There's Someone Inside Your House
NETFLIXDirector Patrick Brice broke into the horror scene with 2014’s Creep, a found-footage horror comedy that was released on Netflix and garnered plenty of acclaim for its tonal balancing act. Part of that film’s success was actor and co-writer Mark Duplass’ input, who was also the key ingredient in making its 2017 sequel a big success. The collaborative process between the two is important to realise when looking at Brice’s latest film, the straight-to-Netflix slasher There’s Someone Inside Your House. While the director’s brand of dark humour is occasionally felt, as well as his knack for playing with genre expectations, there is something lacking in here that keeps this from reaching the unexpected heights of the filmmaker’s previous work: bite and edge.
As flawed as their business model may be, there is no denying that Netflix has successfully pushed forward the need for diversity in their new projects. There’s Someone Inside Your House takes place in a rainbow-coloured American high school, featuring everything from Black and Latinx to gay and gender-fluid trans kids. Calling this an LGBT+-friendly film would be an understatement, but, while the level of representation is more than welcome here, it becomes a double-edged sword given what the film is about.
The story of a masked killer slaughtering young teens after revealing their dark, politically incorrect secrets makes it clear very early on that no risk will be taken in order to deliver surprising and effective twists. The dangerous mentality of “one character in a film represents a whole group” makes it so that no character who belongs to a minority group will be the killer, therefore literally leaving only two possible culprits, one of which might as well have “Red Herring” tattooed on his forehead.
A killer who almost literally uses cancel culture as a weapon is a neat idea, yet neither Brice nor screenwriters Henry Gayden and Stephanie Perkins do anything interesting with that. The obligatory monologue at the end is especially disappointing, as the villain literally spouts out the most obvious remarks about people wearing masks in their everyday life, never showing their true selves to others. It is such an obvious and blatant explanation of the film’s exploration of the haunting nature of secrets, that at that moment it becomes evident that this is nothing more than a gateway slasher for teenagers. The filmmakers’ attempt at making this the new Scream or I Know What You Did Last Summer is present from the opening scene, but nothing in here stands out as impressive, inventive, or subversive. Even the production itself is disappointingly average, with a bland synth score, decent performances, and efficient camerawork that never elevate the script or uninspired direction.
Younger viewers will definitely get much more out of this film, be it for its overt awareness about social inequality, the viciously bloody kills – all seemingly done practically, a pleasant surprise – the ‘90s horror vibes, and the light humour that runs from beginning to end. However, for anyone else who enjoys horror cinema, There’s Someone Inside Your House is a dull and forgettable affair whose existence will be forgotten a mere hours after the credits stop rolling.