JP Nunez
It Lives Inside was on my radar well before I found out it was playing at Fantasia. I first heard about the film a few months ago when its distributor, Neon, released a trailer for it, and it instantly became one of my most anticipated movies of the year. It looked like it had the potential to be a great new entry in the supernatural horror canon, and after finally getting the chance to watch it, I’m happy to report that it mostly lived up to my expectations.
It Lives Inside was directed and co-written by Bishal Dutta, and it stars Gage March, Megan Suri, Mohana Krishnan, Neeru Bajwa, Vik Sahay, and Betty Gabriel. It’s about a teenage girl named Samidha whose parents are both Indian immigrants, but she’s rejected her heritage in order to fit in with her peers. For example, she now goes by Sam instead of her full name, and when her mother speaks to her in Hindi, she almost always responds in English.
One day, her former friend Tamira confides to her that she’s been burdened by an evil spirit from Indian lore known as a Pishach, but Simadha doesn’t believe her. She thinks the girl is just crazy, but when she becomes the entity’s next target, she realizes that the scary stories she heard as a kid were all true. These creatures really do exist, and the only way Samidha can defeat the Pisach is by reconnecting with her mother and her Indian heritage.
As you might be able to tell from that brief plot synopsis, It Lives Inside doesn’t really break any new ground on the narrative level. Aside from its distinctive cultural perspective, it tells pretty much the same supernatural horror story we’ve seen numerous times before, so if you swapped out the Pishach for a more typical Judeo-Christian demon, the overall plot of the film wouldn’t be terribly different.
And in a lesser movie, that would probably prove fatal. But not here. It Lives Inside may tell a familiar story, but director Bishal Dutta executes it so well that the lack of originality isn’t much of a problem. For starters, the performances in this film are excellent, so the characters are all really likable. I believed every single one of them, and I had a great time watching them go about their lives even when they weren’t doing anything particularly thrilling.
On top of that, the movie’s unique cultural perspective also sets it apart from the generic horde of uninspired supernatural chillers. Not only does Samidha’s Indian heritage give the story a unique flavor that we don’t normally get in these films, but it also imbues the story with an excellent message.
At its core, It Lives Inside is all about accepting ourselves and embracing the things that make us who we are (with a special emphasis on our ethnic background and traditions, of course), and that’s something we can all relate to. It’s a universal message rooted in a specific cultural context, and the way I see it, that’s what great storytelling is all about.
On a related note, I also have to give this movie credit for letting its immigrant characters speak their native language. A few of the characters often speak to each other in Hindi, and that adds a touch of realism that way too many American films lack. In most movies, characters like these would just speak to each other in English, but that’s not how it normally works in real life. Even immigrants who speak English well usually talk to each other in their native language, so as someone who grew up hearing about as much Spanish and Italian from my family as English, I really appreciate that It Lives Inside allows its Indian characters to authentically embody their culture in this way.
Last but not least, we have to talk about the horror. Much like the story, the scares in this film are also really familiar, and there are even a bunch that feel very reminiscent of famous scenes from other movies. For example, I caught shades of The Conjuring, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Insidious, and there’s even a moment that seems to pay a bit of homage to Psycho. It’s quite derivative, but once again, the lack of originality doesn’t really matter. The horror is executed well enough that it’s still creepy even though it feels like you’ve seen it all before, so if you’re a fan of supernatural scares, I think you’re really going to enjoy the horror in It Lives Inside.
All that being said, I do have one small criticism of this film. I’ve mentioned a few times that the lack of originality here isn’t a big problem, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a problem at all. It keeps the movie from being truly great, so even though I had an awesome time with It Lives Inside, it doesn’t quite reach best-of-the-year status. It’s not going to be in my top 10 come December, so it has to settle for merely being very good.
But very good is still, well, very good, so I highly recommend that you give It Lives Inside a watch. It’s an excellent film with likable characters, effective scares, and a great message, and at the end of the day, I don’t think we could’ve asked for much more.
It Lives Inside played at the Fantasia International Film Festival on August 7, and it’s set to hit US theaters on September 22.
