STORYLINE: Sam, an Indian-American teen, lives in an idyllic suburb with her conservative mother and her assimilated father. Sam’s cultural insecurities grow due to her estranged friend, Tamira, who mysteriously carries around an empty mason jar all the time. In a moment of anger, Sam breaks Tamira’s jar and unleashes an ancient Indian demonic force that kidnaps Tamira. Sam searches for Tamira, following the trail of a young man who performed a deadly ritual, until the demonic entity starts targeting her, murdering her boyfriend and shattering her reality with terrifying visions. Sam must band together with her parents and a sympathetic teacher to save Tamira and put an end to the terror of the demon.

    A good genre picture fits comfortably within the genre while adding its unique stamp to forward the genre.  It Lives Inside, is a 2023 horror film, that checks both those boxes.

    The first, and in my mind most important, puzzle piece in this genre picture, is the cast.  The film stats an Hindu cast, and the story I assume but not am 100% sure is inspired by an urban legend from that culture. It was a great change of pace to see a film featuring another  culture instead of the white middle class.   Some of my favorite horror films are based in the ladder but I throughly enjoyed seeing a new perspective in an American based film.

    What I like about PG-13 rated horror films is it reduces the shock value in the sub genre of torture porn and reduces the blood and gut scares.  This puts the challenge of being creative with tactics like jump scares front and center.  This film rises to that challenge.  There were multiple moments of jump scares that excited me.  I won’t reveal them here because I try to keep my blog spoiler free.

    For a film I new almost nothing about as I took my seat I am thrilled I saw it.  I enjoyed the scares and the story throughly.  

     Until next time I will see you at the movies!