BODIES BODIES BODIES (2022)
Label: Lionsgate
Region Code: A
Rating: R
Duration: 93 Minutes
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Audio: English Dolby Atmos, Dolby TrueD 7.1, English DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1, 5.1 Dolby Audio, English Descriptive Audio with Optional English Subtitles
Director: Halina Reijn
Cast: Pete Davidson, Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, Myha’la Herrold
In the hip whodunit Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) a group of snot-nosed rich 20-somethings wait out a hurricane in an out of the way mansion, imbibing in booze and drugs they play a party game, the titular Bodies Bodies Bodies, which results in an actual dead body. The unexpected death causes a meltdown of paranoia, suspicion and and the revealing of the petty, greedy, and shallow nature of their true selves, as they attempt to find the killer among them and survive the night.
Our two main characters are a recovering addict/boozer Sophie (Amandla Stenberg, Colombiana) who has brought her new girlfriend Bee (Maria Baklova, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) to the hurricane blackout party at a mansion owned by the parents of her best friend David (Pete Davidson, SNL, The King of Staten Island). When they arrive Sophie and Bee's presence seems unexpected and makes everyone uneasy for reasons not immediately known. It also appears there's been some sort of conflict prior to Sophie and Bee's arrival, with a male friend named Max (Conner O'Malley) having been in a physical altercation with David, leaving him with a black eye, before he stormed off.
Also in attendance is David's actress girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders, Daniel Isn't Real), an annoying podcaster, Alice (Rachel Sennott, Shiva Baby) and her new boyfriend, the forty-something Greg (Lee Pace, Guardians of the Galaxy) - who balances cool-dude and creepy-dude so well, and Sophie's ex, the tattooed bossy bitchy Jordan (Myha’la Herrold, Plan B). This is a group of people best described as frenemies on a good day, now add drugs, booze, murder and a hurricane into the mix and you have an emotional Molotov cocktail ready burn down the whole house at the first sight of trouble. The whodunit murder mystery is infused with a vein of black humor through it's meditation of fragile Gen-Z morays and toxic social media fueled personalities that crumble throughout the night. Coming into this I had very low expectations to be frank, a send up of the whodunit filtered through Gen-Zers just seems like something that could go wrong in so many ways, but I tell you what, I fucking loved it. The cast is likable in a shallow sort of way, I mean their all exposed to be awful people, their over-privileged, self-important and oh-so narcissistic, but the dialogue and portrayals are well-written and the comedy is sharp and quite pointed, it's was actually quite delightful.
Our entry into this world of narcissistic wealth comes by way of Bee, the outsider of the group, who struggles to find her footing in the enclosed circle of her girlfriend's friends. Just when she seems to have found her way in a death occurs, and the fingers start pointing, and her and relative new-guy Greg find they're both on the pointed end of the stick when suspicion and paranoia chip away at the togetherness of the group, which is further punctuated by an exquisite punchline at the end that just made me love the film that much more. It's advertised as a slasher but this is straight up Gen-Z Agatha Christie territory, it doesn't even go out of it's way to do anything particaurly new or novel, other than updating the generational archetypes and technology, but it delivers it with a lot of spunk, with enough atmosphere and tension that it kept me rapt, this is a very brisk and well-directed comedy-thriller.
Audio/Video: Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022) arrives on 2-disc Blu-ray + DVD + Digital from Lionsgate in 1080p HD widescreen (2.39:1) looking pretty fantastic. A brand new film shot on digital it looks terrific, the dark and stormy night flick features a lot of dark, shadowy interiors lit with cell phones, flashlights, and in one character's case, luminescent neon necklaces and bracelets. Colors look accurate throughout, the black levels are solid, and on top of that we get Dolby Atmos audio, which defaults to Dolby True HD 7.1 if you don't have Atmos, and it's quite an immersive track that captures the sounds of the hurricane raging outside and the old dark mansion interiors as characters make their way in the dark, and also lending depth and healthy low-end to the soundtrack featuring cuts from youth-oriented artists - at least to an old-timer like me - Slayyyter, Shy Girl, Delegation, and Yellow Claw, among others, that I thought were pitch-perfect.
We do not get a ton of extras here, but what we do get is pretty great. We get an Audio Commentary with Director Halina Reijn, a 14-min Who Wants to Play? Making Bodies Bodies Bodies featurette with the director and principle cast, which is a lot of fun, plus 3-min of Deleted Scenes, and a selection of A24 Trailers. The 2-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with a single-sided sleeve of artwork with a slipcover featuring the same artwork. Inside there's a redemption code from a digital copy of the film.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with Director Halina Reijn
- Who Wants to Play? Making Bodies Bodies Bodies (14 min)
- Deleted Scenes (3 min)
- Trailers: Everything Everywhere All At Once (3 min), X (2 min), Men (2 min)
Screenshots from the Blu-ray:
Extras:
