The movie begins with terrible screams, and a burned body.
And there’s this jar.
“It Lives Inside” has some intriguing scenes and imagery.
Bishal Dutta has delivered an interesting take on horror that’s steeped in cultural mythology and characters who feel like outsiders.
‘It Lives Inside’ (IMDb)
The central character is Samidha (the wonderful Megan Suri,) a teenager who just wants to fit in with the rest of the students at her school. Sam’s traditionalist mother wants her to engage more in cultural gatherings – she sees her daughter, who rarely speaks Hindi anymore, drifting away from their culture.
But Sam is more interested in a popular boy (Gage Marsh) and her best friend.
Her former best friend Tamira (Mohana Krishnan) seems to be going through some kind of a crisis.
She carries a jar – the same jar we see in the first scene – and walks through the halls of the school mumbling to herself.
Teacher Joyce (Betty Gabriel) has a talk with Sam because Joyce is so concerned about Tamira. She asks Sam to speak to her former pal, and Sam does, but she loses her patience when Tamira begins to ramble about some demon that’s scaring her.
Now Tamira has disappeared. When Sam’s parents try to talk to their daughter, she doesn’t want anything to do with a conversation. Soon, she begins to realize she must take some action to try to find her friend … if Tamira still is alive.
The best parts of the movie focus Sam growing unease with her family and her culture. Each of those scenes is interesting and engaging, but the horror sequences aren’t anything we haven’t seen before.
The performances are commendable – I like seeing mostly unfamiliar ensembles like this one doing great work like you’ll see here.
Go see it for the characters and not the creature. The people are far more interesting.
2 ½ stars
Running times: One hour and 39 minutes.
Rated: PG-13 for foul language and disturbing images.
Only in theaters.
Watch the trailer here.
