“It Lives Inside”: The struggles to fit in of a teenager and the demonic creature by her side

Since its premiere at the South By Southwest festival back in March this year, the horror and drama It Lives Inside (2023) was one of the titles most of the attendees to the festival outstanded. That is so that it won the Audience Award for Best Film. And after its festival run has ended, now the film is scheduled to come out in theaters next month.

The movie is a powerful metaphor for adolescent depression in the key of supernatural horror and it has been compared with Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell (2009) and Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). It tells the story of an Indian-American teenager who is struggling with her cultural identity and has a falling out with her former best friend. In the process, unwittingly releases a demonic entity that grows stronger by feeding on her loneliness.

This is the debut feature film of Bishal Dutta, who is also the writer of the screenplay together with Ashish Mehta. Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishnan, Betty Gabriel, Vik Sahay, Gage Marsh, Siddhartha Minhas, and Sangeeta Wylie form the main cast in It Lives Inside (2023).

The movie is produced by Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, and Raymond Mansfield via their banner QC Entertainment, who are also the producers of Get Out (2017), BlacKkKlansman (2018), and Antebellum (2020), three of the recent titles that merge the genre of horror with a strong social and racial background. Brightlight Pictures and Neon are also producing.

After its premiere at the SXSW festival, It Lives Inside (2023) has also been part of the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Narcisse Award for Best Feature Film, and will be part of the Sidewalk Film Festival this weekend.

It Lives Inside (2023) is Rated PG-13 for terror, violent content, bloody images, brief strong language, and teen drug use. It is coming out in theaters worldwide on September 22, 2023. Watch its official trailer here.