Bodycam review
Bodycam has some footage worth finding.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Bodycam
Directed by Brandon Christensen
Written by Brandon Christensen and Ryan Christensen
Starring Jaime M. Callica and Sean Rogerson
Bodycam Review
Found footage movies continue to try and find new ways to pull off the concept. Bodycam, you may have guessed, tells its story through the usage of police bodycams and, sometimes, dashboard cameras. Having a reason for the story to play out using found footage is a necessary first step to making the concept work. Bodycam is a good use of found footage because it not only fits the situation…it is the literal problem that its two leads have to contend with. The latest horror offering from the creative team behind The Puppetman and Night of the Reaper offers up another fun round for fans of the genre.
That last part is what differentiates Bodycam from the similarly plotted The Lost Episode which made festival rounds last year. That movie also used bodycam footage and involved its cops stumbling into something demonic and unexplainable. The Lost Episode presented itself as a…get this…lost episode of a Cops like television show. While most of you reading this probably have never seen The Lost Episode…comparing it to Bodycam is an interesting experience. The Lost Episode plays things very slowly and on the up and up for half of its runtime. Bodycam jumps immediately into the action. The tradeoff is that The Lost Episode really nails its climax…delivering a thrilling conclusion to a movie that requires some patience to get through. Bodycam has a fine ending…it’s not as strong as The Lost Episode’s finish…but it’s more exciting along the way. They’d make for a fun double feature.
Bodycam is the latest Shudder Original to debut directly on the streaming service. 2026 is off to a better start than 2025 for Shudder…and Bodycam adds another worthwhile watch to the pile. Even those who have sworn off found footage movies might want to give it a try. The fact that the story makes sense playing out in the format helps it a lot. And, as I mentioned…it’s narratively important as well. We follow two cops as they respond to a domestic dispute. They find a hole in the basement…a woman whose hands are covered in blood…and a man carrying a blanket. Both people are unresponsive to the officer’s requests. They don’t talk…they just stare back. When the man aggressively approaches Officer Bryce (Sean Rogerson) fires. He finds there was a baby inside the blanket…and Bodycam is off and running.
Bryce’s partner Officer Jackson (Jaime M. Callica) wants to call the incident in immediately…but Bryce is afraid that his career will be ruined by a justifiable shooting. He was getting backed into that hole in the ground when he fired…so I’d imagine he would have been cleared by an investigation. Unfortunately, he spends the next several minutes trying to convince Jackson to cover it up…and the bodycam is recording everything. The very instrument by which we are observing the story becomes the biggest obstacle to officers moving forward. Of course, you shouldn’t cover this up in the first place…but the cops are about to find out they have an even bigger problem on their hands.
The zombie-like folks they keep running into deliver the message repeatedly. “You take something from him…he takes something from you.” What follows is a growing demonic nightmare that comes to hit the officers where it hurts most. Bodycam is a pretty fun ride from start to finish. One sequence in particular stands out as an impressive feat. Officer Jackson tries to flee the situation…and keeps finding himself in front of the house that started all this. It’s a fast driving sequence and all roads lead to the same place…even down totally different streets. The backwater house appears downtown between skyscrapers and shoehorned in between nicer places. There is no escape. It’s a very cool piece of business.
In fact, most of Bodycam is. The movie wisely doesn’t slow itself to over-explain things. We know something messed up is happening…and we ride shotgun while it unfolds. A bad decision leads the officers down a quick road to Hell. Surrounded by creepy people, demonic signs…and something waiting to crawl out of that hole…Bodycam has enough ideas to deliver a worthwhile addition to the Shudder catalog. The driving sequence alone is worth checking out. If you can stand some found footage…Bodycam has some good stuff in store for you.
Scare Value
Bodycam might not be the first to use the found footage concept the way it does…but it uses it to deliver a fast-paced story that slides into a demonic nightmare. It doesn’t over-explain itself…allowing the viewer to discover things exactly the way the film’s leads do. It’s a ride-along that goes sideways early and off the rails late. Shudder adds another quality original to its 2026 catalog.
3/5
Bodycam Link
Streaming on Shudder
