Black comedy horror film Bodies Bodies Bodies opened in UK cinemas last weekend, telling the story of a group of young adults who gather for a “hurricane party” at a flashy mansion.
Things go downhill when one of their number is found dead, and from there on out various members of the group are killed off as they try to work out who among them is a murderer.
That premise has invited a few comparisons to the classic Agatha Christie mystery And Then There Were None, but speaking to RadioTimes.com in an exclusive interview, director Halina Reijn revealed that those similarities were entirely coincidental.
“I had never seen or heard of And Then There Were None,” she said. “But everybody’s mentioned it to me, so I’m like, ‘OK, I like it!’”
She went on to discuss some of the films that had served as inspiration for Bodies Bodies Bodies.
“I like Clue, the movie Clue,” she said. “I like to think this is a contemporary Clue.
“I was also very inspired by Heathers, which is a horror movie that also has a slightly lighter tone. And I basically watched Reservoir Dogs a couple of times, I watched Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.
“And then the whole opening – the French kiss – is a tribute to a shot like that in the movie Kids, which is about youth culture in a very different way.
“So I think my main inspirations don’t come from murder mysteries or horror – but mainly come from theatre and then some obscure films!”
Many of the characters in the film – who are largely Gen Z-ers – are on the face of it rather unlikeable, and they begin squabbling and arguing long before any murders throw things even further off course.
And Reijn revealed that she and screenwriter Sarah DeLappe wanted to say “something about our times” with the script.
“I think everybody now grows up in front of a camera – a smartphone – so you know, narcissism is just going to occur,” she explained.
“It used to be only people who had a public profession, like actors, who would become very aware of their appearance and that would provoke vanity but also fear. Am I good enough? Am I beautiful enough? And it creates psychopathic people.
“But now everybody is brought up with the camera, so that just brings out different qualities in human beings.”
She added: “There’s something in us that wants to watch unlikable characters. And I think unlikable characters are way more realistic than likable characters – because that’s just a Walt Disney idea of what the world is.”
Bodies Bodies Bodies is now showing in UK cinemas. Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide to see what’s on tonight.
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