Bodies Bodies Bodies is a 2022 American black comedy horror film directed by Halina Reijn, in her English-language debut, with a screenplay by Sarah DeLappe from a story by Kristen Roupenian. It stars Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Myha'la Herrold, Chase Sui Wonders, Rachel Sennott, Lee Pace, and Pete Davidson.
Plot[]
Bee, a working-class young woman from Eastern Europe, travels with her wealthy girlfriend Sophie to a "hurricane party" at a mansion owned by the family of David, Sophie's friend. Other guests include David's actress girlfriend Emma, podcaster Alice, her much-older new boyfriend Greg, and enigmatic Jordan. Max, another guest, left after a fight with David the night before Sophie and Bee arrived.
After drinking, using drugs, and dancing, the group decides to play "Bodies Bodies Bodies", a murder in the dark-style game. Greg goes to bed early due to hostility throughout the game from David, who also leaves soon after another fight with Emma. As the storm worsens, the power goes out and the girls scramble to find a power source. Minutes later, Bee finds David outside with his throat slashed, a blood-stained kukri nearby. Panicked and without reception, the group try to go for help in Sophie's car, but find its battery dead.
The group discovers Greg has a go bag with a knife and a map of the area and become suspicious of him. They fearfully confront Greg, who returns their hostility. After a struggle, Bee bludgeons him to death with a kettle bell in self defense.
The group doubt that Greg was the killer and Emma theorizes that Max, who had confessed feelings for her the night before, returned to kill David. Sophie, a sober addict, relapses. Emma kisses her, to Sophie's confusion, before accepting drugs. Alice later finds Emma dead from a head wound at the bottom of the stairs, and believes the group is being killed one by one. Jordan and Alice cast suspicion on Bee, revealing that no one with her name is on record as having graduated from her college; they cast Bee out into the hurricane.
Returning to Sophie's car, Bee finds underwear that matches Jordan's bra in the backseat. She sees Jordan holding David's father's gun through a window, then crawls back inside through a pet door. Bee confronts the group, revealing that she dropped out of college to take care of her mother, who has borderline personality disorder. A vicious verbal fight ensues between the group. Jordan, who was the "killer" in the Bodies Bodies Bodies game, reveals resentment for Sophie due to her drug addiction and using David to regain access to her trust fund, and claims Sophie cheated on Bee with her, which Sophie denies. Sophie expresses why she would not date Jordan, that she avoids her friends because their behavior challenges her sobriety, and reveals that Jordan only "hate-listens" to Alice's podcast. After Alice responds by insulting Jordan's insecurities, Jordan shoots Alice in the leg. A struggle for the gun follows; Alice is fatally shot in the throat. As Sophie and Jordan fight, Bee pushes Jordan over the staircase bannister. With her dying breath, Jordan tells Bee to check Sophie's text messages. Bee hides from Sophie out of distrust.
When morning comes and the storm has blown over, Sophie tearfully confesses to Bee that she relapsed and witnessed Emma tripping and falling down the stairs to her death. However, Bee holds her at gunpoint, demanding to see her texts. Sophie tosses her phone away and they struggle, inadvertently picking up David's phone in the process, which shows that David accidentally slashed his own throat while trying to use the kukri to open a champagne bottle for a TikTok video—revealing there was no real murderer after all. As Bee and Sophie realize the bloodshed was all for nothing, a confused Max returns to the mansion, and the power comes back on.
Cast[]
- Amandla Stenberg as Sophie
- Maria Bakalova as Bee
- Myha'la Herrold as Jordan
- Chase Sui Wonders as Emma
- Rachel Sennott as Alice
- Lee Pace as Greg
- Pete Davidson as David
- Conner O'Malley as Max
Production[]
In March 2018, A24 acquired Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, a spec script written by Kristen Roupenian. In September 2019, it was announced Chloe Okuno would re-write the script and direct the film. In April 2021, it was reported that Amandla Stenberg and Maria Bakalova were set to star in the film, while Pete Davidson and Myha'la Herrold were in talks to join the cast, with Halina Reijn now set to direct. Bakalova said she was scared to be in a horror film, having been frightened watching them, but thought that A24 films were deeper; she said that the film was "more like an R-rated comedy." In May 2021, actors Lee Pace, Rachel Sennott, Chase Sui Wonders, and Conner O'Malley joined the film, with Davidson and Herrold's casting also being confirmed.
Themes and Influences[]
Bodies Bodies Bodies has been described as a "satire on class and privilege, all mediated by new technology, the language of progressive politics and youth culture, and Gen Z identity itself". In a piece for The New York Times, Kalia Richardson writes that the film satirizes Gen-Z’s symbiotic relationship with their cellphones and the internet, using dark humor to illustrate what happens when those two things became inaccessible: "when the Wi-Fi goes out, it’s like they lose oxygen", remarks director Halina Reijn . Richardson notes that despite "the physical danger each character faces, their virtual realities remain central to the plot", recalling the characters' inability to relate to each other in person without the use of the "trauma-centered" jargon of social media such as "gaslight", "trigger", and "toxic".
Several critics noted the influence of Agatha Christie or specifically her 1939 mystery novel And Then There Were None on the film. In an interview with Vice, director Halina Reijn cited the many films that influenced Bodies Bodies Bodies, such as Heathers (1988), Don's Plum (2001), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Piano Teacher (2001), Cries and Whispers (1972), and the filmography of John Cassavetes