Movie Review: 'It Lives Inside'

It Lives Inside (2023)

Directed by Bishal Dutta

Written by Bishal Dutta

Starring Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Vik Sahay, Betty Gabriel

Release Date September 22nd, 2023

Published September 26th, 2023

It Lives Inside is a mostly effective horror movie with the twist of being set in a Hindu legend. The Pishacha is a demonic spirit that forms around a drunkard, liar, adulterer or a person who dies while insane. The Pishacha of It Lives Inside uses this as a jumping off point for a monster movie about a giant nasty ghost bug thing that eats souls. So, it doesn't fully take on the actual Hindu legend, per se, but it uses it as a firm base from which to jump into a creepy monster movie with a subtext about growing up feeling like an outsider and the stress of trying to live in two different worlds.

It Lives Inside stars Megan Suri as Sam, or Samhida. She prefers Sam as this is the name that her school friends have begun using now that she's becoming more assimilated into her mostly white school. The only person at school who still calls her Samidha is Tamira (Mohana Krishnan), her long ago closest friend. Sam and Tamira grew up together but grew apart as Sam sought further acceptance into their neighborhood and school. Tamira meanwhile, in her loneliness, began looking into the death of another Indian family in their neighborhood.

This leads to Tamira discovering a glass jar that she claims is speaking to her. She's become a fearsome and spectral creature at school, quietly walking the halls carrying this dirty looking jar and refusing to put it down. When Tamira finally approaches Sam looking for help, Sam grows frustrated and in her haste, she breaks the jar. Sam was unaware that the jar contained a demon, a Pishacha, which subsequently captures Tamira and then sets about haunting Sam as it seeks its next soul to devour.

Simple, straight forward plotting. You have a monster, the monster escapes, it goes after victims, and it is up to our protagonist to stop the evil thing from doing evil things. And, perhaps, it's exactly that lack of ambition that is slightly disappointing about It Lives Inside. The filmmakers seem to lack any interest in making the film feel unique or special. Everyone appears perfectly comfortable going through the motions of a highly conventional horror movie. As unique as the cultural setting of It Lives Inside is, the movie is not far removed from films like The Ring or The Grudge in terms of setting and scares.

The best thing about It Lives Inside is star Megan Suri, a highly charismatic star who holds the center of It Lives Inside. Suri perfectly captures the text and subtext of being caught in between two cultures. On one side, she wants to be accepted by the mostly white school she attends. On the other side, her mother is clinging to tradition and trying to bring Samhida around to celebrating her heritage. The push and pull tension of this scenario feeds the horror of It Lives Inside as this legend from the lore of India haunts Samhida's attempt to break with tradition and assimilate.

That's a solid base for the movie though, in the end, I don't feel that It Lives Inside gets any deeper than that description of the underlying tension. The makers of It Lives Inside feel much more at home in the familiar aspects of a monster movie than in a world that explores the rich emotional texture of Indian Culture and the desire to fit in. It needs those aspects as story points but that's about it. The larger whole of It Lives Inside is much more of a conventional monster movie and that's fine, it's good enough to be involving and occasionally scary. Just don't expect much more than that and you will enjoy It Lives Inside.

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