There may be body switching, but don’t be mistaken, Netflix’s latest horror movie is no “Freaky Friday.”
“It’s What’s Inside,” released on Netflix on Oct. 4, 2024, is about a group of old friends coming together for a reunion on the eve of one member’s wedding. What ensues next is a series of mind-bending body switching after a surprise guest joins the party.
In almost any circumstance, secrets tend to do more harm than good. This is incredibly true in relationships, especially when these secrets involve your friends. This movie is the perfect example of this as secrets and their effects on the characters’ romantic relationships are a key driving factor in the constant drama throughout the film.
Shelby (Brittany O’Grady) and Cyrus (James Morosini) are introduced as the main serious relationship in the film. Despite Cyrus’s attraction to their influencer friend Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), which causes serious issues within their relationship, Shelby and Cyrus act as if everything is okay when they are with their friends. Brooke (Reina Hardesty) is secretly in love with Reuben (Devon Terrell), who is set to get married the next day but is still clearly in love with his ex-girlfriend, Maya (Nina Bloomgarden), who is also at the reunion. Even the flashbacks that take place during parts of the movie reveal a relationship between Nikki and Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood), another main character, and the obsessive feelings Beatrice (Madison Davenport), the sister of main character Forbes (David W. Thompson), who is allegedly not at the party, has for Dennis.
These convoluted feelings and relationships also help magnify the confusion viewers might feel when trying to get all the characters straight. And trust me, this confusion only gets worse when Forbes, the estranged friend of the group, comes to the party with a mysterious machine, and they all begin to play a guessing game where they switch bodies.
Whereas I feel the viewer is very aware of every moving piece and detail in most films, “It’s What’s Inside” keeps you guessing until the very end. While you may know a little bit more about what is occurring in the film than the characters do themselves, for the most part you are following the story with them and learning new things as they do.
Director Greg Jardin definitely likes to trick you into thinking you know more than you do though. Within the first 20 minutes of the movie, I thought I had everything figured out. I was calling this movie predictable and was ready to add “It’s What’s Inside” to my list of boring horror movies. But this film is a great example of why you shouldn’t get too ahead of yourself. It was as if Jardin knew what I was going to think and did everything in his directorial power to lure me into a false sense of security before delivering one of the biggest twists I have seen all year.
Despite all the praise I believe should be given to the film, there was one glaring issue I had. This just wasn’t a horror movie. When I think about horror movies, I think about something so frightening I need to watch funny cat TikToks in order to get that fear from my mind before I go to sleep. “It’s What’s Inside” may have left me shocked, but its many attempts of trying to fit the thriller movie genre just never succeeded in actually scaring me.
A much more fitting description of the film would be more on the end of a sci-fi, mystery movie. Forbes’ machine, which the plot centers around, offers some great commentary on the complications technology can cause and helps lend a hand to a larger theme of the dangers of trying to become someone you’re not.
Each character thinks they can fulfill their goals by using this machine. In Nikki’s body, Shelby can get the attention from others she so desperately craves. Cyrus can finally hook up with the girl he is actually attracted to, Nikki, even if someone else is in her body. Brooke in Maya’s body can finally get a moment with Reuben, who she loves no matter what he looks like, and Reuben gets the chance to be with Maya one more time, despite it not actually being her. Everybody wants something else or wants to be someone else so badly that they don’t see the dangers in the machine right in front of them.
It’s the characters and their personal motives that make this movie so compelling, not its tiring attempts to frighten you. And while this may never be my first choice of film on those nights when I am actively looking to get scared, it is one that interests me enough to watch again.
