The struggles of a teenager drive her into a demonic madness in “It Lives Inside”

One of the surprises of the last South By Southwest festival was the horror and drama thriller It Lives Inside (2023), a film that shares some plot ideas with Sam Raimi’s Drag Me to Hell (2009) and that has been described as a powerful metaphor for adolescent depression in the key of supernatural horror. That is so that it won the Audience Award for Best Film.

The movie is a powerful metaphor for adolescent depression in the key of supernatural horror and it has been compared with Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). As a matter of fact, both movies share the producers Edward H. Hamm Jr., Sean McKittrick, and Raymond Mansfield via their banner QC Entertainment, who are also the producers of BlacKkKlansman (2018), and Antebellum (2020), recent titles that merge the genre of horror with a strong social and racial background. Brightlight Pictures and Neon are also producing.

It Lives Inside (2023) 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.

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 Sidewalk Film Festival.

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 second official trailer here.