Horror films come in shapes and sizes. Most people are familiar with the big-name horror franchises but recently as far back as 2010 the horror genre has gotten a new influx of talented writers and directors. Sometimes these men and women come from other countries like Australia, Spain, or the Far East. In the case of Bishal Dutta, he is East Indian and his first breakout film is It Lives Inside, from Neon. 

Samidha or “Sam” for short (Megan Suri) is a seemingly normal East Indian teen girl. She goes to school at Wooderson Grove High School. It is like any other school in any other town. She talks to her friends and mingles with cute boys who like her. In all schools, there is a weird kid or a group of weird kids. In the case of this school, the weird kid used to be friends with the main character in the film. His name is Tamara (Mohana Krishnan). They had a falling out years before, but Tamara asks Sam for help regarding something that is threatening her life.

This movie deals with a lot of similar tropes of many horror films. It creates an idea that makes the characters frightened. It then tries to give them reasoning and logic to try and stop what is scaring them or threatening their lives. In the case of this film, it’s an evil mythological demonic spirit, known as pishach,  that has attached itself to the Krishman character. Of course, nobody understands what’s going on so the girls are dealing with issues at home and school from teachers and students. This is typically what horror films of this nature do.

Dutta uses every trick in the book to create suspense and genuine scary moments. He puts these two characters and a couple of other supporting characters in real danger. We as the audience are invested in these girls’ lives because of how they’ve been built up by the script and the direction from him. He does a good job of making us care about these people. Even though we haven’t known them that long. I was genuinely concerned about their welfare.

The scare factors were real but mostly shown without a creature, until the end of the film. The people got thrown around and burnt by something we didn’t see. We did see eyes in closets and heard a growling voice but that’s it. It wasn’t until the end of the movie did we got a real idea of what these girls were up against. It was quite literally a scary thing. I enjoyed the aspect of not knowing what they were up against until the end of the film.

A lot of horror films have throw away characters or families that we as the viewer don’t care about but the writer/director gives up reason to care about these people. They seem like good people no matter where they’re from. The girls are good at school and seem like they want to be a part of the everyday activities and the family is part of the community.  This was a really good part of why I liked this film; it wasn’t about a bunch of Caucasian white kids in a rich community. It was about an unrepresented group of people who we don’t see in these kinds of films.

It Lives Inside could have been another throw away horror film about a demon that tries to take over people’s bodies but it’s not. It’s a genuine character study about friendship and caring about people. The East Indian culture represented in the film was very good including the two main actresses Suri and Krishman. The visuals were good and the scares kept me on the edge of my seat. I legitimately cared about what happened to these people and that all a writer/director can ask for when making a horror film. Dutta is one to watch in the future for sure.

3 ½ stars

Dan Skip Allen