Bodies Bodies Bodies

Possibly one of the best Queer horror movies I have ever watched, Bodies Bodies Bodies sets up the movie with foreshadowing, complex character dynamics, and a twist on the classic horror/thriller equation. Bodies Bodies Bodies follows a couple, Bee and Sophie, and begins in a mansion in the middle of nowhere for a small party with a bunch of extremely rich twenty-something year olds, and all of them have been drinking and snorting cocaine. The movie starts off innocently, adding a bit of tension between the characters as the viewers attempt to figure out the social dynamics between the group, when suddenly, a massive storm traps the characters inside. To pass the time, they engage in a game called “bodies bodies bodies.” In this game, the characters draw cards and one of them will be the killer. As expected for an already strained group, amped by drugs, an argument ensues after the first round, leading two characters, Greg and David, to storm off. During the second round, one of these two characters are found dead outside, seemingly stabbed in the neck by a machete. The remaining group goes to search for Greg, who they suspect of murdering David. When it is soon made clear that Greg was not the killer, it’s too late. Soon, another character is killed off, dead by the stairs. The remaining group accuses Bee, leaving her outside in the deadly storm. Inside, one of the group members has found a gun and loads it in the garage where Bee can see. Frantic, she crawls through the vents to get inside to protect her girlfriend from the killer. Tensions rise again when another one bites the dust. Down to Bee, Sophie, and Jordan, the group fights to convince each other that the other is a killer. In a fight, Jordan is shoved down the stairs, revealing in her final moments that Sophie isn’t exactly who she claimed to be. 

This moment is where the movie makes less sense. It is still very, very entertaining, but the couple begins to fight over what is, relatively speaking, a non-issue. During their fight, Bee tries to grab Sophie’s phone, but instead, grabs David’s phone that had been lost outside in the dark and rain. When they open it, all is revealed. From there, a mystery man finds his way to the house and reveals himself.

What makes this movie different from other slasher films, in my opinion, is the subtle hints dropped so obviously throughout the film, yet are so subtle and easy to overlook during the first watch. Everything that lines up does so because the director carefully chose shots and actions of characters that would have foreseeable consequences toward the end of the movie. On top of the beautiful act of foreshadowing, Bodies Bodies Bodies casually includes a queer main character couple without reducing the characters to stereotypes or being seen as an ‘oddity’. The characters’ sexual identities end up mattering and adding tension and complicated dynamics between the group, and aren’t used as throwaway plots or lines, which is refreshing. 

I, like many of you, am easily able to identify the killer within the first thirty minutes of a movie because most horror/thrillers use the same equation/plot/archetypes to set their film up for success. This movie also uses that equation, but subverts it so that every action and character is just ‘off’ enough to act as a red herring.