Watching Patrick Brice’s THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE, coming to Netflix on October 6, it’s easy to wonder about the correlation between the rise of volume in moral majority messaging in the United States and films based around teens getting killed one by one. The rise of America’s Religious Right was contemporaneous with the slasher boom of the ‘80s, though the political movement outlasted that particular wave of films. Then there was Gingrich’s Congress in the mid ‘90s (connected with believing impeaching the President over an affair wouldn’t betray hypocrisies of many) and the revival of the dead teen movies with SCREAM, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, and the like. It’s not that the morally conservative are necessarily in power or in control of pop culture when these slice-and-dice-on-a-Friday-night flicks are in ascendancy; more like there is a large contingency who is whipping up concern and doubling down on cherrypicked lessons of the Bible that are gathering clout in various corners of society while new titles emerge that lay bare the fear, nihilism, anger, defiance, and hope of current generation of teenagers.
THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE is a strong showing that updates very familiar tropes and themes from secondary tier slashers of the past (THE PROWLER, URBAN LEGEND, SLAUGHTER HIGH, SLEEPAWAY CAMP, VALENTINE) while marrying them to contemporary issues and technologies. At no point would this be seen as the signal that “stab and slice cinema is back, baby!” as it never achieves anything truly revolutionary that would inspire the countless knockoffs needed to sustain another boom. But combined with a few other titles (the recent FEAR STREET films, FREAKY, THE BABYSITTER, HALLOWEEN, HAPPY DEATH DAY movies) it does show that this horror sub-genre is still very much alive and perhaps gaining momentum. Brice’s film has a lot of clever sequences, impressive kills, some strong design, and suitable dead teen archetypes with just enough depth to be of interest and memorable but not so much that every feel really fleshed out. There is a bit of a lag 2/3 of the way through, and some of the political moralizing inherent to the killer’s actions are a bit on the nose (very much feel like the cinematic equivalent of slacktivism by giving lip service to various issues but not saying much about them), but subtlety is not a good color in films of this ilk. Instead, it’s a mostly fun slasher teen movie that is enjoyable and fast enough to be worthy of a weekend night or slumber party viewing.
The seniors of Osborne High in rural Nebraska are finding out how deadly keeping secrets can be, as students are being picked off one-by-one in gruesome fashion while also revealing some “abhorrent” secret from their past. It seems to be targeting the popular clique at first, which makes it awkward for a group of outsiders as they get the side-eye and have to half-heartedly act like they care. Makani Young (Sydney Park) was a relatively new student before she fell in with this group of misfits that include outspoken Black woman-in-a-majority-white town Alex (Asjha Cooper), Darby (Jesse LaTourette) the trans science nerd, local rich kid with the domineering father and penchant for all things pot Zach (Dale Whibley), and Rodrigo (Diego Josef) who is an awkward and unassuming Latino. She also fell for Ollie (Théodore Pellerin) the local basket case orphan with a cop for a brother. The killer is uncovering the secret sins of all of the students—past transgressions they have committed or omitted — and taunts their prey until killing them brutally. But soon it’s not just the upper echelon that has fallen in the masked killer’s sights but this ragtag group of losers are facing the wrong end of a very sharp knife.
From a script by Henry Gayden, based off the novel of the same name by Stephanie Perkins, THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE is a totally serviceable slasher film that doesn’t elevate the sub-genre but doesn’t simply do paint-by-numbers. There is a genuine propulsive energy to (most of) the film with characters that may not be realistic but feel close enough to people to get invested in what happens next. The killer design is a bit tricky to discuss because the killer wears a 3D printed mask of their victim each time, so its details are constantly changing but still maintains both a behavioral pattern as well as an overall aesthetic (the aesthetic being if someone took the face from a TEAM AMERICA puppet and put it over their own). There is enough suspense to make the whodunnit aspect fairly engaging, though the movie continues the pattern of obvious red herrings and feints to absurd twists that’s been a part of the slasher sub-genre’s mystery sub-section since FRIDAY THE 13th (technically earlier if one goes into gialli titles).
When Perkins’ book came out, it was notable for blending YA romance with horror… though that was odd, because a lot of ‘90s YA horror literature did this, particularly in the works of Christopher Pike, Lois Clarke Duncan, and R.L. Stine. Perkins’ prose certainly put more emphasis (and more details) in the sexual and sensuous elements than those novels ever did, which doesn’t translate as much to the screen. There’s still an element of non-prudish sex to THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE, but unfortunately the heat is noticeably lowered to be more palatable for mainstream audiences.
The killer’s motives are bit muddled (aren’t they always?), but it’s curious how much of it reflects those same status quo reinforcements that Carol J. Clover and others noted in the ‘80s slasher boom. Not that the morality being maintained is lined up with conventional and/or conservative values — some of the sins are being secretly racist online, attempted murder, drug addiction, a hate crime, to give a fair indication of the breadth of what’s being judged. But THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE is still a picture where a murderer kills to preserve some sense of a moral code.
The filmmakers are a strong team, with Gayden possessing a good ear for teen dialogue and characterization, which he’s shown previously in SHAZAM. Again, it’s unlikely any of these roles will be endearing enduring characters, but there is nice representation in the casting and they are all distinct enough that there is some level of characterization. FRIDAY THE 13TH: A NEW BEGINNING literally had a character defined by “she listens to a Walkman”, so this has never been a strong suit for this niche. Brice’s work in both CREEP movies and THE OVERNIGHT shows that the director understands how to work with actors to get engaging turns and work within genre expectations to find new ground and energy. And most of the cast delivers in that department, especially Park, who is a magnetic force on screen, in whom viewers will truly invest.
Production designer William Arnold’s drab settings of the school and certain homes mix with beautiful locations and strong cinematography by Jeff Cutter (ORPHAN) to create a lyrical mix of a dead-end town caught in a surreal nightmare. Some of the CG doesn’t hold up at all, particularly in a climactic scene amidst a lot of fire, but there is still plenty of great, brutal kills (blending practical and CG) to make up for a few of those missteps. The synthwave-ish atmospheric score by Zachary Dawes conjures up feelings of IT FOLLOWS or the work of musician Trevor Something, which reinforces the teen feel but is also approaching a point of saturation with horror soundtracks.
THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE is a lot of fun that has a balance of clever surprises and appreciated genre staples. The mystery isn’t hard to unravel (they rarely are), and the whodunnit aspect does force some awkward talking around a situation like people don’t ever do; saying “What happened in your past wasn’t your fault,” instead of just saying what happened in the past, for example. There are some slow moments that attempt to draw out the suspense but just bog the proceedings down a bit, while the moralizing is at once overt and confused. Still, as part of the new crop of slashers that contend with current political forces that seek to control the lives and souls of everyone around them, Patrick Brice’s THERE’S SOMEONE INSIDE YOUR HOUSE suggests that the kids are alright.
Tags: Ashja Cooper, Burkely Duffield, Dale Whibley, Diego Josef, Fantastic Fest, Fantastic Fest 2021, Henry Gayden, Horror, Jeff Cutter, Jesse LaTourette, Killers, Netflix, Patrick Brice, Slashers, Stephanie Perkins, Sydney Park, Théodore Pellerin, William Arnold, Zachary Dawes
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