BODIES BODIES BODIES (Cert 15, 94mins, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, available from November 7 on Amazon/BT TV Store/iTunes/Sky Store/TalkTalk TV Store and other download and streaming services, available from November 28 on DVD £19.99/Blu-ray £24.99, Horror/Comedy/Romance)
Starring: Amandla Stenberg, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, Pete Davidson, Chase Sui Wonders, Myha'la Herrold, Lee Pace.
SOPHIE (Amandla Stenberg) and new girlfriend Bee (Maria Bakalova) travel along winding hillside roads to a hurricane party hosted by Sophie's best buddy David (Pete Davidson).
"They're gonna be obsessed with you," Sophie assures Bee, who is being granted entry to this privileged inner circle for the first time.
Shortly before the downpour of rain begins, Bee is introduced to David and his girlfriend Emma (Chase Sui Wonders), Jordan (Myha'la Herrold), Alice (Sennott) and her older boyfriend Greg (Lee Pace) – another first-time addition to the group.
As alcohol and drugs flow, and Bee unknowingly devours a cannabis-spiked chocolate cake, the group elects to play a game of Bodies Bodies Bodies during a storm-related power outage.
Tension between revellers explodes in the darkened house and one member of the hedonistic party plays a murder victim for real.
Bodies Bodies Bodies is a twisted satire, which gleefully pokes fun at Gen Z stereotypes as the body count steadily rises and on-screen allegiances fray.
None of the characters in Halina Reijn's picture are particularly likeable or sympathetic.
These hedonistic twentysomething brats would be easy fodder for slaughter in another horror film and screenwriter Sarah DeLappe provides no clear instructions about who we should trust.
Her script brilliantly captures the vapidness of a self-absorbed generation, which lives and dies by social media and its own relentless self-promotion.
Potential victims are insufferable and deluded – rich pickings for a gifted ensemble cast, who ratchet up the hysteria with lip-smacking aplomb.
The gnarly resolution of a central whodunnit is less satisfying, relying on coincidence and some questionable logic to deliver a final narrative gut-punch.
Rating: 4/5
THE CROWN – SERIES 5 (10 episodes, streaming from November 9 exclusively on Netflix, Drama/Romance)
THE fifth series of Netflix's awards-laden period drama marks another changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace as Imelda Staunton and Jonathan Pryce succeed Olivia Colman and Tobias Menzies as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip.
With John Major (Jonny Lee Miller) now in Downing Street, the Royal Family faces tough questions about its role as The Queen approaches the 40th anniversary of her accession.
An annus horribilis, including a devastating fire at Windsor Castle, pales next to a potential constitutional crisis if Prince Charles (Dominic West) is permitted to divorce Diana (Elizabeth Debicki).
Intense media scrutiny of the marriage leads to an interview with Martin Bashir (Prasanna Puwanarajah) that focuses uncomfortable attention on Camilla Parker Bowles (Olivia Williams).
Meanwhile, Egyptian-born businessman Mohamed Al Fayed (Salim Daw) leverages his self-made wealth to make powerful connections for himself and his son Dodi (Khalid Abdalla).
