So, it’s one of the last Summer weekends as the time for vacation getaways dwindles down to less than a month. And the same goes for the virtual trips at your local multiplex, where we get to look in on a group of old friends who have gathered at a lush spot to chat about the past, plan for the future, eat, drink and be merry thanks to some “substances” and some “party games”. So, could this be a modern-day spin on THE BIG CHILL (minus the opening funeral) with scandals and secret “hook-ups”? Or does it take a dark turn into AND THEN THERE WERE NONE territory with an Agatha Christie-style “whodunit” and,more importantly, “who’s next”? That’s just what the characters in this week’s ensemble thriller have to ponder while having to step around and try not to join the BODIES BODIES BODIES.
But things start off sweetly as Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) professes her love for new girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova), as they park their vehicle outside the family estate (deep in the woods) of her old pal David (Pete Davidson). They bypass the front door to join the party in the backyard pool. Bee is a bit nervous as Sophie introduces her to the surprised revelers (they assumed Sophie wouldn’t show as she never responded to their online “group chats”). David is the host along with his aspiring actress girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders). Giving the ‘stinkeye” is the stoic Jordan (Myha’la Herrold) while giggly podcaster Alice (Rachel Sennott) flirts with her new beau, the slightly older “laid-back” Greg (Lee Pace). Before the talk can get too “deep” the rain starts really coming down. It’s the start of the forecasted hurricane, which will keep everyone inside as they “ride it out”. As the liquor and “herbs” flow, the flashlights, batteries, and “glostick” jewelry are passed out. When the sun goes down, Emma suggests they play the “Bodies, Bodies, Bodies”, a variation of the “murder in the Dark” party game in which the participants must guess who drew the murderer “card” before the killer taps them as their next victim when the lights are turned out. Ah, but soon after the first “corpse” is “found’ the lights go out “for real” as the raging storm takes out the power lines. Things go from bad to much, much worse as the party “crew” discovers a real corpse just outside the patio doors, blood gushing from a fatal wound. What to do? Of course, cell phone reception is nil. The only “escape vehicle”, Sophie’s “wheels” has a dead battery. If they can hold out till morning, there’s hope that another friend, Max (who left after a “dust-up” with David) will be back. Or has he already returned to stalk them?Pitch black paranoia, mixed with a brutal blinding rain amplifies the terror as the long-time friends try to become sleuths in order to survive the long, long night.
The best-known of this young cast is probably Davidson of SNL and tabloid fame (or infamy). Unlike his title role as THE KING OF STATEN ISLAND, he can dart in and score some big laughs in a few sequences without doing all that”heavy lifting”. He’s assuredly the film’s MVP leaving us wanting more more of his wry often caustic wit. Speaking of comic actors, I was delighted to see Ms. Bakalova relishing her wonderful work as Borat’s daughter in that improv comic gem a few years ago, She shows us her “dramatic chops’ as the timid Bee who is thrown right into a well of hungry, very rich sharks. Sophie’s there to shield her, but Stenberg makes her a bit of an enigma as she appears to have a cloaked agenda. Much the same can be said of Gerrold’s Jordan, whose barely repressed anger and disgust form an invisible barrier. This doesn’t affect Pace’s amiable Greg who may have studied with “The Dude” to hone his “chill” vibe and free spirit. And that’s a big contrast to his paramour Alice played with a manic high-maintenance energy as she tries to ‘jump-start’ the fun and hi-jinks. While she’s fairly eager to join in, Wonders as Emma has a deep need to indulge into heavy dramatics in order to grab some of the “spotlight”.
Director Helena Reijn deftly turns many of the old “trapped in a murder house by a storm” into original explorations of the “group dynamics” of familiar friends with more than a bit of friction. That’s aided by the often very witty script by Sarah DeLappe and Kristen Roupenian, which takes mush-deserved digs at the ‘social class” system. modern tech, and the “sense of entitlement” that pervades society. But then the horror elements take over, with so many scenes of the principals stumbling in the dark, screaming while being lit only by the bright glowing sticks and tubes ( a hip twist on those BLAIR WITCH imitators). Then the satire is smothered by “finger-pointing’ and stilted confessionals along with the big reveals that are never explored. Finally, the characters are so shrill and irritating I was somewhat rooting for the storm to really strike (perhaps an impaling tree would shatter a window) in order to silence the caterwauling that quickly became “fingernails on a chalkboard”. The final denouncement is fairly clever, but the long slog to reach it is so draining and makes for a near interminable 95 minutes. Teen viewers may get a charge out of a variation of a blood-soaked party mystery, but the talented cast and the few smart zingers can’t soften the histrionics and hysterics of BODIES BODIES BODIES.
One and a Half Out of Four
BODIES BODIES BODIES is now playing in theatres everywhere
