By John Corrado

★★ (out of 4)

A group of rich young adults in their twenties gather for a weekend getaway during a hurricane in the A24-backed Bodies Bodies Bodies, a vapid mix of indie party comedy and murder mystery that often feels more like a spoof of an A24 movie.

At the start of the film, Sophie (Amandla Stenberg) shows up with her new girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova) to a wild party that her childhood friend David (Pete Davidson) is throwing at his family’s rural property. But there are some tensions among the group, and Sophie technically wasn’t invited (she never even replied to the group chat).

The guests included David’s actress girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), and ditzy Alice (Rachel Sennott), who has brought along her much older boyfriend Greg (Lee Pace). They get drunk, do lines of coke, and decide to play a game of bodies bodies bodies, which soon turns deadly with the appearance of an actual dead body. Paranoia seeps in and suspicions start to rise, as the friends start to question each other’s potential motives, with the raging storm taking their power and wi-fi.

The second feature directed by Halina Reijn, Bodies Bodies Bodies is a somewhat amateurish effort that can feel like a glorified student film. The film strives to be a slasher sendup in the vein of the original Scream, but the screenplay by Sarah DeLappe (from a story by Kristen Roupenian) is never as clever as it seems to think it is. For a mystery like this to work, the plotting has to be airtight, but Bodies Bodies Bodies makes increasingly less sense as it goes along, and relies on all of its characters being varying levels of stupid and narcissistic.

The film gives us no one to sympathize or side with, instead being populated by a group of irritating, one-note Gen Z stereotypes. The point is to spoof the self-centredness of the TikTok generation, but the film itself too often comes off as trite and overly obvious with its surface-level critiques of various forms of privilege. While there are some talented players in this roster of up-and-comers, the cast are all stuck playing the most annoying versions of themselves.

The booming dance music soundtrack and pulsating electronic score by Disasterpeace do keep the film moving, and at a brief 94 minutes, it is somewhat diverting as a piece of pop entertainment. But it’s also a bit of an exercise in frustration that is never quite as funny or suspenseful as it wants to be, populated by unlikeable characters whose company ultimately grows somewhat tiring.

Bonus Features (Blu-ray):

The Blu-ray includes a director’s commentary track and two brief deleted scenes.

• Commentary with Director Halina Reijn

• Deleted Scenes (Play All – 2 minutes, 43 seconds)

• Greg and Bee – Pool (1 minute, 45 seconds)

• Camp Song (1 minute, 2 seconds)

Bodies Bodies Bodies is a Sony Pictures Home Entertainment release. It’s 94 minutes and rated 14A.

Street Date: November 29th, 2022