Body Cam (film)

Plot

In Swinton, Louisiana, officer Kevin Ganning pulls over a green van without a license plate; an unknown entity pulls him away when he points his gun at the driver. Officers Renee Lomito-Smith and rookie Danny Holledge investigate Ganning's last location, finding dash-cam footage of the beating and his body. Sergeant Kesper says the footage was destroyed before they arrived. Lomito-Smith recognizes a hospital logo on the driver's pants and tracks down Taneesha Branz.

She and Holledge find Taneesha's home abandoned but discover a photo of Taneesha and her son; Holledge leaves due to roaches, and Lomito-Smith escapes the locked house by breaking a window. She learns Taneesha's son Demarco was killed in a gang shootout. At a grocery store, Taneesha is harassed by two vandals. Officers Roberts and Birke spot her van and call for backup.

Birke is killed, and Taneesha is taken hostage. The entity lifts the robber into the air, freeing Taneesha; the robber accidentally kills the store clerk and his partner. Roberts finds the robber's bloodied body with teeth removed, then the entity suffocates Roberts with a bag and kills him. Lomito-Smith and Holledge arrive to find everyone dead.

Lomito-Smith steals one man's phone, unlocks it with his thumbprint at the medical examiner's, and reviews video showing the entity behind Taneesha and the robber.

Production

Richmond Riedel wrote the script for the film, announced in March 2017. In March 2018, Malik Vitthal was announced as director, with Nicholas McCarthy rewriting the script and Paramount Pictures distributing. John Ridley performed script revisions before McCarthy's involvement.

Mary J. Blige joined the cast in June 2018, followed by Nat Wolff in July 2018. Anika Noni Rose and David Zayas were cast in September 2018, with filming beginning in New Orleans. Joseph Bishara composed the film score, and Paramount Music released the soundtrack.

Release

Body Cam was originally set to hit theaters on May 17, 2019, before being delayed to December 6, 2019. On November 12, 2019, Paramount Pictures removed it from the release calendar.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a digital release on May 19, 2020, followed by a video on demand release on June 2, 2020. During its debut weekend, it ranked as the eighth most rented film on Spectrum. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating based on reviews, with critics noting: "Ambitious yet undercooked, Body Cam can't quite connect the dots between its genre thrills and socially aware themes." On Metacritic, it scored 37 out of 100 from five critics, earning a label of "generally unfavorable" reviews.