David Lewis – Movies of the Soul

***Full title: There’s Someone Inside Your House

Vampire Owl: Is there someone inside the castle?

Vampire Bat: Yes, Uncle Dracula is inside the castle.

Vampire Owl: He is always inside the castle. I am talking about others.

Vampire Bat: You are trying to say that there is a serial killer inside?

Vampire Owl: I am saying that there could be someone inside that we don’t want.

Vampire Bat: Everyone is welcome in the Dracula Castle.

Vampire Owl: Except werewolves, zombies and the northern witches.

Vampire Bat: They don’t really visit us anyway.

Vampire Owl: The war has been the reason for that.

Vampire Bat: War was not forever. Hostility is. They remain hostile to us.

[Gets a paneer puffs and three cups of iced tea].

What is the movie about? :: Jackson Pace (Markian Tarasiuk) who is alone at his home, as his parents and sister have gone to watch a game of American football. He senses that there is someone in the house, and almost calls the emergency number. There are photos of him beating up another student named Caleb Greeley (Burkely Duffield), and someone wearing a mask like Caleb’s face turns up and murders him. People have their doubts that it was Caleb who murdered Jackson due to that incident, as things were not that great between them. As Caleb was at the football game, they feel that he might have hired a killer. Makani Young (Sydney Park) is a mostly unhappy girl from the same educational institution, bothered about the past, and is someone who has a small circle of friends. Alexandra (Asjha Cooper), Zachariah (Dale Whibley), Darby (Jesse LaTourette) and Rodrigo (Diego Josef) are her best friends, who have their own speculation about the murder which happened, with more than one suspect on the line.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: Oliver Larsson (Theodore Pellerin) is Makani’s ex-boyfriend, but she want nothing to do with him, not even replying to his chats anymore. Zachariah is hated by almost everyone for his rich land developer father. Katie Koons (Sarah Dugdale) is the next one to be murdered though, as she was preparing the space inside the church for Jackson’s funeral programme. The whole school is interviewed by the police department, but it seems that the cops still have no clue about the murderer. Makani has some secrets from her past, which comes in her dreams. She continues to evade Oliver because she doesn’t want anybody to know that she has been in love with someone whom most of the college considered to be a sociopath. Zachariah is holding a party at the same time, where the students end up telling each other, their secrets. But it only makes a fine place of interest for the killer who has everyone at the same place, including the person who could be his next target.

The defence of There’s Someone Inside Your House :: There is the fine slasher feeling that There’s Someone Inside the House provides from the beginning stages itself. It doesn’t waste much of time getting into action, and we have the killings begin early enough, as there is no wasted time during these one and half hours of action. The first murder sets things going, and then there are others which follow nicely. The message goes like one’s past coming back to haunt the person, those terrible things which were directed at different human beings – quite a natural thing when we consider the inherent evil of humanity, which is hugged by the killer in this case. The twists are created in an interesting manner, and with red herrings being thrown here and there, we don’t guess the final killer, after doubting the other characters well enough. There’s Someone Inside the House is certainly a good step towards reviving this genre which required some good movies all the time, and rarely did it get them as strong as required.

Positives and negatives :: There is a little bit of deviation that does happen here and there, as far as the movie’s totality is concerned. The title is also divergent from what actually happens within the movie, for this is more than a few murders happening inside a house. The movie does talk about people who have everything in life, and still are not satisfied, as well as those who judge, for no appropriate reason – all of these are cases of inherent evil being present at all times. The story does feel a little bit deviating at times, but you know that as a horror slasher flick, this will come back to its strengths. Some characters could have also been better used, even though you are always focusing on the blood and gore with a slasher. You know how far such horror can go, and with tight focus on the story, more can always make an impact. This proves to be engaging with the content, reminding you of the need for this kind of horror as much as the usual things with ghosts, demons and others. It is the kind of movie that one can watch over a box of popcorn, and enjoy without thinking too much about it.

The performers of the soul :: Sydney Park leads the way among the performances, as a girl with a past, and as someone who has trouble with her world. She goes through the horror with ease, bringing to light the possibilities of her becoming a quality scream queen in the future. Theodore Pellerin provides some fine support as the misunderstood boy who is blamed for different things. He is also the person who becomes the red herring in comparison with the others, as most of them don’t even come to close to being suspected for the murders. Asjha Cooper provides some support, but makes not that much of an interesting character. Jesse LaTourette becomes more of someone of interest. Sarah Dugdale’s short presence before being killed is memorable, and one would have wanted to see more from her. Dale Whibley plays the rich boy who feels that he is blamed for being the son of a rich man, while Diego Josef has a shorter stay. Andrew Dunbar plays the rather clueless police officer who only gets more confused.

How it finishes :: There’s Someone Inside the House works as one interesting slasher horror film like Fear Street: 1994, Fear Street: 1978 and Fear Street: 1666. It is not always to go on and make a horror film in slasher mode well enough – a much more difficult job than creating the world of The Conjuring, The Nun, Annabelle, Sinister, Insidious and others, which are the cases of regular horror that everyone knows about. The slasher horror rarely gets the credit that it deserves, and they are often better suited for the purpose of fear, because they do feel more real with the killers around. It deals with the idea of inherent evil better, as you know that humans are capable of more evil than the demons and spirits at all times. Humanity’s love for evil and its justification has always let the demons to be disappointed that they couldn’t be that evil, not serving their life’s purpose well enough. These slasher horror movies are testimony to human evil, especially these movies which don’t have a supernatural killer on the hunt.

