Christmas Chillers: Body (2015)

What if a friend invited you over to their uncle's expansive mansion to spend the night on Christmas Eve and you slowly but surely realized the house didn't actually belong to her relative? And what if, even worse, the caretaker showed up and surprised you, and in evading him, you accidentally shoved them down the stairs, seemingly killing him? And last but certainly not least, what if it turned out he wasn't dead at all- and could readily identify you and your friends as the actual trespassers on the property?

Such is the premise of Body, a tidy little thriller in which one bad decision spirals into many, eventually leading to a big old mess. Obviously, it's a story we've seen many times before: someone is killed by accident- or seems to be- then things quickly go downhill fast. As they say, it's often not committing  the crime that gets you caught- sometimes that's the easy part- but the cover up after.

We begin the story as three girlfriends celebrate the holidays over at the home of one of the girls, Mel (Lauren Molina, Martha Marcy May Marlene), complete with a lot of not-so-discreet drinking and smoking, much to the chagrin of Mel's mother- although she looks a few sheets to the wind her own damn self. Against their better judgment, the girls decide to go out, even though it's getting late and they're all pretty ripped.

However, Cali (Alexandra Turshen, Red Oaks) makes them an offer they can't refuse- her uncle is out of town for Christmas and his sprawling mansion is up for grabs, with plenty of booze and fun to be had. Sure enough, they arrive and the place is empty, and Cali lets them in with a hidden key by the door, and they commence to partying it up, playing games in the arcade, racing around the property in a souped-up golf cart, and, of course, drinking copious amounts of liquor. 

When Holly (Helen Rogers, V/H/S, Psychopaths) goes to use the bathroom, she notices some of the photos scattered throughout the house are of an Asian couple and their children- and Cali is decidedly not of the Asian persuasion. Holly confronts her and Cali laughs it off, saying that her cousin is adopted- except it was supposedly her uncle's house they were visiting, not her cousin's.

Cali finally comes clean, admitting that it is actually the home of a rich family she used to babysit for- hence her knowing they would be out of town, and approximately where the keys would be. Just as the threesome is about to GTFO, along comes the caretaker, Arthur (horror regular Larry Fessenden, of Session 9, You're Next and We Are What We Are, among many others). Just as shocked to see them as they are to see him, a tussle ensues, in which Arthur takes a tumble down the stairs. 

Holly wants to call 9-1-1, but Cali points out that they're not supposed to be there- but he is. As such, the cops are likely to find them at fault. Fearing for their future, the girls concoct an outlandish story in which Arthur tried to rape one of them and they pushed him down the stairs, essentially in self-defense. After drawing Scrabble pieces to determine who plays the "victim"- naturally it's Holly- Cali rips Holly's shirt, and uses the still out-cold Arthur's fingers to graze across Holly's chest to leave scratches on her and ensure his DNA is under his nails.

Nor do they stop there, but I'll leave the rest for you to discover. (I suppose I should mention that some of this may be seriously problematic for those who have experienced  actual sexual assault, so fair warning to all those concerned.) Suffice it to say, though, Arthur, as you might expect, isn't as dead as they think, and isn't particularly inclined to take all this lying down, at least in a manner of speaking, as he's still largely immobile because of injuries suffered in the fall. Factor in another somewhat unexpected guest, and various shifting loyalties, and there are still plenty of twists and turns along the way before things come to a bloody conclusion. Merry Christmas! 

As I said, the end result isn't really anything you haven't seen before, but it's just well-acted and compelling enough to keep one's attention for the movie's admittedly brief 75 minute running time, and that's with a good 5 minutes plus of slow credits to boot- so closer to around 68 minutes, really. It kind of falls into the category of glorified student filmmaking, albeit with just enough of a budget to look professional, and much more capable actors than one sees in a typical student film affair- unlike something like, say, ThanXgiving.

The film marks the directorial debut of writing team Dan Berk and Robert Olsen, who have since gone on to write and direct the films The Stakelander (aka Stake Land II) and Villains, which stars horror favorites Bill Skarsgård (IT, Castle Rock) and Maika Monroe (Bad Blood, It Follows). While the plot-line here may not be the most original story in the world, props for the two in at least executing it with style to burn. 

As they teach you in film school, securing locations is half the battle, and the main one here is a doozy, as the mansion in question is exceptionally photogenic and not the typical spooky old mansion one comes to expect in most thrillers like this. Instead, it's modern, fashionably decorated- almost like the house in #Horror, sans all the art installation pieces. Unlike that film, the protagonists here are fairly likable, though Cali does lean towards villainous after a certain point. That has more to do with the circumstances and the element of self-preservation, however. 

I think what makes films like this work is that we can all picture ourselves in a similar predicament and think about how we might handle it. Would we do the right thing? Or would we also try to save our own hides? That element of "what would you do?" is compelling enough to keep one watching, even after we have a pretty good idea of where this is all headed. 

