Warning: The below article contains major spoilers for A24's Bodies Bodies Bodies.
Nothing hurts quite like a friend's betrayal. A24's "Bodies Bodies Bodies" dives into the specific pain that arises when those you trust most stab you in the back — and sometimes the throat. Directed by Halina Reijn, "Bodies Bodies Bodies" revolves around a fractured friend group of rich 20-something year-olds. What starts as a raging Gen-Z hurricane party in one of their family's sprawling mansions soon morphs into a kill-or-be-killed kind of night. After a party game goes awry, the group finds a dead body, jumpstarting the story's whodunit plot.
While "Bodies Bodies Bodies" is a dark horror comedy, Sarah DeLappe's script excels the most with its tension-filled drama. The writing delivers deliciously complex characters that aren't wholly likable or unlikable. Instead, the group — Sophie, Bee, David, Alice, Emma, and Greg — consistently reveal new aspects of their lives. "Bodies Bodies Bodies" makes it compellingly difficult for its characters (and viewers) to know who to trust. Everyone's a suspect. Of course, mistakes are made, and those errors are paid for in blood. Here's a breakdown of all the kill scenes in "Bodies Bodies Bodies," ranked from worst to best.
Emma
Emma's death takes place entirely off-camera. The only reason we find her body is because Alice trips over her. Admittedly, Emma's off-screen death is hysterically ironic for a character who loves the spotlight and attention. Direction-wise, though, it's a poorly lit and confusing shot. Visually, we have a vague idea of what happened to Emma. Sadly, the scene is fairly dark so it's hard to parse out much. There's blood on her face and throat, and it appears she fell down a staircase, though not totally clear why her face looks beaten up.
Initially, the characters think Sophie pushed Emma down the stairs. By the end of the film, Sophie tells Bee that she gave some drugs to Emma, causing her to trip down the stairs. However, we never see Sophie do this, so we still don't know if that's true. Though based on the film's unending drug use, she could have overdosed. (It's a miracle no one did.) Narratively, the film spent a lot of time exploring how Emma likes to play the victim. However, in the one case where she is a victim, we don't get to see it. The choice to show her fall — especially because it comes after her breaking away from her friend group — would have given her a fitting end. Also, it would have shed light on how trustworthy (or not) Sophie is, a question that the film answers for some, but not all of its characters.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
Greg
Greg's death is brutal but not altogether shocking. Of all the characters in this film, he's the closest to innocent, though the significant age discrepancy between him and Alice does raise some eyebrows. All he wanted was to come to a party with his new girlfriend and have a good time. Instead, Maria Bakalova's Bee smashes his head with a blue kettlebell because the group thinks he's a homicidal war vet. In reality, and one of the film's funniest reveals, we learn that Greg was a veterinarian's assistant. He had no combat training or murderous plan.
Since the plot used him early on as a red herring, his death feels inevitable. But thanks to his decision to go to bed early on, the film pushes aside the chance to delve deeper into Greg's character. The tragedy is we don't know him at all, just like Alice. Although that choice feels like a natural way to sow mistrust between characters, it would have been nice to have more on-screen time with Greg before his demise. While his whiplash-speed death hits hard, there could have been more emotional weight to it if he had more presence in the story.
Jordan
The narrative timing of Jordan's death scene is excellent. Early on, Jordan introduces herself as the antagonist to her ex-girlfriend Sophie and Sophie's new girlfriend Bee. She threatens and flirts with Bee simultaneously. We know that Jordan manipulates others, and the film catches Jordan in more than one lie, including her secretly carrying a gun despite denying it earlier. However, she's also determined to convince Bee that she and Sophie had sex right before the party. Sophie tells Bee she's lying, but Bee finds a pair of underwear in Jordan's car that matches Jordan's bra, leading Bee to suspect that Jordan told at least one truth.
Fittingly, Sophie, Bee, and Jordan are the last friends standing in the film, giving their brewing conflict the room it needs to boil over. Jordan accuses Bee of being a killer and runs away with her gun. Sophie tries to stop Jordan, but the two end up in a brawl. Bee runs after them both and ends up pushing Jordan over a banister, causing her to fall to her death. Glass shards are everywhere. Jordan uses her dying breath to tell Bee to check Sophie's texts for proof that she cheated on her while still shooting at them. What works best about this shot is its character-driven humor. Even while dying, Jordan wouldn't stop getting between them. Ultimately, this kill gets docked some points for believability. The fall isn't that big, and Jordan could have landed on something more fatal than a table.
Alice
Alice's death scene is easily one of the darkest moments of the entire film. Despite being a horrible person through and through, Rachel Sennott's character is addictingly watchable. There's sincerity to her arrogance. There's an earnestness to her even when she's spouting white fragility nonsense or co-opting phrases like "being silenced" to defend her bad behavior. Of all the Gen-Z characters, Alice feels the most like a 20-something-year-old; devoted to her convictions while also being utterly unsure of everything at the same time.
Still rightfully angry that Bee killed her boyfriend, Alice yells for Bee to leave the house. Jordan tries to calm down Alice but the two end up fighting instead. After discovering Jordan never liked her podcast, Alice starts attacking Jordan's whole persona. Notably, she checks Jordan on her "rags-to-riches" story, reminding her that her parents are "upper middle class" and teach at a university. A put-down that Jordan replies to with, "But it's public." Jordan's handgun goes off and shoots Alice in the knee. Since the handgun has already gone off once, it's hard not to clench your teeth throughout the rest of this tense sequence. As you might expect, Jordan's gun fires again. But this time, it hits Alice in the stomach, killing her. Alice embodies the film's youthful energy; knowing she'll never have a chance to grow up hits hard. Unlike the other kills in this film, this one lingers longer in the aftermath of Alice's murder, cementing its harrowing tone.
David
Oh, David. Desperate to be seen as a trashy himbo, Pete Davidson's David is a delightful mess. Most of his runtime is spent obsessing over how hot or not Greg is, and trying to be the alpha male of their weekend party. Initially, David's death appears to be a slasher attack. But by the end of the film, we learn the truth about David's death. Trying to copy Greg's party trick on TikTok while extremely high on a ton of cocaine, David slit his throat. That certainly wasn't his plan. The plan was to use a sword to uncork a champagne bottle, but he points the sword in the wrong direction and captures the bloody event on camera.
During the film's final moments, Bee and Sophie watch David's TikTok video and realize there never was a killer. The truth is some teens got high and drunk in the middle of a blackout. Terrified (and likely experiencing tripping paranoia), they tried to protect themselves by killing one another. This means that all of the kills in A24's "Bodies Bodies Bodies" were preventable. This reveal works wonderfully because it proves you don't need a Big Bad to make a teen slasher work. The fear of trusting your life with the wrong person gave the film more than enough terror and dread to sustain its tight 95-minute runtime.
If you or anyone you know is struggling with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
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