Release date: 6th October 2021 (Netflix)
Running time: 96 minutes
Directed by: Patrick Brice
Starring: Sydney Park, Theodore Pellerin, Asjha Cooper, Jesse LaTourette, Diego Josef, Sarah Dugdale, Burkely Duffield, Dale Whibley, Markian Tarasiuk, Zane Clifford, William Edward, Emilija Baranac, Ivy Matheson, Kayla Heller, Andrew Dunbar, Tedra Rogers, David Lewis, Jade Falco, William MacDonald, Tally Rodin, Anthony Timpano, Brittany Hobson

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Vampire Owl: Do you remember Chucky?

Vampire Bat: How can we not remember Chucky? He was the coolest scary doll until Annabelle came into the picture.

Vampire Owl: Annabelle could never be that creepy, as the spirit is not always creepy enough.

Vampire Bat: Well, he has been an inspiration for vampire dolls too.

Vampire Owl: They say that this time we have a reboot and not a sequel.

Vampire Bat: That is not natural. Usually, the come up with more and more sequels as if this is something eternal.

Vampire Owl: This one also got Artificial Intelligence.

Vampire Bat: Yes, what is a doll without AI during these days of science and technology?

Vampire Owl: That would make it a robot.

Vampire Bat: A robotic doll which would replace all, maybe.

[Gets some tapioca chips and three cups of masala tea].

What is the movie about? :: Kaslan Corporation has a new type of high tech dolls called Buddi, which are designed to be long time companions to kids, learning their interests and what happens around, and then acting accordingly. These dolls become huge hit among the children, as parents find them to be substitute for other children and pets – the dolls are also supposed to be flawless, passing a large number of tests, and not reporting a faulty piece anywhere. With factories for manufacturing and assembling all over the world, one of them in Vietnam, has its safety protocols manipulated and disabled, just before one of the fired workers finish his final Buddi doll. After doing the same as an act of vengeance, the worker commits suicide, but the doll is packed among the other dolls and sent to the United States of America to meet the rising need for the models.

So, what happens with the events here? :: In the city of Chicago, a retail clerk and single mother Karen Barclay (Aubrey Plaza) and her son, Andy Barclay (Gabriel Bateman), movies into a new apartment, where latter struggles to make friends. To help Andy move away from his continuous staring at mobile and television, and to take his attention away from her newfound boyfriend Shane (David Lewis) who is with her most of the time, Karen blackmails her boss to get a faulty Buddi doll which was returned to them, as a new version of the doll was ready to hit the markets. The doll which does seem to have some problems with its working procedure, calls itself Chucky (Mark Hamill) and is instantly attached to Andy, whom he considers to be his best friend, and a pal forever. Due to interest in Chucky, two kids in the building also becomes friends with him, Falyn (Beatrice Kitsos) and Pugg (Ty Consiglio).

And what else follows with the happenings? :: But Chucky doesn’t seem to be the usual Buddi doll, as it develops violent tendencies from the horror movie it watches with the kids, and almost stabs them mimicking what happens on the screen. It strangles Andy’s pet cat which had scratched Andy, and scares Shane for making him happy. Chucky is one possessive doll that doesn’t like anyone other than him to be too much attached to him. Andy and his newfound friends make the other neighbouring kids like Omar (Marlon Kazadi) unhappy. Meanwhile, Andy also becomes friends with other neighbours Detective Mike Norris (Brian Tyree Henry) and his mother Doreen Norris (Carlease Burke) to whom he gives advice on new technology. But this increase in the number of friends is not something that pleases Chucky, as he is the one who is supposed to be the best friend forever – for that to happen, he would do more.

The defence of Child’s Play :: There are some nice scary and even more creepy scenes in this movie, as the doll becomes more of a threat than it had ever been in the past, with Artificial Intelligence threatening to do more. There is also the presence of blood and gore, especially related to the killing, and the final fight scene has more of it, with a lot of dead bodies involved with chaos being unleashed by the doll. The new generation who has not watched the original will like it even better. In the age of Annabelle doll with a spiritual presence, Chucky does more with Artificial Intelligence and catches our attention in style. Aubrey Plaza as the mother leads the way here with the performance, followed by Gabriel Bateman and the other kids, mainly Beatrice Kitsos. In between, Brian Tyree Henry also has a fine role done well.

The claws of flaw :: The fans of original movie and its early sequels might not like to stick to this one with a different look and also a divergent tale about its origins. The violence brought forward here might not make some people feel happy either. There are garden tillers and chainsaws in action here with the soon-to-be dead people not getting any close to a deviant respect either. The movie also ends too soon, as there is less happenings after the doll goes rogue – we should have certainly had more of them. Child’s Play is a franchise which was always destined for more greatness than it ever had. We can hope for the same greatness to be achieved in the possible sequels. We know that there is always more ideas coming up as far as horror is concerned, and with the slasher elements added, it is yet to be seen how much this can accomplish.

How it finishes :: The original version of Child’s Play was about a serial killer performing a Haitian Vodou spell to transfer his soul into a Good Guy doll. This one changes the storyline to match the current situation, as Artificial Intelligence becomes the key. Curse of Chucky and Cult of Chucky have been some very interesting movies in the franchise, and so a reboot here was supposed to arrive at some point. The variation that this movie had brought might not feel good for people who wanted to keep the original idea alive, but one has to agree that this one also brings a lot of scary and creepy moments to remember. It can even stand as a stand-alone film without the help of the previous movies – a claim which not many movie reboots can claim. Well, horror here can have many more sequels, and they can strive to be even better with this particular premise.

Release date: 21st June 2019
Running time: 90 minutes
Directed by: Lars Klevberg
Starring: Aubrey Plaza, Gabriel Bateman, Brian Tyree Henry, Mark Hamill, Beatrice Kitsos, Ty Consiglio, Tim Matheson, David Lewis, Marlon Kazadi, Carlease Burke, Nicole Anthony, Trent Redekop