Body Bags Review

Can three short films combined make a good feature length film? Let’s find out!

The Scores

Interest: 7.5/10

Acting: 9/10

Storyline: 7/10

Intensity: 6/10

Fights Guns or Otherwise: 8/10

Nudity: 4/10

Director Score: 8.5/10

Musical Score: 6.5/10

Dialogue: 8/10

Logic In The Film: 8/10

Body Bags is a 1993 film. Its genres encompass comedy, horror, and sci-fi. The run time is one hour and thirty-one minutes. The three main stars of the film are Mark Hamill (Known for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi) Stacy Keach (Known for Nebraska, Escape from L.A., The Bourne Legacy, and Up In Smoke) and Robert Carradine (Known for Revenge of the Nerds, Escape from L.A., The Lizzie McGuire Movie, and Ghosts of Mars) John Carpenter is a director of the film (Known for Escape from New York, The Fog, Halloween, and Prince of Darkness), the other director is Tobe Hooper(Known for The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Poltergeist, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, and Spontaneous Combustion) A quick summary of the film is “ Three short movie segments wrapped into one full movie: One about a serial killer, one about a hair transplant gone wrong and the third about a baseball player” Let’s take a deeper look at the film.

Interest: All the shorts in this film were interesting and fun. The First one grips you nearly from the get-go, The second short is funny and scary, and keeps my interest throughout the whole short, as well as the third short. They all are interesting, filled with well-known actors that are just trying to branch out, but light heatedly so, because the films are also comedy’s, so it isn’t anything too intense.

Acting: The acting in the film is honestly excellent. Everyone who acts in the film is playing to their characters strengths and weaknesses, which makes for a very fun and unforgettable time. It is fun, it is genuine, and you’ll have a good time for all. No Oscar awards would be awarded, but None of the acting is bad in the film, which really is quite a shocker.

Storyline: The storylines of the short films are differing in quality, with the first film being excellent in quality, the second one above average, and the last one a bit lacking sadly. The first film ends up being the most story driven and most wanting you to look at it and look at the lore. The second film cared about the story and gave a setting and reason, and maybe it was the twist that throws me for a loop but it feels less full as a film. And the third film for some reason is even more lacking. The acting and dialogue saves the films from being dull or confusing. It’s sad not all three weren’t the same caliber, but all in all everything worked out.

Intensity: The Intensity is across the board is high, because you are always wondering what is happening and trying to figure out the twist. Each Short film has its own thing it’s trying to show you and engulfing you in what is happening. You are always wondering how something will happen and when it will. That being said for me personally, the movie never truly freaks me out or scares me. It never brings that oomph that I’d expect for a horror film. For my taste, it’s more humorous and possibly gory, than being scary.

Fights, Guns, or Otherwise: Fights are abundant in unique ways in the film. The first short, is a lot of action and some dialogue exchanges. The second Short was much more an emotional fight of things, bickering and fighting, mistrust, all sorts of things on a non-physical level, plus a twist meant for the physical level. And the third one more violent and visceral, with a hint of mental and emotional fights. All in all I really enjoyed the films ability to use all the sets of violence and not over or under do any of them. It was excellent!

Nudity:There was not really any nudity at all in the film. There are a couple butt cheeks, but that’s really it. I suppose you almost get to see Mark Hamill’s front side but hey, not boobs anywhere in the film. I don’t think it would have helped at all in the film in any way.

Director Score: So with two directors things probably went to hell in a hand basket right? Lots of differing opinions on how things should be done and shots shot, and who they should cast? If there were those problems, they were never shown in the film ever. Not one bit at all. In fact, I think Tobe helped John be more serious, and John helped Tobe be a little more goofy and open with humor.

Musical Score: The musical score for the film is decent. I say decent because the first and last short uses music either ambiently or just even good for emotion movers. The second film has music, but weirdly all sounds the same and happy, perhaps eerie I suppose, but seems out of place, and just wrong since the two sandwiching it are semi-normal, but I can’t complain too much, it did work out in the end.

Dialogue: Dialogue was fun and entertaining in the film. Nothing seemed strange or hard to grasp, and everyone talked in a normal and typical fashion. Everyone had their own voice, and worried about certain things and how they felt, voiced concerns, and you didn’t wish they’d just shut up and get into some action.

Logic in the Film: The logic in the film was pretty solid. Sure the second movie and even third movie may be out of the real realm of possibility, but it is in the movies universe, so I’ll take it for what it is, but typical physics seem to all work the same as our world. No teleporting monsters or villains, nothing to just make you scratch your head and go “huh?” I feel like the movie made things interesting and fun, without stressing too much about real life.

Did I enjoy the film? Very much so. Would I recommend it? Certainly, especially since I consider it a utility title, being that you can watch it straight or just rip on it, it rides a fine line that it can do both. If anyone asked if I wanted to watch it again right now, I’d gladly say yes, it was a real treat from some other crap that I typically watch, while being a bit campy and homey even. I give the movie a 72.5% one of the better movies I have watched. Also I’m sure most of you don’t know but I’m hosting an awards show called the Schlockies for films I’ve reviewed. It’s meant to highlight movies that don’t get enough love and show what is utter crap completely, and maybe even show you a movie you may secretly love! The link to my Facebook group is here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1010491515812487/ But Until Next Time!