Reeder’s Movie Reviews: Bodies Bodies Bodies

The celebrity status of these performers, especially but not exclusively among younger audiences, has an important function in the movie. As Alice insists, we have an “attention economy.” In other words, people ultimately succeed when they can resonate with the general public, preferably through social media. Not surprisingly, the game that gives Bodies its structure also serves as a vehicle for bringing out the sharp edges in these characters’ private lives. The death of one of the attendees near the start of the film plunges the rest of them into a spiral of suspicion, assumption and revelation that does real-world damage, much of it fatal.

The script by first-time screenwriter Sarah DeLappe (from a story by Kristen Roupenian) takes a while to find its rhythm, but when it does, it betrays a cohesive structure and a wealth of irony, alternatively savage and silly. As its centerpiece, it has a seriously nasty fight among four of the young women, as they variously accuse each other of drug addiction, hypocrisy and unfaithfulness. Suddenly a gun and a cellphone take center stage. Indeed, as the story becomes more intense and the number of victims increases, you realize that the female characters are driving this plot. The men are not entirely unimportant–the absurdly amusing climax to the movie dispels that notion–but the momentum comes from the women. As they discover, insecurities and rivalries can be pretty horrific. And Bee, as the outsider, emerges as the protagonist–the person who can most appreciate the corroding power of wealth. 

The director, Halina Reijn, and her Dutch cinematographer, Jasper Wolf, make the most of a deliberately claustrophobic setting. Bodies trots out many classic horror tropes (a dark and stormy night, a house without electricity, gotcha moments), but the framing and lighting impart a consistently atmospheric tone that serves the story well. With 70 percent of it taking place in darkness, iPhone flashlights aid the partiers and the audience alike.

Bodies Bodies Bodies had a modest budget, and Reijn had a desire to bend the rules with her first American-made feature. She examined Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), that classic study in staging and psychological horror directed by the late Mike Nichols. She asked her cast to read Chekhov. Seriously. She wanted to transform the clichés of the typical slasher film into a “cocktail” of both funny and serious ingredients. Her movie may focus on one particular generation–surely they will recognize certain qualities of themselves on screen–yet its entertainment value defies age. Bodies is a bloody little gem.