52 Films by Women Vol 7. 6. BODIES BODIES BODIES (Director: Halina Reijn)
The test of a horror mystery is to reflect on the events within it and trace the outcomes back to the perpetrator. Bodies Bodies Bodies passes with distinction. Directed by Halina Reijn ( Instinct ) from a smart screenplay credited to Sarah Delappe and a story by Kristen Roupenian, the film features a quintet of mostly wealthy twenty-something women, and their male companions, who turn on each other after a hurricane party game of ‘bodies bodies bodies’ goes very awry. When one of the group ends up dead with a sword wound to the neck, their blood-smeared dressing-gowned body pressed against a window, the group seeks the killer, concluding that their activity has gone too far. One of their number is in bed, having retired early and earlier squared off against the victim. ‘The best defence is a good offence,’ says one guest. ‘What does that even mean?’ asks the victim. The guest simply repeats the phrase, as if no further explanation is required. Any game that begins with sl...