Movie Review It Lives Inside

It Lives Inside (2023) 

Directed by Bishal Dutta 

Written by Bishal Dutta 

Starring Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Vik Sahay, Betty Gabriel 

Release Date September 22nd, 2023 

Published September 26th, 2023 

It Lives Inside is a mostly effective horror movie with the twist of being set in a Hindu legend. The Pishacha is a demonic spirit that forms around a drunkard, liar, adulterer or a person who dies while insane. The Pishacha of It Lives Inside uses this as a jumping off point for a monster movie about a giant nasty ghost bug thing that eats souls. So, it doesn't fully take on the actual Hindu legend, per se, but it uses it as a firm base from which to jump into a creepy monster movie with a subtext about growing up feeling like an outsider and the stress of trying to live in two different worlds. 

It Lives Inside stars Megan Suri as Sam, or Samhida. She prefers Sam as this is the name that her school friends have begun using now that she's becoming more assimilated into her mostly white school. The only person at school who still calls her Samidha is Tamira (Mohana Krishnan), her long ago closest friend. Sam and Tamira grew up together but grew apart as Sam sought further acceptance into their neighborhood and school. Tamira meanwhile, in her loneliness began looking into the death of another Indian family in their neighborhood. 

This leads to Tamira discovering a glass jar that she claims is speaking to her. She's become a fearsome and spectral creature at school, quietly walking the halls carrying this dirty looking jar and refusing to put it down. When Tamira finally approaches Sam looking for help, Sam grows frustrated and in her haste, she breaks the jar. Sam was unaware that the jar contained a demon, a Pishacha, which subsequently captures Tamira and then sets about haunting Sam as it seeks its next soul to devour. 

Find my full length review at Horror.Media 

Horror in the 90s Warlock

Warlock (1991) 

Directed by Steve Miner 

Written by David Twohy 

Starring Julian Sands, Lori Singer, Richard E. Grant 

Release Date January 11th, 1991 

Box Office $15 million dollars 

Warlock is a completely hilarious disaster. Though it stars respected English actors, Julian Sands and Richard E. Grant, it's an embarrassment to both men's legacies. It's a black mark on their CV's for sure and I feel unkind in even bringing it up in the wake of Julian Sands' tragic passing. But, sadly, as we start a new year of Horror in the 90s, winding out 1990 into 1991, we are confronted with Warlock as the next major horror movie release. Never mind that the movie was actually made in 1989, the release date and its subsequent reputation as both a disaster and somehow a franchise, begins in 1991. 

Warlock stars Julian Sands as the title character, Warlock. Here we must pause to examine the first thing we see in Warlock. A man is building a cage into which cats will be placed. These cats are then taken to the gallows where they are stacked on top of kindling. The ritual is being undertaken for the execution of the Warlock. The cats are being burned alive along with the witch because... witches like cats? Cats and witches do have a long-standing association though where director Steve Miner got the notion that cats were burned with witches they weren't directly associated with; I have no idea. 

Anyway, before he can be executed by fire with cats, Warlock talks to Satan and is tornadoed into the future. The movie literally shows a wispy cartoon tornado engulf Julian Sands and sweep him out of the room. It's the first of several unintentionally funny special effects in this epic bad movie. For reasons never explained, Satan tosses the Warlock into the future world via a farty tornado and tosses him through the window of a suburban California home. Here, the world's most chill roommates, Lori Singer's Kassandra and Kevin O'Brien as Chas, react to having a human being crash through the window of their home the way you or I might react to spilling our drink. 

Find my full length review at Horror.Media 

Movie Review Saw X

Saw X (2023) 

Directed by Kevin Greutert 

Written by Peter Goldfinger, Josh Stolerg

Starring Tobin Bell, Shawnee Smith, Synnove Macody Lund, Steven Brand

Release Date September 29th, 2023 

Published September 29th, 2023 

I'm a huge fan of the Saw horror franchise. I find the underlying philosophy fascinating and challenging. At once, I don't want to see anyone harmed and I am fascinated by the harm Jigsaw creates for his subjects who must endure ungodly pain in order to survive and find redemption. It's like an extreme form of self flagellation with the intent of seeing what the body and mind can endure to survive. Pushing the limits of the human body to their absolute breaking point is something many people talk about as being the most alive one can feel. Jigsaw makes that happen for people with the difference being that they don't get to choose not to do this. 

That's a big and important difference. Jigsaw's victims aren't choosing to challenge themselves, they are forced into this challenge. Now, they end up being challenged because of their own actions, Jigsaw doesn't harm the innocent, only those who have wronged others or who fail to value their own life. But it's still an important point that he is forcing the issue, these people had no intention of seeing the limits they would go to to save their own life. With that acknowledgment out of the way, let's talk about what Jigsaw does as a form of redemption and self-actualization. 

Find my full length review at Horror.Media