Unquiet
Things

I think my favorite moment in Bodies Bodies Bodies was when Lee Pace’s 40-something character Greg, after breaking from the 20-year-olds that he’s hanging out with and slipping away to fall asleep in the gym with his light therapy mask on, wakes up and says, “Are you guys still playing Werewolf?”

At this hurricane party in a remote mansion full of insufferable, spoiled, stupid kids, they are at one point early on playing “Bodies Bodies Bodies”–a murder mystery game, that, as far as I can tell, is exactly like Werewolf (which in turn I think was inspired by a game called Mafia?) One person is secretly designated the Werewolf, or the Murderer, or the bad guy, and I think the whole point is to figure out who is lying and who is telling the truth–before they get “killed.” At no point does anyone ever call this game anything other than “Bodies Bodies Bodies,” so when Greg who is Old and Feeble-Minded and probably recognizes Bodies Bodies Bodies as some other Jurassic-era game he has played in his ancient life, disappeared mid-game and has no clue that people have begun dying in earnest, wakes up and says “Are you guys still playing Werewolf?” I for some reason found that endearing and hilarious and so relatable on an “I see you, fellow old person” level.

I think someone else found it adorable, too, because they made a whole series of gifs on it over on Tumblr.

And I know I called these characters stupid, but the interesting thing about this film is that despite the fact that the dialogue makes them look like Gen-Z stereotypes spouting buzzwordy language, both as barbs meant to insult each other but also I think genuinely meant to excuse some of their awful behavior and personalities–anyway, as terrible as the characters are meant to appear, I didn’t actually hate any of them.  I actually liked all of them. And that’s kind of wild how you can take this group of characters who are already pretty unbearable and obnoxious, ramp up the tension and the stakes, and make it clear that everyone hates everybody–and yet, me, the viewer, I don’t actually hate any of them.

Well, except Pete Davidson. I hate that guy. I hate everything out of his mouth, and I hate his stupid face most of all. Thankfully, he is the first to die, and the twist is that it couldn’t have happened in a more satisfying way.

I actually paid full price for this on Amazon. I’d say it was worth it. Bodies Bodies Bodies was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it; it may not be for everyone (especially if you find yourself frequently raging at “kids these days”) but it scratched a very particular slashery itch for me. Also and maybe I am the last one to know this–the initial spec script was written by Kristen Roupenian of Cat Person fame. Or as I tend to think of it, “the Discourse surrounding Cat Person” fame.

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