By Dr.LoveGore
Minor Spoilers
Story By: Kristen Roupenian
Director Halina Reijn
Written By: Sarah Delappe
When a group of rich 20-somethings plan a hurricane party at a remote family mansion, a party game turns deadly in this fresh and funny look at backstabbing, fake friends, and one party gone very, very wrong.
Story
According to the movie's credits, the story was conceived by Kristen Roupenian. What we've got here is a straightforward slasher formula going on throughout this film. However, it's done with enough updates to the slasher tropes that we as a Horror-loving audience have grown to love or despise. Again, the main story itself is not original, yet at the same time it does have a fair amount of originality up its sleeve.
Directing
During a live-streamed Q&A after the film, director Halina Reijn talked about her background in theater. Just recently, I was lucky enough to acquire a bit of knowledge through someone I chatted with, who also was involved in theater themselves. That knowledge being that a lot of theater actors understand directing quite accurately. How true this is, I don't know. But given how well Ms. Reijn handled her directing duties makes me think I was given some facts.
Writing
The movie was written by Sarah Delappe. I'm not sure how much was improvised and how much was written, but her script runs head on into natural dialog. The movie may be a slasher, but instead of trying to take the writing into 80's territory, Delappe's script modernizes the formula, which at this point, should be done more often.
Acting
Our friend 2022 has been quite the year for the Horror genre. And A24 has a lot to do with that. After seeing my third film this year released by the company, I can say all the films have top level acting. Not sure whether it's a coincidence, or if the studio has enough faith in their directors to choose a cast wisely. Having said that, I have to hand it to every actor in this film. Grand fuckin' slam.
Horror
Obviously this is a Horror movie. And even though there's laughs going on within, I don't see it as a comedy at all. The humor comes mostly from natural conversation, but the Horror comes from a clever and tension-filled whodunit. As with most whodunits, some viewers may catch on half way through, or be absolutely stumped till the end. I did guess the ending, but what I didn't see coming was how expertly the reveal would be executed by driving home what the true Horror was all along, with gusto and skill.
Score
The score had some pop music properly timed, and very moody sounds during the tense and horrific moments in the film. Both styles worked perfectly.
Gore
Yes, I love me some gore. And yes, Bodies Bodies Bodies has some red in it. As usual, though, with a film this new, I'd rather not give any of that stuff away. I will say this: You can never have too much gore in a flick like this..
Conclusion
I had a fun time with Halina Reijn's Bodies Bodies Bodies. Is it my favorite film of the year so far? No it isn't. It's not even my favorite A24 film of the year. But l think it's still worth checking out to see what this film is capable of delivering, even while being an almost standard, straight-up slasher film.
Rating
Grade B+
Dr.LoveGore is all about the gore, and quality in anything related to Horror. Movies, soundtracks, comic books, novels, you name it, he loves it!
Twitter
Horror Amino Profile
Have you listened to our podcast yet? It’s Beyond The Void Horror Podcast.