Director Greg Jardin presents a fun and exciting new essence to the body swap genre with his comedy thriller ‘It’s What’s Inside’. After receiving great praise at the Sundance Film Festival back in January, the film sold to Netflix for 17 million dollars, proceeding to premiere on the streaming service on October 4th. It’s What’s Inside follows a group of college friends reuniting on the eve of a wedding, but their celebration quickly spirals into a psychological mayhem of revenge, grudges, and jealousy when an old friend arrives with a mysterious suitcase, turning the night into a tense, unravelling game of survival.
The fast-paced, anxiety-inducing, back-and-forth nature of this film has you on the edge of your seat the entire runtime. You will be questioning everything and rewarding yourself with a pat on the back when you guess correctly. The cinematography is a striking quality, with creative lighting choices that effectively depict which characters occupy each other’s bodies. This clarity greatly helps in following the complex storyline.
The constantly changing colour palettes also help to elevate tensions and visualise emotion throughout the film as the characters make regretful and harrowing decisions. The artistic design evokes a dream-like aspect where reality feels fluid and uncertain. Combined with well-crafted characters and their intricate backstories, the film makes it hard to choose who to root for. The interactions and relationships between the characters in the film raises moral questions. It’s What’s Inside draws blurred lines around right and wrong and provokes you to consider and reflect on what you would do in similar situations.
For the best experience, I would advise going into the movie blind. To give you a brief idea,
think Bodies Bodies Bodies (2022), Knives Out (2019), and Talk to Me (2022) all mixed into
one. It’s What’s Inside takes dark humour, social dynamics and an artsy mansion and
constructs a nightmarish evening of shifting blame, personal feuds, and resurfacing pasts. It
also takes inspiration from classics like Suspiria (1977) and After Hours (1985) through its
eerie and brooding atmosphere. It’s What’s Inside is a great watch for a unique, captivating
storyline and distinct visuals, which will have you deeply engaged and unable to look away
from the screen. I would highly recommend!