You’ll forgive me if it took me a bit to take this film seriously. I see Indian people on screen, I expect big flashy song and dance numbers. What? There’s an evil demon involved? So what? Let ‘em join in. I’ve seen Bollywood; everybody gets to sing and dance. Why shouldn’t a demon get a flash mob production number with, I dunno, how about a bunch of goths or something?
Oh, this isn’t Bollywood.
So this is just a normal horror film, then?
Why does that make me so sad?
Sam (Megan Suri) is just a normal American high school student. This is as it should be. That Sam is short for “Samhida” instead of “Samantha” is no reason why she shouldn’t have a Sixteen Candles experience, too, huh? The problem begins when her ex-friend Tamira (Mohana Krishnan) start carrying a mayonnaise jar around campus. Tamira looks like she hasn’t slept or bathed in a month. And Tamira is
afraid of her jar, no question.
Appealing to Sam for help, Tamira is rejected. Sam can only see her Tamira-less popularity fly out the locker room if she entertains this plea. Sam goes so far as to knock the jar out of Tamira’s hands, thus unleashing an invisible Pishach demon on the world. Awww, she had a pet. Why didn’t you tell anybody, Tamira?
Aw, don’t worry. The Pishach is kind of a homebody. It sticks to the dudes it knows. It will get to know Sam and her fam eventually, but not for another Act. The problem is Pishach is an insatiable meat-eater and you can’t just tell it to “Pish ach.” KnowwhatI’msayin’?
So is it just a matter of time before Sam gets a mayonnaise jar and goes goth like Tamira? What’s
at stake here? And just how dangerous is this invisible sentient wolf-like predator, anyway?
I think It Lives Inside wanted to be another It Follows. The latter was a very successful horror film about an “It” that “Followed.” You’ve got the same, basic premise here. Both “It”s are difficult to detect for invisibility reasons, and they seem to pursue relentlessly, which makes for a decent horror villain. Past that, It Lives Inside has not nearly the innovation nor imagination of It Follows. What remains is a horror film with a legitimately scary lethal monster and an unsupervised teen without a good idea of what to do.
I also downgrade for ending which struck me as: “Huh. That worked? Are you sure?” I think this film was much better in the pursuit than in the capture; I still don’t have a good idea of what evil Pishach is truly capable. Weird though how Pishach attacks some outright and keeps others as pets, almost like it wants a little invisible mayonnaise jar of its own. Awwwww.
A girl with roots from afar
Carried a demon around in a jar
If you think that’s strange
A trip I’ll arrange
You should see what’s in the trunk of her car
Rated PG-13, 99 Minutes
Director: Bishal Dutta
Writer: Bishal Dutta, Ashish Mehta
Genre: My pet demon
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Horror junkies
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Offended un-banish-able demons
