It Lives Inside

Even if this happened 28 years ago i will never forget back in the summer of 1996 when i was looking at MTV and saw British rock band Kula Shaker´s music video called Tattva. I was completely hooked up by this song that had a combination of rock music and Indian folk music that worked really good together. Tattva was a perfect example how you make rock music for all ages and all nations, it´s one of those songs that you don´t have to understand the lyrics for, you just feel the groove grow inside of you. Front man Crispian Mills had such a wonderful singing vocie that matched perfectly to Kula Shaker´s sound. And i was about to find out that their debut album K would be filled with so many fantastic songs such as Hey Dude, Govinda ( probably my favourite song by this band ), Hush, Grateful When You´re Dead / Jerry Was There and many more songs. The autumn of 1996 became magical to me when the album finally came out on September 16. I can not tell you how many times i played this album on my CD stereo, let´s just say it was every week almost up until Christmas that year. Even though i do not play this album often these days it is still one of my personal favourite rock albums of all time. Their 2nd studio album Peasents, Pigs & Austronauts released in 1999 was not as powerful as their debut album but did have some great songs with the Indian folk music to guide them. Kula Shaker have released several albums since then and i enjoy most of them. But their first studio album will always mean a lot to me personally, it is without a doubt magical. Speaking of Indian influences we have a lot of films that have been inspired by Indian culture or Indian history. One of the films that comes to my mind is the 2016 horror film known as The Other Side Of The Door from director Johannes Roberts. This film takes place in India where mother Maria Harwood ( Sarah Wayne Callies ) lost her son Oliver Harwood ( Logan Crecan ) in a drowning accident inside a car. While the accident happened she could only save one child her daughter Lucy Darwood ( Sofia Rosisnky ), and this is something she will never forgive herself of. One night her husband Michael Harwood ( Jeremy Sisto ) find his wife unconscious after a suicide attempt. Maria is confronted by her housekeeper Piki ( Suchitra Pillai ). Piki ask Maria if she wants one final chance to say goodbye to her son Oliver. Piki explain that she have been in a similar positition, where she lost her daughter in a drowning incident not paying attention. According to Piki, there is an abandoned temple in her hometown where you are able to speak to the dead through a door. But if she hear her son she must follow one rule and that is never open the door, only speak next to it. Missing her son as much as she does, Maria travel to the abandoned temple to communicate with Oliver. The Other Side Of The Door is one of those horror films you never hear anyone talk about these days but i actually enjoy this film. It may have flaws but i do like the horror influences combined with Indian writings regarding Mrtyu, gatekeeper of the underworld. If you have not seen this film i would recomment it if you enjoy religious horror films. Speaking of Indian culture last year a horror film called It Lives Inside was released also inspiried by Indian scriptures. This sounded exactly like something i needed to experience so the question is, does the film It Lives Inside deliver as a horror film or is it not as good as i was hoping it would be?

Samidha ( Megan Suri ), is an Indian American high school student who has been assimilating into western society. While her mother, Poorna ( Neeru Bajwa ), is insistent that Samidha continue to follow traditions and pay respect to her heritage, while her father Inesh ( Vik Sahay ), is less strict to her. At school, Samidha tries to reject her culture to fit in with her friends and has a budding romance with her classmate, Russ ( Gage Marsh ). As a result, she have grown apart from her former best friend and fellow Indian student, Tamira ( Mohana Krishnan ), who is now a social outcast for acting withdrawn and carrying a strange glass jar. This concerns their teacher, Joyce ( Betty Gabriel ), but Samidha believe Tamira is fine. Until one day when Tamira approach her to talk about the jar she is carrying and warn her of what lives inside. Samidha is frustrated and smashes the jar so it falls to the ground and break. Samidha have no idea what damage this will not only cause herself but her loved ones as well.

It is not often we see horror films that´s connected to Indian writings in Sanskrit that you can read about in Hinduism. It Lives Inside show Indian culture as it could look like in an ordinary American home. This combination to show 2 different cultures meet inside an ordinary family is good to show, because not all cultures think the same and it´s ok to have different beliefs. The idea itself that this demon is trapped inside a jar reminded me of the 2012 horror film The Possession from director Ole Bornedal. In this film there is a mysterious old wooden box with Hebrew writing is found at a yard sale by a young girl named Emily ( Natasha Calis ) who is bought by her father Clyde ( Jeffrey Dean Morgan ). Once Emily open this wooden box wearing a ring she finds inside which later makes her possessed by a demon. In the film It Lives Inside there is a similar idea where the demon is let out, except in this film it really wasn´t even supposed to happen. Regarding the demon we do find out that this demonic spirit is known as Pishach and can be found in Hindu mythhologies. This is actually the first time i heard about this specific demon in a horror film so that definetely caught my attention. For a demon horror film i will have to say It Lives Inside does have some effective and interesting horror scenes, especially when you only see the eyes of the demon in the dark and people getting attacked in day light while you don´t see anything there. Even when you see the demon appear in flesh i do think the design looks pretty cool. The acting in general is actually good and i do like the chemistry between lead actor Megan Suri as Samidha and the odd character Tamira played by Mohana Krishnan. I can´t really see any big issues with It Lives Inside because at least it does do something different and interesting regarding Indian culture. If you are a fan of demon horror films i think you should definetely check this film out. Director Bishal Dutta does a great job capturing the Indian influences while making the demon entity blend in well with the story. It Lives Inside knows what audience it was made for and that is especially for us who appreciate seeing other people´s cultures.

Rating: DDD