There's Someone Inside Your House

 3/4

Starring: Sydney Park, Theodore Pellerin, Asjha Cooper, Dale Whibley, Jesse LaTourette, Burkley Duffield, Diego Josef

Not Rated (probable R for Strong Violence/Gore, Language, Some Sexuality, and for Drug Use)

"There's Someone Inside Your House" is a slasher movie for the Generation Z.  It follows the blueprint of the genre that has been laid down in cement for the past 40 years, and it adds a few new things of its own.  It isn't the smartest movie available right now, but that's to be expected.  Slasher movies are by and large not known for their intelligence.  Their appeal is visceral, and flawed as the film may be, it makes the grade.

Football stud Jackson Pace (Markian Tarasiuk) has just been found brutally murdered.  Alongside his bloody corpse are pictures of a hazing incident in which he took part.  He isn't the only one; the body count continues to rise as the victims are not only killed, but their sins are laid bare for all to see.  Now, the school outcasts may be the only hope to stop the slaughter.  Makani (Park) is the new girl with a dark past, Ollie (Pellerin) is the creepy weirdo, Alex (Cooper) is the sassy one, Darby (LaTourette) is the gender fluid one, Zach (Whibbley) is the rich stoner, and Caleb (Duffield) is the gay football star.  But can they find the killer in time?

Director Patrick Brice isn't making a clone of "Friday the 13th."  He's set his sights higher.  Gore hounds needn't worry, as "There's Someone Inside Your House" is appropriately gruesome (although, if I'm being honest, it is a little light in that department).  But he knows he has a good premise and exploits it the best he can.  The characters are more reflective and self-aware than most slasher movie fodder, and this adds an interesting subtext to the film.  "I Know What You Did Last Summer" did this first, but it's more effectively realized here.  The downside is that this leads the film to have a slower pace, which isn't a good thing for a slasher film to have.  Brice doesn't quite find the correct balance between thoughtful and scary.

It helps that he is working with a young cast that can sell their characters.  Sydney Park is solid as Makani; smart and capable.  Theodore Pellerin makes it easy to wonder if he really is a creep or is just misunderstood.  Ashja Cooper steals scenes as the quick-witted Alex.  The rest of the cast is solid, although no one else has much to do.  What's interesting is that they're required to do more than scream; they have to actually act.

Brice has probably bitten off more than he can chew, but ambition is usually better than playing it safe.  He's balancing a lot of plates here, and while most elements work individually, he has trouble unifying them in a cohesive whole.  The dramatic elements, while effective, limit the scares and threaten to make the violence gratuitous and uncomfortable.  The bloody murders interrupt the pensive mood that the characters create.  And the intelligence of the characters makes their moments of stupidity all the more glaring.  And the final scenes just don't work.

All in all though the film works.  There's some tension and gore, and Brice shows a deft hand when it comes to camouflaging the identity and the motives of the killer.  It isn't best in class, but it beats "Malignant" and "The Seventh Day" hands down.

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