Bodycam streams globally on Shudder from March 13, 2026
Synopsis
When two police officers show up to investigate a domestic dispute, a startling escalation leads to a tragic accident. Not wanting to be crucified by the public, the officers attempt to cover it up – only to reveal that their body cameras aren’t the only things watching them.
Review
Bodycam is the latest found-footage horror film from the Shudder streaming service. Directed by Brandon Christensen, it focuses on two police officers Officer Jackson and Officer Bryce who respond to a domestic call in a run-down part of town. Once they arrive, however, things quickly go south, and they are forced to try and cover their tracks while dealing with an ever-growing and unseen threat.
Found footage has a few rules that must be established for it to work with audiences and keep the immersion alive. Usually, this comes in the form of the question: “Why are they still recording?” when everything is going wrong around them. For better or worse, the anthology found footage film series V/H/S sometimes fails to keep this in mind. But Bodycam fixes this issue right off the bat; the characters cannot turn off the cameras they are issued, and thus, they record what both officers are doing at all times. How the film splices between both perspectives is a given to keep the flow of a scene moving. But this is the first step in my eyes to set up a working idea of all this footage being discovered by another person.
Story-wise, it is fairly fast-paced with only a few breather moments, which is good for a feature film with a lean runtime of just 1 hour and 15 minutes. This is the “sweet spot” for found-footage horror, as it doesn’t overstay its welcome or drag out the story. From the get-go, this film takes you on a wild ride. While it is difficult to go too deep into the plot without spoiling too much, the story effectively merges themes of drug addiction and homelessness with demonic rituals all the while us witnessing the declining mental state of our lead protagonists.
Both Jaime M. Callica and Sean Rogerson deliver convincing and solid performances as police officers thrown into this impossible scenario. One of the film’s strongest points; you are actively on the side of the protagonists, whereas found-footage horror usually features “dumb” characters leading the story. I don’t really have any faults with the cast, as they all deliver convincing performances for the few characters in the film.
There are some solid jump scares along with some cliché, but always welcome, deep and dark corridor scenes we have come to expect in found footage horror. The bonus ending really leaves you wide-eyed as it closes.
Verdict
Bodycam is a solid found-footage horror film with good ideas and execution. A few jump-scare moments caught me off guard, though it isn’t one I would class as outright terrifying for me personally.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
