Holly, Cali, and Mel become bored when they return home for the holidays. Cali convinces the others that they should go to her uncle's house, where they can party. In the house, however, Holly finds evidence that leads her to believe that Cali is unrelated to the owners. When she confronts Cali, Cali admits that they have broken into a house owned by a couple for whom she used to babysit. Holly and Mel insist that they leave, but before they can, Arthur, the groundskeeper surprises them. After a brief scuffle, Arthur falls down a staircase, apparently dead. The women panic and decide to cover up the accident. When Arthur turns out to not be dead after all, the friends disagree on how to proceed.
The film was written to take advantage of the filmmakers' available resources. The conception was always a genre film, but the story went through many permutations before Berk and Olsen were satisfied. The role of Holly was written for Rogers, with whom the writer-directors had worked previously. Molina was recommended by one of the producers, and Turshen was cast after extensive auditions. Influences included Shallow Grave, The Shining, Funny Games, and Wolf Creek. Shooting took place during March 2014 in Westport, Connecticut. The characters represent Sigmund Freud's model of the id, ego, and superego. They were designed to show the various ways someone could react to the dilemmas in the film.
Response
Critical reception
On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 42% based on 19 reviews, and an average rating of 6/10. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 8 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Dennis Harvey of Variety wrote that the film fails to rise above its unoriginal premise. Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter described it as "an occasionally involving low-budget thriller that’s too often less than thrilling". Patrick Cooper of Bloody Disgusting rated it 3.5/5 stars and wrote, "Morbidly entertaining and emotionally honest, Body is one helluva debut for Dan Berk and Robert Olsen." Jess Hicks, also writing for Bloody Disgusting, rated it 3/5 stars and wrote that too much time was given to character development that needed better writing. Kevin Jagernauth of IndieWire rated it B− and wrote that the film "succeeds on its own very modest terms" due to its focus on characterization.
