with Director of Photography Jasper Wolf where Wolf discloses the Arri Alexa Mini LF was utilized. I have not been able to independently verify a 4K DI, but have no qualms believing there was one. This is a really impressive looking transfer for the most part, and I'm perhaps relieved to announce that despite a prevalence of really dark scenes that have things like cellphone flashlights aimed directly at the camera, there is little to no banding on this release, something that has plagued a number of Lionsgate releases recently and been bad enough that I've actually been able to take screencaptures of it. In fact the gradations of lighting and the tightness of this encode are typically very consistently handled, and as a result detail levels can be surprisingly fulsome even in some pretty low light situations. The palette pops very vividly in the bookending sequences which take place in daylight, but even in a number of rather dark scenes there can be deeply saturated bursts of color. There are some slightly noisy looking moments in very low light situations, probably most noticeable toward the end of the second act and beginning of the third. The digital grain just starts to look a little dirty, especially against some of the green backgrounds, for whatever reason. Otherwise, though, this is a strong transfer of a uniquely lit and shot production.

Bodies Bodies Bodies Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Bodies Bodies Bodies has a surprisingly subtle at times Dolby Atmos track that nonetheless delivers noticeable surround activity before the imagery even kicks in, with some inviting birdsong and background breeze rustling through leaves as the story opens. Later moments are expectedly more bombastic, as in the first torrential downpour the hurricane delivers, and later moments, including a kind of scary-funny panicked run through the violent wind and rain several characters take clearly engage the surround channels, delivering a really impressive enveloping listening experience. The ostensibly "quieter" moments in some of the house scenes can still have almost comical scuttling panning effects as characters scurry to and fro. A propulsive score also is nicely spacious and delivers some forceful low end at times. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English and Spanish subtitles are available.

Bodies Bodies Bodies Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary by Director Halina Reijn is fun, though some may feel that due to Reijn's at times pretty thick accent they might echo Pete Davidson's joking comment in the making of featurette that "I can't understand a f***ing thing she says".


• Who Wants to Play?: Making Bodies Bodies Bodies (HD; 13:55) has some really fun and often funny interviews, including some choice bits from Davidson.


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 2:39)

Bodies Bodies Bodies Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Bodies Bodies Bodies is occasionally a little too obvious (you know a light left on in a car is going to come back to bite someone in the butt), but it is never quite what you expect it to be, which turns out to deliver some nice off kilter moments. I have to say the final few seconds of this film had me laughing more heartily than I have in a while, and kudos to Maria Bakalova for one of the more memorable line readings (given the context of the situation) in recent memory. Technical merits are first rate and the supplements, while slight, appealing. Recommended.