“Bodies, Bodies, Bodies” is the newest A24 horror comedy and it’s another winner for them. This was an excellent murder mystery film that was full of surprises and great laughs. The screenplay by Sarah DeLappe was the strongest aspect of the film as it constantly kept you guessing as to who the killer was. I loved her satirical dialogue and dark humor. She finally gave Gen Z a whodunnit that features characters like them and will make them look in the mirror with how accurate the depiction is. I was very impressed by the direction from Halina Reijn, who did a great job at building tension and bringing the scripted guessing game to life. I loved how she would focus on an actor’s face once something was revealed that would make them the new suspect. Her pacing was excellent as the film runs 90 minutes and she wasted no time putting us in the mystery. Her use of music was really good, especially in the first act when things were fun. She chose some bangers including a song I hadn’t heard in years that I loved when it came out. Besides the soundtrack, the score does a great job having you on the edge as we follow characters trying to figure out who’s the killer.
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My shiva baby Rachel Sennott was comedic gold and the MVP of the film. She was my favorite character and a constant scene stealer, her reactions to lines both verbally and facially made me laugh so much because she’s great at selling and making dialogue funnier than they really are. You can tell she is the easy target for the group to make fun of for making dumb choices and comments. She came off as a try hard to be accepted but she sold it so good that it worked for me. It’s a very different role from “Shiva Baby”, which shows her range and her amazing talent. While Maria Bakalova didn’t make the best choice following her Oscar nom with “The Bubble”, she’s back on track with this film. She is essentially the lead of the film as we see the events from her eyes. She is the newbie to the group, so she is our surrogate into this group and how their friendship works. Her character’s growth was really good because her evolution from beginning to end was mysterious and a wonder to see happen. 
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Amandla Stenberg, despite the short comings of the way her character was written delivered the goods. She played her role to perfection and really bit into what worked about her character. Her character has a lot of baggage and she nails the flaws. I’m a fan of Pete Davidson, so he worked really good for me in this for the time he was on screen. Despite me not liking his character he had me and the whole theater laughing a lot because he’s so good at playing fuck boys. Literally everything that came out of his mouth felt like the wrong thing to say, which made it funnier given how little filter he had. Given how many people don’t like him as a person and comedian, his character won’t work for everybody and he might take you out of the film when he’s on screen. Myha’la Herrold does give a good performance but I hated her character. She came off like that friend who is secretly a hater, the one who looks down upon her friends and would use your weakness against you if you stand up to her and tell her like it is. She did a great job at selling that angle.
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Lee Pace was a vibe in this film, I loved his laid back demeanor and how charming he was. He was a welcomed older presence in the film that was full of younger actors. Character development wasn’t a strong suit of the film as I never really cared for any of the characters. That is something I always hate to feel in a horror film as we should be made to care about some characters so that their deaths hit us on an emotional level or get us angry. We hear about characters having addictions, being in rehab among other things but it’s not elaborated on. Those lines often felt like throwaway lines. While I loved the film, I would say that unless you were already excited you can wait to watch at home. This is the kind of horror film that some might call “woke”, so that on top of an ending that I loved but can see some hating, will make this a film that I fully expect to divide audiences.