When it comes to horror movies A24 is known for delivering hit after hit, so it’s no surprise people can’t wait for its next potential masterpiece, Bodies Bodies Bodies. Announced in 2018, Bodies Bodies Bodies has been kept under wraps for a while. Information, including the plot and cast members, has been vague, with the latter only being revealed in 2021. And still today there is no trailer for the movie.
However, A24 has recently revealed new details about the movie, including a plot synopsis and a first look image. This image shows the four female co-stars (Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Chase Sui Wonders, and Rachel Sennott) covered in blood, wearing glow sticks, and looking off-camera, visibly frightened. It’s an interesting image that begs the question: what are they looking at? Fortunately, in a month’s time, audiences will find out, as Bodies Bodies Bodies is set to have its world premiere in March at the SXSW festival. Read more about that, as well as the plot, cast, and crew below.
Bodies Bodies Bodies stars many well-known faces, including Pete Davidson, Amandla Stenberg, and Rachel Sennott. Comedian Pete Davidson has been a Saturday Night Live cast member since 2014 and has starred in several movies including Big Time Adolescence and Judd Apatow’s King of Staten Island where he played the lead role. Amandla Stenberg had their career breakthrough playing Rue in The Hunger Games and has since starred in the critically-acclaimed The Hate U Give, and Dear Evan Hansen. And comedian Rachel Sennott is best known for her role as college student Danielle in Emma Seligman’s fantastic Shiva Baby.
Other cast members of Bodies Bodies Bodies include Maria Bakalova (Borat 2), Myha’la Herrold (Modern Love, Industry), Chase Sui Wonders (On the Rocks, Genera+ion) and Lee Pace who is known for playing Thranduil the Elvenking in The Hobbit trilogy, and villainous Ronan the Accuser in MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy.
Dutch actress, writer, and filmmaker Halina Reijn is the director of Bodies Bodies Bodies. Reijn made her directorial debut with the 2019 drama-thriller Instinct about a psychologist (Carice van Houten) who becomes infatuated with her sex offender patient (Marwan Kenzari). The movie has an 80% Rotten Tomato score and was selected as the Dutch entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards, though it was not nominated. The award inevitably went to Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite.
Bodies Bodies Bodies is written by Chloe Okuno (V/H/S/94), Kristen Roupenian, Sarah Delappe, Joshua Sharp, and Aaron Jackson, and is produced by David Hinojosa, Ali Herting, Lara Costa-Calzado, and Tatiana Bears. Jasper Wolf, who provided the cinematography for Instinct, serves as the movie’s cinematographer.
The synopsis for Bodies Bodies Bodies reads: “When a group of rich 20-somethings plan a hurricane party at a remote family mansion, a party game turns deadly in this fresh and funny look at backstabbing, fake friends, and one party gone very, very wrong.” There is no trailer for Bodies Bodies Bodies yet, however, in addition to the synopsis above, we know the movie falls under the comedy/slasher genre. Because of this, audiences can expect something similar to Happy Death Day or Ready or Not: both comedy-horrors where the protagonist is betrayed — by a friend and in-laws, respectively — and must fight for their survival. Like Bodies Bodies Bodies, the second also involves a sadistic game (hide-and-seek).
There is speculation that the game referred to in Bodies Bodies Bodies’ synopsis is “Body Body.” According to WikiHow, Body Body is a party game where players assigned murderers must go around “killing” other players in the dark. Once “killed” (pretend strangled), players play dead until someone finds them, yelling “Body! Body!,” at which point the lights come on, and the surviving players must guess who the murderer is. Again, this is just a theory, though it would make for a very interesting story!
Bodies Bodies Bodies will have its world premiere at the upcoming 29th South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival scheduled to happen March 11-20. According to the SXSW website, the movie will screen on March 14 at 7:30 pm at the Paramount Theatre. It is not yet known when Bodies Bodies Bodies will hit regular theaters.
Fans of horror will be glad to know A24’s new Ti West-directed slasher X is also scheduled to make its world premiere at the film festival on March 13. X stars Mia Goth, Jenny Ortega, Brittany Snow, Scott Mescudi (Kid Cudi), Martin Henderson, Owen Campbell, and Stephen Ure, and follows a group of adult filmmakers in 1979 who head to rural Texas to film a movie. Staying at an elderly couple’s farmhouse they realize their hosts aren’t quite right, and strange things start to happen.
