It Lives Inside

An ancient Hindu demon stalks an Indian-American teen between two cultures in this terrifying and original monster movie.

Desperate to assimilate in US suburbia, Samidha is keen to downplay her Indian heritage – she’d rather be called “Sam”. She turns to her teacher for life advice, not her parents; she hangs out with her crush, rejecting family gatherings; and she definitely wants to avoid her childhood best friend Tamira, who’s taken to wearing her hair like Sadako and carrying around a mason jar. When Tamira corners Sam in the school locker room, babbling about an ancient demon from Hindu folklore, Sam angrily smashes the jar. Bad move: now the Pishach, a nightmarish soul-devouring spirit, will start to torment her instead.

Debutant director Bishal Dutta serves up all your favourite gnarly teen-horror tropes in this genuinely scary tale of demonic possession, but this isn’t like any diabolical creature you’ve seen onscreen before. Recalling the Babadook, the Pishach manifests inner conflict; in this case, it feeds on Sam’s loneliness and grows stronger the more she denies her cultural roots. Still, this embodiment of emotional distress hasn’t reckoned with an even more fearsome power – Sam’s traditional Indian mum.