FANTASIA26 REVIEW: Corpus [20XX]

Rating: NR | Runtime: 102 minutes
Director(s): Corrin Evans
Writer(s): Lily Cowles & Corrin Evans

Not everything old is fragile.

Vince (Brodie Townsend) is back in town for the first time in nine months. The first time since his modeling/acting career took off enough to start gracing magazine covers. Ross (Michael Vlamis) knows he’s back. They’re two prongs of their “golden triangle,” after all. The third, Sayo (Jeff Wahlberg), doesn’t. His relationship with Vince is more complicated due to their on-again-off-again more-than-just-friends dynamic. It might be “on again” soon.

Sayo is trying to hold strong, though. He ditches Vince at the club to go home and develop that night’s photos only to have his old friend show up at his door anyway. While he forces him to sleep in the tub rather than his bed, Sayo can’t quite say no to an invitation Vince offers that promises meeting a famous connected photographer to perhaps get a bit of a glow-up in the industry himself. The night promises to be an insane party.

As director Corrin Evans (an intimacy coordinator making her feature debut) and co-writer Lily Cowles reveal once Corpus takes this trio into the forest, however, it’s not quite the rager they anticipate. There are only two more attendees besides their host, Vince’s new industry pal Billie (Cowles): her partner Cata (Ching Valdes-Aran) and their blood-soaked friend Wren (Nuha Jes Izman). So, we actually discover that we know more about what’s happening than them.

The reason is simple. Evans and Cowles don’t start the film with Sayo journeying to the club to shoot pictures and sell drugs. No, they start it with Wren—a green model excited to work with Billie before the latter turns their solo session into an “edgy” pairing the girl is too scared to stop. So, why is she still there? Why is she suddenly oozing with enough confidence to make Billie nervous? Why is she standing in the middle of the courtyard with a chicken corpse in-hand?

Our minds start racing the moment we see her and our initial assumptions are probably correct, but that doesn’t mean we have a full grasp on the situation. Because it’s not just about what Billie and company might do to Vince and his guests. It’s also about Sayo wading through the complex waters of his feelings for his estranged friend. Ross agrees to come for the hope of party sex. Sayo agreed because Vince said he needed him as an ally amongst potential wolves.

So, while we are obviously clocking all the strange occurrences (raw meat for dinner, the pointed intrigue on behalf of the women once they see three men instead of one, and the hosts’ aversion to photos despite Billie’s occupation), our main focus for the moment is Sayo’s emotional struggle. The caution with which he’s guarding his heart from being broken again and the yearning to simply give in because it’s impossible to ignore that desire.

It’s the perfect mix of narrative mystery and character drama that leads into blurred lines between sexuality and control. Billie and Cata fawning over Vince. Vince leading Sayo on. Sayo realizing the sole hope he has of survival might be to cut Vince off completely and never risk being tested again. And once the reality of what’s happening does rear its head, that same lust ultimately sees the prey willingly sacrificing themselves to their predators. Reason so rarely wins.

I loved the whole aesthetic that Evans (who also edits) and cinematographer Charlie Cole create. The music sets the 1998-era mood (not to mention Sayo’s Walkman) while the imagery, marked by a sort of “living photograph” effect each time Sayo clicks the shutter on his camera, is gorgeous to behold. Add the setting’s beautiful old mansion with paintings and peeled wallpaper adorning the walls and it’s hard not to think about gothic vampires.

That’s not what this is, though. Not really. The mythology at the back of Corpus is simpler in scope yet just as supernatural. And the film does well to know there’s no need to explain it. Once we intuitively understand the mechanics, all that’s left is to watch it play out and see who’s left standing. The result plays with gender, age, and jealousies as the carnal desire to be with someone merges with the psychological urge to become them. It leads to a fantastic climax.

And it all revolves around Ross’ talking-just-to-talk “golden triangle” wherein he’s the money, Vince is the face, and Sayo is the rock. The women don’t supply a direct comparison (Cata declares she’s all three), but you can definitely feel that Cata is the leader, Billie the acolyte, and Wren the wild card. How things play out confirm this suspicion with everyone trying to hastily wrap their heads around a rapidly deteriorating situation that escapes their grasp all at once.

The cast is great too. Townsend epitomizes the coyly manipulative ingenue used to getting his way. Izman embraces the unpredictability of her character while Vlamis entertains with his own’s constant arousal from the chaos. And both Cowles and Valdes-Aran feel wiser and stronger in their calmness. But it’s truly Wahlberg’s film insofar as leading us through the twists and turns of the heart, soul, and body. His Sayo is content with normal, but normal is long gone.