The supernatural thriller and social issue drama come together to uneasy effect in Malik Vitthal's Body Cam. It begins as Renée (Mary J. Blige in a rare leading role), a Louisiana police officer, returns to the force eight months after the death of her son in a drowning accident. On her first shift with new partner Dan (Nat Wolff, The Fault in Our Stars), they find two abandoned vehicles, a police car and a green van. Dash cam footage reveals that the officer, Renée's former partner, was shot, but there's no body. Then, they make a gruesome discovery with more to come. The next night, they follow the clues to the home of Taneesha Branz (Anika Noni Rose), a registered nurse. Like Renée, she lost her son, possibly to an officer-involved shooting. Renée and Dan find no evidence that she still lives there, but there's something creepy about the place, especially the proliferation of cockroaches. The creaking sounds that follow them throughout the house also indicate that it may not be as abandoned as it appears. While they're trying to locate Taneesha, two colleagues have an encounter with her in a convenience store that leads to several dead bodies as the film pivots from drama to horror, since Taneesha (or someone associated with her) possesses the powers of levitation and psychokinesis. In the aftermath, Dan and Renée have a falling out, because she remains convinced that Taneesha had something to do with the murders, while he believes two men connected to the van were responsible. He's also concerned that she compromised the crime scene when she took a key piece of evidence. Since the police department believes that the crimes have been solved, Renée conducts her own unauthorized investigation. When she finds out that Taneesha's son was hearing impaired, it raises questions about whether he could have understood officer-issued instructions. Footage from a second body cam provides more clues, but Renée's attempts to get the right people to care go spectacularly wrong. It isn't necessarily her fault; there are just a lot of shifty people desperate to protect their reputations. By the end, Vitthal seems to be trying to say something about the police corruption and the mysteries of grief, but the pieces don't fit together the way they should, and Body Cam feels like two separate films jammed together. Blige, a platinum-selling recording artist, is fine, but not up to the standards of her work in Dee Rees's Mudbound. The same is true of Rose, who has provided strong supporting turns in Dreamgirls and HBO's #1 Ladies Detective Agency. The material just isn't up to their talents. (Blige also sings the song, "Can't Be Life," that plays over the end credits.) The screenplay from Richmond Riedel and Nicholas McCarthy plays like a rough draft as it raises more questions than answers, making for an unfulfilling experience, no matter how hard the cast and crew have tried to sell it. An optional selection. (K. Fennessy)