The supernatural horror film It Lives Inside, which stars Megan Suri of the Netflix series Never Have I Ever, didn’t draw in many viewers when it reached theatres last Friday. It had an opening weekend of $2.6 million and finished in seventh place on the top 10. Maybe it will do better when it reaches home video – and we can confirm that Distribution Solutions, a division of Alliance Entertainment, will be giving the film a DVD release on November 7th. Copies are available for pre-order at THIS LINK. We don’t have any information on a Blu-ray or 4K release at this time, but Amazon is also accepting pre-orders for the Prime Video digital release.
It’s a shame It Lives Inside didn’t have better box office, as it was good enough to earn an 8/10 review from JoBlo’s own Tyler Nichols. That review can be read HERE. The film was the winner of the Midnighters Audience Award at SXSW 2023 and scored an 83% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Directed by Bishal Dutta, who crafted the screenplay with Ashish Mehta, It Lives Inside tells the following story: Sam is desperate to fit in at school, rejecting her Indian culture and family to be like everyone else. Whena mythological demonic spirit latches onto her former best friend, she must come to terms with herheritage in order to defeat it.
Suri is joined in the cast by Neeru Bajwa (Criminal), Mohana Krishnan (I Am Frankie), Vik Sahay (Chuck), Gage Marsh (Big Sky), Beatrice Kitsos (Child’s Play remake), and Betty Gabriel (Get Out).
The film was produced by Raymond Mansfield and Sean McKittrick.
Dutta previously provided the following statement: “It Lives Inside initially emerged as an image: a kid on a bike, riding through Rockwellian suburbs. It’s right out of an early Amblin film. But what if this kid was escaping a puja, her school outfit wrapped in an ornated upatta? For me, that image spoke to the duality I felt growing up as a first-generation immigrant in America.’Where do I belong? Which country is my home? Which world is ultimately mine?’
After I moved to North America from India at the age of four, a lot of my social education came from watching American horror films. I always wondered, what were families like mine doing while Bruce the shark tore through Amity’s waters, while Freddy Krueger slashed teenagers in the dreamscape, and while Jack Torrance chased his son through the maze-like halls of the Overlook? As it developed, It Lives Inside formed its own dual identity much like mine. On one hand, it is a love letter to the community and culture that raised me while on the other, it is a visceral experience that is designed to instill the same raw terror in its viewers that my favorite horror films instilled in me.
I was lucky enough to collaborate with the producers at QC Entertainment from an early stage of the film. Ray and Sean’s expertise in elevating socially-charged dramas to thoughtful, incisive mass entertainment in films like Get Out and BlacKKKlansman made them perfect creative partners from development to post-production. As the story developed, the ideas and emotions at its core only crystallized further and were never diluted or dulled down. My lucky streak extended when I got the opportunity to work with some of my dearest collaborators in bringing this movie to life, from my long-time director of photography, Matthew Lynn, and composer, Wesley Hughes, to Jameson Parker, our executive producer, Jack Price, our editor, and Nolan McNaughton, our sound designer.
It Lives Inside is not autobiographical but draws on real people that I have known and loved. In casting characters so close to my heart, I was awarded miracle after miracle, beginning with Megan Suri. She brings Samidha to life in a way that entirely transforms the words on the page. Betty Gabriel, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishna, Vik Sahay and Gage Marsh all bring so much delicate humanity to the loved ones that fill out Samidha’s world. When I see them all on screen, they don’t feel like characters that I wrote anymore, but rather richly layered human beings that I recognize and cherish in my own life. I believe in horror cinema. It’s the greatest genre our art form has to offer, affording artists opportunities to tell challenging, emotionally rich stories within a harrowing, affective experience. In offering It Lives Inside to the canon, I hope to give you a window into the lives of people I care deeply about… and to make you wonder if someone – or something – really is hiding in the dark, waiting to pop out of your dark, empty closet when the lights are out.“
Have you seen It Lives Inside? Will you be picking up a copy of the DVD? Let us know by leaving a comment below.