Body movie review & film summary (2015)
This poses an immediate problem for me, your humble reviewer: how to describe this movie without giving too much away? You should see "Body" if you like thrillers with strong female leads that make you peek between your fingers, and lose your breath gasping at violence (but not grisly violence). It is as close to an across-the-board, qualification-less strong genre movie that you can watch with anyone, be they your mom, your sweetheart, or your pet chinchilla Schnookums.
If that sounds good to you, and you don't want to have your viewing experience ruined, get out of here now. My feelings won't be hurt, go on.
No, really, go. It's ok, honest. Go, go, get out of here.
Ok, are they gone? Good.
Hi again. Now that those quitters have left, let's pick up where I left off. "Body" is an exceptional thriller, full stop. The film's main focus isn't convoluted plot devices, psychologically complex characters, or exceptionally grisly make-up effects. "Body" won't change your life, make you cry, teach you a profound truth, or get inside your head and take up residence for days afterward. Instead, it's about atmosphere, and not the kind threatened by abysmal mud-bright mood lighting, or cheap-jack production values. Like a really good roller coaster, the 70-minute "Body" is over and done with in a flash, but the ride itself, and thrill you get from it lingers. When it's over, you'll want to get right back on.
The film follows three twenty-something women on the night before Christmas Eve. Cali (Alexandra Turshen) and Holly (Helen Rogers) visit their friend Melissa (Lauren Molina) at Melissa's parents' house. As the night winds down, they decide to take a late-night drive. On their way, they pass a hitchhiker with a creepy beard. They ultimately arrive at a palatial home, where more booze is consumed, and fun is had.
Then the girls realize they're not alone.
Until this point, "Body" revels in naturalistic, light dialogue. Turshen, Roger, and Molina have genuine sisterly camaraderie, so much so that it doesn't matter that the dialogue and situations they find themselves in before being discovered is so light that you'll barely remember it when the film ends. That's actually the secret of the film's success: it maintains a certain tempo and interest that you're so immediately involved you don't even realize you're being sucked in.
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