bodies bodies bodies REVIEW — A group of rich, conceited partygoers are terrorized in *Bodies Bodies Bodies*. Photo: A24

Gen Z Horror

Bodies Bodies Bodies is a slasher version of movies like Mean Girls and Heathers. It’s about a group of shallow, self-indulgent twentysomethings who decide to throw a house party at a mansion during the middle of a hurricane.

The partygoers play a game called “Bodies Bodies Bodies” in which one person is secretly designated as a killer and the others have to guess their identity. This bizarre game involves people slapping each other as hard as they can, followed by ample amounts of whining, pouting, and arguing.

I’m not sure why anyone would want to play a game like this, but the characters seem to take perverse pleasure in it. Little do they know that a real killer is in their midst.

Characters you love to hate

Sophie (Amandla Stenburg), a rehabilitated drug addict, decides to show up to the party with her new Russian girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova). They arrive at a mansion owned by Sophie’s obnoxious and arrogant friend David (Pete Davidson).

The rest of the partygoers include narcissistic actress Emma (Chase Wonders), her weird middle-aged boyfriend Greg (Lee Pace), the mysterious Jordan (Myha’la Herrold), who has a complicated past with Sophie, and self-righteous podcaster Alice (Rachel Sennott).

David is one of the most annoying and grating characters imaginable. It comes as a profound relief to us (and to some of the characters) after he is found brutally slashed to death. The girls suspect, not unreasonably, that Greg must be the killer. After a tense sequence where accusations and attacks fly from every direction, Greg is fatally bludgeoned with a kettlebell.

Greg’s demise doesn’t halt the body count. With the power out and the roads blocked because of the hurricane, the surviving girls have no means of rescue or escape. The social media-obsessed partygoers are barely able to function in the real world, let alone capable of handling a life-or-death situation. As the corpses pile up, the vacuous vixens betray and backstab each other in a wild and bloody free-for-all.

Bodies Bodies Bodies is directed by Dutch filmmaker Halina Rejin. She gets solid performances from the cast, especially Stenburg and Herrold. They bring ample intensity to their roles. Stenberg is effective at conveying Sophie’s inner turmoil and deceitful manipulativeness. Herrold shines as Jordan, a deeply insecure person who cloaks her insecurities behind an aura of self-congratulatory superiority.

The movie is acutely self-aware of its characters’ lack of likeability. The sharply humorous script has fun mocking them. Not since Don’t Breathe has a horror movie featured so many irredeemably awful people.

Bodies Bodies Bodies does a great job of making everyone look guilty. All of the characters are plausible as a killer. The movie concludes with a unique final twist that sets it apart from other slasher movies.