Body (2015)

I was a little surprised when I checked the date after watching Body - I'd kind of assumed it was a pandemic production due to the minimalist cast and setting. Instead, this 2015 thriller was produced with limited resources, which apparently drove the decision to pare back on elements (and presumably runtime, as this is only an hour and fifteen minutes long).

The film was the debut of Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, who wrote and directed this and would go on to make several other films (most recently Novocain, which I'll have a review for later in the season). I'm not surprised they've been getting work - Body wasn't particularly well received by critics, but it's obvious Berk and Olsen are proficient filmmakers.

My opinion of the film is a bit more positive than average, for what it's worth. I don't think this is some kind of hidden classic, but as a relatively straightforward Hitchcockian thriller built around three friends who find themselves in a harrowing situation, I think it works. The performances of the leads are all solid, the script is clever, and the direction is effective. Nothing here elevates this to a level where I'd tell anyone this is something they absolutely need to see, but I'd expect fans of the genre would find it a satisfying viewing experience. Take that as a tepid recommendation, if you'd like.

The three main characters are Holly (Helen Rogers), Cali (Alexandra Turshen), and Mel (Lauren Molina), a group of college-age friends hanging out together just before the holidays (the movie takes place the evening of 12/23 into 12/24, for those keeping track). Cali, the group's instigator, convinces them to go to her "uncle's" unoccupied mansion while he's out of town. The three of them hang out for a while before Holly and Mel catch on to the fact the house doesn't, in fact, belong to Cali's uncle but rather a family she used to babysit for, and that they actually broke in and are there illegally.

Things take a turn when a stranger shows up. The girls try to make a break for it, and the stranger grabs Holly, who inadvertently pushes him down the stairs while trying to get away. The stranger breaks his neck and appears dead, leaving Holly, Cali, and Mel in an awkward situation. If they report the accident, they'll be arrested for murder.

Instead, Cali devises an elaborate scheme. They don't know who the stranger is, but they know he's not the owner. So she suggests staging a situation where he entered the house, attempted to sexually assault one of them, and was pushed down the stairs when the girls fought back. Holly isn't in favor of the idea, but she loses the vote and reluctantly agrees to participate. She also loses the draw and is selected to play the victim. In the midst of framing the body for attempted rape, however, the "dead man" wakes up.

He's alive, but not in great shape. He's paralyzed from the neck down and requires medical aid - he pleads with the girls to call for it. But once again Cali talks them out of this. The stranger - actually just the groundskeeper - knows too much, and according to Cali can't be trusted to stay quiet. If he lives, the girls are going to go to jail for a long time. If he dies, they can expect at worst a slap on the wrist.

After a brief sequence involving Holly's boyfriend showing up, the three girls vote again. This time it's two against one in favor of calling an ambulance and confessing what's occurred. Cali agrees but sneaks off to finish the groundskeeper while there's still time. Holly attacks her in response, but Cali knocks her unconscious and ties her up.

Holly wakes up and manages to start freeing herself while Cali is convincing Mel the only way out of this is for them to murder Holly, frame the groundskeeper, then claim they killed him in defense. Mel, already too traumatized to think clearly, follows her into the room where Holly is being held. Holly breaks free of her restraints just in time to get the drop on Cali, who calls on Mel for assistance. But of course Mel sides with Holly and hits Cali in the head with a chair leg. Holly then brutally beats Cali to death as Mel looks on in horror.

After, Holly calmly pieces together a story in which Cali was killed by the groundskeeper after he attacked them. It's essentially the same plan Cali pushed all along, using the same flimsy justification. But since Cali was initially responsible for the break in and was the one to murder the groundkeeper, Holly deludes herself into thinking it's the right thing. The end of the movie implies they'll get away with it, though it's unclear if they'll recover from the ordeal.

As I said at the start, the movie is fairly good, as far as quality is concerned. It's well shot and acted, the editing is good, and so on and so forth. That said, it struggles to stand out from other genre productions. The movie is exceptional as proof of the filmmakers' ability, but as a piece of entertainment it's good... but not better than good. The teen dramedy stuff is engaging but not hilarious or endearing. When the movie changes gears and becomes a thriller, it's interesting but not particularly intense. This is solid B+ material throughout, which is impressive given the budget and time limitations.

There are a couple aspects that were particularly interesting. First, the movie employs Rashomon-inspired sequences where explanations of alternate stories are shown. While this is ostensibly an attempt to get stories straight, the way it's presented and acted conveys the sense the characters are subtly deluding themselves - they know it's a lie, but the fact the story could be true is enough to silence their conscience. It makes for a disturbing twist.

Likewise, the Wikipedia article claims (via a citation no longer available) the characters are based on the concept of the id, ego, and superego. That certainly works with how they behave and makes for an interesting layer.

Speaking more generally, I also appreciate how the movie explores very dark, universal aspects of humanity, including our capacity for evil in the service of self-preservation. What the girls do is immediately understandable, forcing the viewer to confront uncomfortable questions about how they'd behave in similar circumstances.

Moving on to Christmas. The movie absolutely embraces the holidays, using music and references to keep the setting present. Thematically, the movie's connections are a bit tenuous, though - depending on how you look at it - perhaps still present.

It's a bit of a stretch, but the narrative could be viewed as a sort of dark mirror held up to the usual tales of friendship and found family in which a group of characters rekindle their connection to endure a dark December night. The twist here, of course, is that they do the opposite: turning on each other and eventually sacrificing one of their own to survive. Themes of human sacrifice around the holidays aren't entirely unheard of in horror and other genre movies, thanks in part to Hollywood's fascination with James Frazer's theories. I'm not sure I buy that this was directly connected, but... the chair leg kind of bares a resemblance to a tree bough, so who knows. Regardless, a dark inversion of the usual communal love and goodwill is likely a part of the formula.

Tonally, it's much clearer: the movie plays with the inherent disconnect between holiday cheer and horror. This is most obvious at the end, when the film contrasts Christmas music with its bleak ending.

I should also mention a seemingly random old man with a broken down car the characters pass at the beginning. The figure, who never speaks, has a long beard and resembles Santa Claus (Father Christmas even more so). Again, I can't be sure whether this was intentional, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I enjoyed this one quite a bit more than most, but I'm hesitant to recommend it too enthusiastically. Fans of this genre usually want more tension and suspense than this is able to muster. It gets a lot of mileage out of its budget, but that only gets it to "pretty good," rather than "great." Still, if you've got an hour and change to kill and nothing more pressing to watch, this is interesting enough to be worth checking out.