Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE [Fantastic Fest 2021 - Virtual]

The proponent of the slasher film in 2021 has started to evolve in certain ways but it is interesting that most of it is happening on the small screen. That said, many of the late teens these films are aimed at mostly will watch on their phones or in their home so it is somewhat of a different experience than the communal theater experience of 20 or so years ago with the last big wave of slasher franchises. "There's Someone Inside Your House" ia adapted from a 2017 novel and overseen by James Wan and Shawn Levy (who with their films know a bit about respective horror and pop culture). They help mold a story that is both inclusive but also fairly run-of-the-mill. Granted this story (and those like it) is as old as the movie business. But now it is told in different ways, in different tones and with various amounts of gore. In this way, movies like "House" take on a slightly new identity without losing their baseline.

The story here is based on a stable but vague concept that everyone has a secret to keep. Some are more severe or defined than others. At the center is Sydney Park as Makani who has reasons to stay within her clique or a reason to stray. The beginning of the film with its tease moves to misdirect but also could be almost parable of toxic which carries through until the very end. The film also uses guilt by association to move its needle forward. It has an antihero of sorts in Ollie (Theodore Pellerin). His use of expectation and reasoning as Ollie does make sense but his height of suspicion continues unabated throughout. The overarching base of class structure is also present which shows that all of these themes did flow through the novel and were still aptly retained. Granted the film must maintain its slasher roots and, in this way, the way the killings are still carried out in ingenious and clever ways with a sense of old school without becoming too full of itself. Ultimately "There's Someone Inside The House" [whose title is not quite apropos] becomes a journey of acceptance for a group that, despite their ego of being teenagers, sees a more resilient path of identity because of their travails. B-

By Tim Wassberg