Another positive factor is the filmmakers' conceit of having each character represent a facet of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud's theory of the id, ego and superego. Basically, the idea is that, at any given time, we're all driven by one of the three. The id represents instinctual desire, the super-ego is more critical and moral, and the ego is the more organized, realist element that helps mediate between the two others.

By this description, Cali is the Id, given to living in the moment and flying by the seat of her pants; Holly is the super-ego, who wants to do the right thing at every turn; and Mel is the Ego, who tries her best to find a middle ground between the two and make peace when the other two are at odds with one another. Be that as it may, the three often switch places at times, which is, to me, why Freud's theory itself is kind of flawed- or at the very least, these particular writers' execution of it.  

For instance, it's Cali that, early on, instinctually wants to help out a stranded motorist on the way to the mansion- later on, she'll be the one that wants to go to any length NOT to help the injured party, Arthur. As such, it rightfully should have been Holly that wanted to stop, not Cali- instead, Holly's the one that protests the loudest, wanting to keep going, scared by the potential repercussions of doing such a thing: what if the guy's dangerous, a murderer? 

Later on, Holly also gets talked into not only going along with Cali's wild scheme, but also in duping her boyfriend in an untoward way, making him think she hates him because he was cheating on her, even though he did no such thing, and Holly knows it. Of course, I suppose one could argue that peer pressure plays a part in all of this: Cali doesn't stop for the motorist because her friends are against it, and Holly caves and disses her BF because the other two want to do things a certain way. 

But that's sort of my point- no theory is really far-ranging enough to cover all elements of human behavior. In other words, Freud was a bit of a quack, lol. (For further proof, just have a look at his even wackier theory of the Oedipus Complex.) I mean, don't get me wrong, like many psychologists, he had his moments, but, like I said, it's well-nigh impossible to put human behavior in a box, no matter how we try to make sense of things somehow.

Still, points to the filmmakers for at least trying to do something differently, even if they didn't entirely think it through. I like the conceit they were after, even if the execution was a bit flawed. More importantly, it results in characters that are better developed than most in films like this- these aren't just cardboard cut-out characters that are more stereotypes than full-realized people. 

You might like one of the girls more than the others, but at least they feel like real people, even if they're making dopey decisions at times. But hey, if they didn't, we wouldn't have a movie, so there you go. I'm just grateful that they put forth the effort, which is more than you can say for a lot of similar films. The film also doesn't overstay its welcome, which is good. If anything, I could have stood for an epilogue of sorts, where we see what happens in the immediate future for the girls in question. 

Overall, I'd say that the film isn't Christmas-centric enough to warrant inclusion on your annual viewing list. For one thing, it actually takes place on the night leading into Christmas Eve, aka the day before the day before Christmas, so it doesn't even technically take place on Christmas. And once you get past the first scene at Mel's, where we see the typical Xmas decorations, the Christmas conceit drops out of the film altogether, so, yeah, not much in the way of the holiday vibe in this one. 

But, in a way, that's good, as it's the sort of film that can be watched any time of the year, which is more ideal that if it were a straight-up Christmas movie. I mean, don't get me wrong- you can technically watch any movie any time of the year if you want, even if it does have a holiday theme- just ask the Hallmark Channel, lol- but I've always been more of a stickler for the "rules" that way. I'm a simple man: I watch Halloween movies around Halloween, and Christmas movies around Christmas, and so on and so forth.

Whatever your preference, Body is a decent enough thriller that may be more of a one-and-done single-time watch, but is still worth watching at least once, especially if you like your movies more on the thriller side. But a little gore aside (which would be easy enough to take out), this film wouldn't be at all out of place on, say, the Lifetime Channel, and I don't necessarily mean that as an insult. 

What I do mean is that you've probably seen plenty of movies with this general plot, but this one is just good enough to warrant at least a single viewing, which is more than I can say about some movies I've seen. It may not be completely original, but the execution is entertaining enough, and the writing, directing and acting are the primary reasons for that, even if they are also flawed in places- more so the writing than anything else.

It would have been nice to have had a few more things go sideways, just to keep the viewers that much more on their toes, and for the writers to have held more tightly to their underlying concepts of using Freud's theories as a guideline. But overall, I enjoyed it for what it was. I especially liked Turshen (who's a real looker) and Rogers' performances as Cali and Holly, respectively, and the mansion was a sight to behold. I did feel sorry for what the real residents are coming home to!

The film is readily available on DVD, but I didn't see a Blu-Ray available, at least not in the States. If imports are your thing, there are German, Australian and Italian Blu-Rays out there, but honestly, DVD is fine for what you get. The picture is solid for a low-budget flick, but nothing you need to see in Hi Def or anything, really. Kudos to the filmmakers for making the best out of a small handful of locations, though, and that mansion was a solid get. 

Body isn't perfect- I could have stood with some more action, and the denouement is a bit too brief for its own good, but overall, I enjoyed it. I look forward to checking out the directors' other efforts, especially Villains, which looks like an even better movie. If you're looking for more offbeat Xmas-centric movies, you could do a lot worse, I suppose- just know that the holiday element is pretty minimal overall.

Check it out- if only once. 😉