Bodies Bodies Bodies

I keep seeing negative reviews for this film and don't understand why? A lot of people used the word "boring" while it literally can't be used to describe it. Simple? Sure. Dumb? Yes. Boring? Hell no.

It's a typical popcorn horror to watch with friends and have fun. The "who done it" comes into full effect while everyone contributes in their own way. The movie doesn't take itself too seriously and makes fun of social tropes. If that's not your thing, I understand, but it is in no way boring.

The pace is pretty good, acting performances are solid, very intense and keeps your attention. I had a good laugh multiple times which says a lot considering I don't like horror comedies. The aspects I liked the most about this film are it's self awareness and genuinely not knowing who did it midway through. I'd recommend watching this for Halloween with a group of friends and having a blast! Not a masterpiece but a solid 7/10 from me.

A modern horror of sorts, no scares and mild action. Mostly focused on trying to study the breakdown of people in the wake of suspicion. As I was looking for some good scares, I left feeling disappointed. I should have kept my old ass at home.

This was enjoyable from start to finish, and I don't get the negative reviews, particularly those whining about Gen Z; this isn't just Gen Z, it's any group of rich kids having a party that goes very wrong in any generation, with the same behaviors and reactions any of them would have exhibited in any generation, of course with minor differences. So enough about that.

I also did not expect a typical slasher movie when I started watching this, and the marketing I saw didn't depict it that way, so I don't get the whining about it not being a slasher movie or even a horror movie; it does fall into that genre though, so enough about that.

The actors are smart and behave like real people, and the story is clever, especially the twist at the end. There are no dull moments unless you aren't interested in character development or storyline, so in that case go watch Friday the 13th and leave this film for the rest of us who can appreciate it.

Anyone reviewing this as vapid and shallow and claims it has a predictable ending is missing the entire point of the film.

The characters are of course absurdist representations of not only current youth but also humanity as a whole.

This is not meant to be a horror film that reinvents the wheel. It's meant to be a discussion of how we as a culture have warped our relationship with information, specifically technologically. It's meant to represent how we gather and receive unsound information, react impulsively, and create destruction while doing so, whether to ourselves or others. Understandably, the movie isn't TOO heavy handed in its approach as to not come across as preachy, but I think the message is clear and the film conveys it in a way that's fun and entertaining. I mean, come on, it's A24. If you're showing up expecting a by the books slasher, you've come to the wrong place. I think that's more of an expectation setting problem than it should be a knock at the film.

Not every story needs a hero and it can be refreshing when the characters are a little more "real" and grounded. But it's more difficult to write characters that are jerks that you still want to follow. Bodies Bodies Bodies is aware that the entire group of people they've centred the movie around are terrible people. It's not a blunder or something the creative team overlooked, but I'm not sure why they made that choice. Is the entire point that young people suck? That's fine... but other than the fact they're rich and are snorting and smoking everything in sight, they don't go about it in an amusing way. The movie is trying to crack jokes but it fails at that as well. You don't need heroic or even likeable characters but it forces the story to do even more heavy lifting to hold your attention.

Bodies is a movie where it isn't easy to separate the actors from their characters. I've already talked about how this movie is intentionally populated by vapid and annoying characters. This choice also makes it harder to distinguish between a badly written character or a mishandled performance. If I had to pick a member of the cast that was the most impressive, I'd go with Amandla Stenberg playing the emotionally vulnerable Sophie. She's grown up a lot since her appearance in The Hunger Games and with her character drying out and trying to stay sober, she did a good job being erratic and unpredictable. I liked Maria Bakalova so much in Borat Subsequent, she's just fine here. It's not a comedic role but she didn't have the same spark she showed previously. If there was someone who got on my nerves, Pete Davidson's character David was extra snarky and annoying but I couldn't really distinguish if that was just the character or something he was putting on top of it.

The only defence I can really muster for Bodies is that the central mystery was interesting enough to sustain me through all of the dead air. With all the characters unable to properly process due to the illicit substances and the hurricane raging outside, it could have been anyone and that's properly played up. The reveal is unique but it's also fitting as it kind of fizzles out like most of the tension. I'll give them credit for being creative but I just kind of shrugged as we hit the closing credits.

I've seen worse than Bodies Bodies Bodies but I don't get why there was such huge hype from the critics. Bodies isn't scary and there's only so much tension and excitement to be gleaned from the premise. The acting was fine but it was also hampered by the characters being so self-absorbed and hard to like. While the twist is kind-of new, it didn't mean much and I was still left disappointed that I sunk an hour and a half into this. I'm giving it a 5/10 and I'm probably being generous. We're getting much better thrillers and horror movies more frequently now, you're better off checking out one of those.