‘Body Cam’ tackles cop corruption with horror

After a suspension and while grieving her young son’s accidental death, police Officer Renee Lomito-Smith (Mary J. Blige) is back at work with a new partner, the green, easily affected Danny Holledge (Nat Wolff ).

While on patrol, the pair discovers the gruesome remains of another colleague who’d been on a seemingly routine traffic stop, kicking off a disturbing series of deadly attacks. Amid the killings, reckless Renee and reluctant Danny set off to investigate, with supernatural pieces to the puzzle not-so-neatly dropped along the way.

It’s an intriguing tale, helmed by director Malik Vitthal and written by Richmond Riedel and Nicholas McCarthy, if a tad too on the nose. As Blige begins to unravel a web of corruption in the department, her character development remains flat, and despite a disturbingly devastating

twist amid the gore, the stakes remain relatively low. There’s just something that feels off about the tone — despite all the blood and guts, it ends up feeling less like a horror movie and more like a meditation on grief, rage and revenge, in more ways than one.

Also new on DVD

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■ “Enter the Fat Dragon”:

A remake of the 1978 film, a cop (Donnie Yen) who’d been sentenced to the evidence room searches for answers

after a suspect dies in his custody in this action-comedy. In Japanese and Chinese.

■ “The Swing of Things”:

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■ “The Carer”: A sick legendary actor (Brian Cox) is forced to live with a full-time caregiver (Coco Konig), courtesy of his daughter (Emilia Fox).

■ “Dateline-Saigon”:

Documentary follows the dark truths a group of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists uncovered about U.S.involvement in the Vietnam War.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES Mary J. Blige (right) stars with Nat Wolff in “Body Cam.”