Intensity 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by Bishal Dutta
It Lives Inside is a fresh look at the assimilation of an Indian family into the United States that pits a teenage girl against a demon that feeds on loneliness and despair. The story is resonant, and the examination of Southern Asian -American culture is nicely done. The scares are as much as you can hope for in a PG-13 film, and the non-cultural elements feel a bit mechanical. Still, for those of us who have lived this experience, it is a welcome entry into the genre.
I have been fascinated with immigration themes in horror for a while now. It is daunting to be a fish out of water in a new land while respecting your heritage and the culture of your homeland. This is the classic immigrant’s tale. Often, the first generation retains much pride and respect for the culture of origin, while the second generation longs to assimilate and fit in with their country of birth. Ironically, the Brits have been telling this tale better as of late. 
His House (2020) depicts the plight of African refugees who leave behind the horrors of war and find new ones in the struggle to make ends meet in London. Accused (2023) follows a young Pakistani-Brit who comes from a well-to-do family. Despite this relative privilege, he is falsely targeted as a terrorist due to YouTube online prejudice. Unwelcome (2023) follows the tensions of a British couple who inherit a home in Ireland. They face both a neighborhood and a folklore backlash in the process. Europe is going through an immigration moment, it would seem.
There may be nothing scarier in this world than being on the wrong side of racism.
This is a truism for every immigrant family in any country. Those who leave their homeland, willingly or not, arrive in their new country with the hope of new opportunities. Unfortunately, not everyone is offering a welcoming hand. Fitting in. Learning the new cultural norms. Speaking a new language. It can be hard on these families. Sadly, there are those who would push back against immigration.
Here is another truism: the American Dream was built on the backs of immigrants. Hard work and dedication has been the best way to get ahead in American life. Be better. Work harder. For some, though, this means competition. Competition for jobs, services, and opportunities. This puts fear on the other side of the equation. Given the current political conditions in the USA, the southern border crossing has been the focus of immigration horror. Undocumented (2010), Culture Shock (2019), and The Forever Purge (2021) all represent the tension and the terror of the border crisis.
It Lives Inside explores the more traditional immigration story. This story is usually the drama domain, for which many great examples exist. (Godfather Part II, anyone? Also, Minari, The Kite Runner, The Big Sick, House of Sand and Fog, Moscow on the Hudson, A Better Life, The Namesake… etc.) It’s just rare to see a horror film try this theme. The best horror film that tackles this subject for me is Koroush Ahari’s The Night (2019)
The Characters:
- Megan Suri, as Samidha (Sam), is a teenager who is trying to navigate high school social dynamics while struggling with the cultural responsibilities at home.
- Neeru Bajwa as Poorna, Sam’s mother who adheres to Indian traditions and expects her daughter to do the same.
- Vik Sahay, as Inesh, Sam’s father who plays the good cop in the family, understands Sam’s pressure to fit in more.
- Mohana Krishnan, as Tamira, Sam’s former best friend from childhood, now possesses something awful in a mason jar.
- Gage Marsh is Russ, Sam’s new boyfriend. Russ symbolizes Sam’s success in integrating into her school’s social system.
- Betty Gabriel is Joyce, Sam’s high school counselor, who becomes Sam’s confidant when things get awful.
A Short Synopsis
Samidha just wants to fit in. She’s Anglicized her name to Sam and has been creating a comfortable social life with her friends Kitty and Russ. This puts her at odds with Poorna, who includes her in the preparation for social gatherings with other Indian-American families in the community. Sam obliges, but her teenage rebellious streak strains the bonds with her mother.
When Joyce asks Sam for assistance with Tamira, Sam demurs. Tamira has been skulking around with a mason jar filled with a strange black substance and is behaving oddly. She hides under the bleachers, isolating herself from school. Sam informs Joyce that the two have grown apart, and she doesn’t know what she can do to help. Later, Tamira approaches Sam for help and tells her that something evil lives inside the mason jar. Sam lashes out in disgust, smashing the mason jar. This releases a vaporous entity, sending Tamira into a panicked flight. 
Soon, Tamira is officially listed as a missing person. Sam feels guilty, so she and Russ do some investigation into the possibility of evil spirits. They find an old journal from another Indian boy who went missing, and it reveals the ominous legend of the Pasach, a demon feasting on loneliness, fear, and sadness. 
Poorna hosts a Hindu prayer support group for Tamira. Sam abandons the prayer group and instead takes Russ to a creepy house where she suspects Tamira might be. Something is in the house, and it attacks the unprepared couple. Sam then tries to enlist the help of Joyce and her mother to figure out what to do next. The Pasach hunts Sam, and the only way to beat it is with some traditional knowledge. Only her mom can help her.
EVALUATION
Is this one of the best horror films of 2023? No. Is it worth watching? YES. The story is familiar in an ’80s teen horror manner. It is a bit mechanical, and you can see the plot points coming well in advance, so it is a bit predictable. The story, however, resonates. Having the Pishach as a metaphor for loneliness rings true. So often, those who struggle with integration slip into depression and isolation.
Megan Suri has the makings of a final girl for years to come. Suri was spunky, fierce, and expressive as Sam, and I would not be surprised if she reprises her role in a sequel. Neeru Bajwa is majestic Bollywood glamorous as Poorna, though I think the script didn’t give enough punchy lines of dialogue. For my money, though, I enjoyed veteran genre actress Betty Gabriel the most. She is the audience’s outsider eyes in this movie. Her encounter with the Pashach is harrowing.
The movie is hampered somewhat by the PG-13 rating. It manages to string together some powerfully scary moments despite the lack of blood and guts, but I would have loved to have seen the Pashach go next level. The design of the demon was solid. When the Pashach is first seen, it is an ethereal creature. Easy enough, and for budgetary reasons that’s what I had expected. We get a full-costumed creature that is pretty freaky and a valuable addition to the canon of practical make-up demons.
Concluding Thoughts
This story feels like it was autobiographical for director Bishal Dutta. If so, I can relate. I could completely sympathize with Sam, as I had a similar upbringing. There were only a handful of non-white kids in my high school class of about 300 students. I don’t have an accent. I can’t speak a lick of Cantonese. Since I am third generation, even my parents were far more American than Chinese. But, growing up, I always battled the feeling of being the outsider, the other kid. 
I know now how foolish those sentiments were. And now that I’m much older, I can sympathize with Poorna and Inesh, who still carry with them the culture from India. So despite all the rough edges, I really appreciated this film. SXSW debuted this film, and I think they saw what I saw in it. That festival is very selective with their curation, and they gave this film a proper showcase. The advertising makes a big deal that this was produced by Sean McKittrick and Raymond Mansfield, who also produced Get Out (2017). Impressed? Meh.
Another element that I dug was that it was an Indian American horror take. We don’t get many of those. Evil Eye (2020), which showcased the fear of arranged marriages was a similarly enjoyable small horror film. I am always on the lookout for good Sub-Continent Horror films, but the offerings are slim pickings. Bollywood censorship prevents much gory content, leaving most Bollywood horror to ghost stories. Considering the massive size of the Indian film industry, horror has never been big, and when they do produce horror films, they borrow Western or East Asian stories that are remade for an Indian audience. One notable exception is the excellent Tumbbad (2018).
It Lives Inside is streaming on Amazon Prime.
Review by Eric Li
