Much like Christmas and Christmas movies, Halloween brings out the scary or “darker” movie come October. IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE is the new horror movie streaming on Netflix. Be warned, it is not true horror, but more of a conceptual thriller with young people. Bonus, it’s actually an original concept.
IT”S WHAT’S INSIDE follows a group of longtime coed friends in their twenties who get together for a pseudo bachelor party for one member of the group. Like most movie settings, the gathering is at a super swanky mansion. One estranged friend shows up with a rather interesting device that intrigues the group to play a mysterious game that incites dangers in revealing secret desires and grudges and an experience that will impact the group forever.
This isn’t quite BODIES BODIES BODIES, but IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE has the same vibe, no doubt building off the success of the previous film and finding the teen audience niche making a film surrounding young, childless, good looking people who are into hooking up and experimenting.
I’ve been careful not to mention what device does, so if you want to keep that a secret as I believe the ads have kept that part mostly quiet, stop reading now. I wouldn’t call it a spoiler alert as I think it’s the hook that would entice me to want to watch IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE.
The machine is able to switch consciousness into other people’s bodies. With 4 boys and 4 girls the rules keep females and males in the bodies of their same sex. So while this is a jarring and unbelievable situation for the group, the game is to hang out in the body and try to guess who one another actually is. As I said before, this is a dangerous game in how comfortable or uncomfortable each of them are and how far they are willing to go to deceive one another. It gets messy for sure and some of the outcomes took me by surprise. It should be noted, all the young relatively unknown actors do an excellent job of playing different characters while pretending not to be. It’s definitely a fun little acting exercise.
Hollywood take note: Writer and director Greg Jardin does some interesting camera work and wisely changes up the shot when regularly revealing who is the person inside the body for the audience. His visual technique and original story telling is an immediate sign as someone to watch out for in the future. While IT’S WHAT’S INSIDE doesn’t always work, it is fun, original entertainment for the Halloween season. And I am excited to see Jardin’s next project.
