This is my kind of body horror.
Swapping bodies with someone is genuinely a concept I don’t love exploring, because it makes me want to run away from everything and never look back. It’s a genuinely horrifying concept that I see played for laughs a lot more than it is played for scares. Yet It’s What’s Inside does both wonderfully.
This movie is campy, it’s fun, it’s the whole package. It’s What’s Inside is the story of a group of friends having a party the day before one of their friends, Reuben’s, wedding. When their friend Forbes shows up after years of no contact of communication, he quickly brings out a new game he invented, which temporarily all allows them to switch bodies so they can try to guess who is in whose body. When things go wrong and two of the friends end up dead, it’s a race to see who can get back to their own body before time runs out.
The cast in this is incredible, with David W. Thompson as Forbes, Brittany O’Grady as Shelby, and James Morosini (mostly, until they all end up switching bodies) being my favourites. Each is able to distinguish themselves as the different characters and create incredibly compelling performances. I also absolutely love Reina Hardesty and was so happy to see her just own every scene she was in, both as Brooke and as everyone else she had to be.
I wouldn’t say I liked many of the characters in universe, a very similar group to the Unfriended or Bodies, Bodies, Bodies friendships, but it made their dynamics really entertaining to watch. Maya’s hippie nature and acceptance to permanently swapping bodies paired with Cyrus’ desperate need for order got a genuine laugh out of me, as did Reuben’s shots of longingly staring at Maya, which were scenes that looked like they were from a silent film. This movie was cool, scary but so stylish that it really just was more fun than freakish. And of course because they were all well to do assholes, their reactions to what was happening was nothing short of comedic gold. Nothing like watching a really narcissistic friend group break down in a terrifying situation to really marry both the comedy and horror.
There were a lot of laughs to be had and the atmosphere was insanely over the top and fun. The bombastic vintage soundtrack, the use of reds and blues to show the physical bodies versus the spirit inhabiting them, the crazy plot twists — it all was just a great time, from start to finish. A lot of the time it feels like a play, and you can tell the director and editing teams had a lot of fun pulling this together, as did the cast who give incredible performances. The minute after it ended, I put it on again for another viewing. I had a great time and loved that there was little to no gore in the movie at all, just the exploration of relationships and the human condition in the freakiest of ways. Definitely one of my favourites of 2024.