Search Party meets Murder Party in A24’s new dark comedy about a group of Gen Z friends searching for a murderer at a party.

“Friends” in this case is a bit of a stretch given how quickly the wealthy 20-somethings turn on each other, their micro-aggressions appearing so early we know it won’t be long before someone gets mortally triggered. They seem closer to being Facebook friends, more sources of online irritation than meaningful connection. So when a hurricane traps them in David’s (Pete Davidson) mansion, they must survive a coke-fuelled game of Bodies Bodies Bodies (a murder mystery not unlike Werewolf) without getting shot, stabbed, bludgeoned or cancelled.

Allegory has become something of a lost art in horror films, often preferring to state outright a single message – whether it’s Men (“all men are the same”), the Candyman remake (“gentrification is bad”) or Cats (“spay and neuter your pets”). But Bodies Bodies Bodies rivals Ready or Not in its subtext-laced cocktail of sardonic social commentary, acerbic black humour and clumsy coked-up violence, letting its vibrant characters represent social media and its subtle erosion of compassion.

The killer cast pop as loudly as the neon colours, especially Alice (Rachel Sennott, lit entirely by glow sticks) and Bee (Maria Bakalova, unrecognisable from Borat Subsequent Moviefilm), whose Eastern European accent attracts low-key xenophobia from the privileged partiers. Sarah DeLappe’s sabre-sharp screenplay cuts deep into their performative personas, policing one another’s language (“Don’t call her a psychopath, it’s so ableist.”) and hate-listening to each other’s podcasts; behaviour so smartly observed it feels like watching a really well-shot Twitter argument.

Halina Reijn’s direction is slick, suspenseful and sarcastic, perfectly embodied by the moment when two fighting frenemies look towards a gun and an iPhone, and scramble for the mobile like their lives depend on it. The outrageously fun outcome is April Fool’s Day for the Snapchat generation, an ironic takedown of people who would never think themselves toxic, even when the bodies start to pile up.