Starring: Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishnan, Betty Gabriel, Gage Marsh
Distributor: Madman films
Runtime: 99 mins. Reviewed in Sep 2023
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc
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A teen horror movie. An Indian-American teenager struggling with her cultural identity has a falling out with her former best friend and, in the process, unwittingly releases a demonic entity that grows stronger by feeding on her loneliness.
Yet another small American horror film, capitalising on the mysterious word ‘It’. Stephen King used it to great advantage. Variants on It’s Alive have been popular and this one is It Lives Inside.
This is a teen horror film. However, an immediate difference from the usual small American town and high school and student interactions, is the fact that the central character, Samidha, (Sam), making every effort to fit in with her rather selfie-obsessed American peers, belongs to an Indian-American migrant family. Writer-director Dutta comes from this kind of background.
With Indian cultural and religious rituals and ceremonies, there is a variation on the kind of horror folklore that can be invoked. This time it is an evil spirit from the Indian tradition, who needs to be appeased with various ceremonies, including elaborate cooking of food and food offerings, but who feeds on malevolent attitudes.
A boy has killed himself. Sam’s best friend from the past, Tamira (Krishnan), seems to be possessed. She had contained the evil spirit in a bottle which has been smashed. The evil spirit roams again.
There is trauma at home with Sam’s mother resentful of American culture and lifestyle, while her father is sympathetic. There is also a sympathetic counsellor at school who researches the mythologies and, of course, becomes the victim of horror pursued through the corridors of the school. And, there is a nice American boy who is keen on Sam – but, to our surprise, the relationship is short-lived. A boarded-up house, hauntings, weird paintings on the roof, Tamira’s journal from the suicidal boy with all kinds of Hindi writing, symbolic numbers, and a confrontation between Sam and the Demon.
It all ends one year later – and, of course, leaves itself open for It Lives Inside 2.
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