REVIEW: Netflix’s ‘It’s What’s Inside’

On September 25th, 2024 Latin Horror got invited to see ‘It’s What’s Inside’ with a Q&A. A film that is labeled as a Horror film but in reality it’s a really great Sci-Fi Thriller. As a first time outing, director and write Greg Jardin put together a visual artistic and compelling story. It will have you on the edge of your seat.

The film starts off with Shelby (Brittany O’Grady) and Cyrus (James Morosini), a couple that are struggling with intimacy. Shelby enters their bedroom with a blonde wig and lingerie with the intention of roleplaying. But Cyrus is not interested and insensitive to Shelby’s attempt of being sexual to him. Even though, as mention in a conversation, the couple did talk about trying roleplaying to stimulate their sex life with a positive agreement. The scene ends with an awkward tension as Shelby seems to reluctantly accept Cyrus’s behavior of not doing his part in their relationship. This all foreshadows what is to come in the movie.

Shelby pretending to be someone else is the body swapping that is to come. Roleplaying is the deadly game of Werewolf that the cast of characters will play. Cyrus’s behavior is the strategy that players will take. So pay attention.

Next we are introduced to almost all the characters (and their characteristics) that will be playing the game at a very unique house. Still pay very close attention. They are brought together because Ruben (Devon Terrell) is getting married. A “pre-wedding party”. The game players: Shelby, Cyrus, Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood), Maya (Nina Bloomgarden), Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), Brooke (Reina Hardesty), Ruben, Forbes (David Thompson). Very different individuals with distinguishing issues.

This was great casting because the ensemble cast has extraordinaire chemistry to flip flop between each others charters. This is what makes this complex film, the game, work. James Morosini said, “Because of the body swaps, we were all sharing these characters among the actors. And so I feel like I was playing Dennis and Reuben as much as I was playing Cyrus.” Casting directors, Mary Vernieu and Sydney Shircliff mentioned, “It was all about balance and a gentle hand. Each member of this cast needed to be specific and unique in order to portray a character that would be notable when he/she was in another person’s body. And at the same time, they had to have excellent range. With each actor playing multiple characters at different points within the film, they needed to be able to specify their own character and then interpret and translate their co-star’s performance in the same breath.” Director Greg Jardin also talked about the table read, “the actors all read it from the perspective of their souls. And then at the second table read, they read from the perspective of their bodies.”

Forbes is the surprise guest to the party. The one that initiates the game play by simply carrying a mysterious silver suite case. His introduction is actually told by another character through a very creative montage. Pay close attention because that is the biggest clue. In the suite case, the MacGuffin, is a high-tech deceive that has the capability of body swapping. Putting oneself into another person’s body. Through peer pressure and being passive-aggressive which eventually becomes conniving antics, Forbes convinces the group to play. David Thompson description of his character, “Forbes likes to keep you guessing. I’d say keep an eye out for what’s really going on in his mind.”

The Board Game: Reuben’s late mothers house is used in a very clever way visually. With techniques of frames within a frame, the quadrant system, stories within the background (mirrors of dualities) and of course lighting. All are used to build even more upon each character. It’s amazing! But also such a shame because of these conventions this film should have had a theatrical run. It is not just beautiful to watch but great filmmaking.

Watching the movie the first thing that came to my mind was Stanley Kubrick and Dario Argento. Later during the Q&A, the audience and I found out the inspiration was ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and ‘Suspiria’. And boy you can defiantly see that in ‘It’s What’s Inside’. Greg Jardin mentioned, “Every element of our movie — the camerawork, the sound design, the editing — were all created with the goal of heightening the anxiety-chic tone. And the idea in creating the tone of It’s What’s Inside was to make something that felt emotionally grounded but visually and sonically elevated, a bit like magical realism. Surreal. We took a lot of visual cues from Dario Argento’s film Suspiria (1977). He used very saturated color lights that aren’t necessarily realistic, but they give you a very immersive sense of space.“

Once the game play begins, it’s all about a fast pace guessing game of fragile relationships amongst the group. The director uses polaroids to keep track of who’s who in each body. Just like the party game ‘Who Am I?’, with the sticky notes. It’s a device to make sure the audience doesn’t get confused. Once again make sure you are paying attention. They play this game three times. Once for fun. Once to mess it up, and once to attempt to fix it. It makes the film FUN! It all comes together to become a thriller in the third act with a twist. Remember I mentioned to pay attention to Forbes introduction. Wink. Wink. This is where you start realizing this flick is a game of ‘Werewolf‘.

The game ‘Werewolf’ is also known as ‘Mafia’. It’s a social deduction game thats has become popular. Here is a better description of the game: “The game models a conflict between two groups: an informed minority (the mafiosi or the werewolves) and an uninformed majority (the villagers). At the start of the game, each player is secretly assigned a role affiliated with one of these teams. The game has two alternating phases: first, a night-phase, during which those with night-killing-powers may covertly kill other players, and second, a day-phase, in which all surviving players debate and vote to eliminate a suspect. The game continues until a faction achieves its win-condition; for the village, this usually means eliminating the evil minority, while for the minority, this usually means reaching numerical parity with the village and eliminating any rival evil groups.” Director Greg Jardin even acknowledged the game, “And during that time I had played the game Werewolf, also known as Mafia, for the first time at a friend’s birthday party. That game got superheated. The stakes felt super high, and it gave me the confidence that if you have people in a movie playing a game, the stakes can feel higher than they actually are. So I used that as a jumping-off point, landed on the body-swapping conceit, and fleshed out the story from there.” (Source: Wikipedia)

Overall, ‘It’s What’s Inside’ is a film that will have multiple viewings to see all the clues and great performances by the actors. And I know I mentioned this movie should be playing in theaters but it actually works better on Netflix because you can rewind. My concern is that if an audience member looks away, losing attention for one second, it can be confusing. Because the film makes the audience feel like one of the players. That’s why I kept saying “pay attention“. Even Colman Domingo (Excutive Producer) kind of believes this, “I like to tell people: Do not look away when you’re watching this film. We live in such a distracted world, and if you look down at your phone, you might get a little lost. This is a film where you cannot do that because you need every ounce of information. But that’s also the great part about it. We’re not going to let you sit back. You have to lean forward. I think it’s going to be the kind of movie where people want to watch it three or four times and get something else out of it and see it from the perspective of a different actor each time.” Other than that, ‘It’s What’s Inside’ is an extremely fun movie to experience. We at Latin Horror loved the film and gave the flick 8 out of 10. Watch the film on Netflix, it streams October 4th, 2024.