Swapping Bodies Bodies Bodies

 

Unlikable but attractive young people are a hallmark of horror. We watch this genre knowing characters will die, so making them pleasant to look at and just awful enough to kind of wish violence upon their knockout bodies is reasonable. 

The flip of this is that insufferable characters can often make for an insufferable watching experience. Take something like The Alpines, which has a similar setup to today's feature. Watching it, I would have rather my Roku malfunctioned than watch each character meet their end. With Greg Jardin's It's What's Inside, we get equally bratty characters but played by such charming actors that I was all in.

Quick Plot: Cyrus (James Morosini) and Shelby (Brittany O'Grady) have hit a rut in their relationship. She's desperately trying to implement new risks in the bedroom, while he would rather just watch porn whenever she heads out for a run. They're not on the same page but bound for the same weekend getaway to their pal Rueben's coed bachelor party, held in the unusual mansion of his late artist mother. 

In tow is the usual round of hot young adults a few years out of college but still holding onto past grudges and crushes. There's influencer Nikki (Fear the Walking Dead's Alycia Debnam-Carey), stoner Brooke, free spirit Maya, bad boy Dennis, and surprise guest Forbes, who was expelled from college and the gang after an intense argument with Dennis over Forbes' underage sister. Forbes has since had a minor tech bro glow-up and comes armed to party with the ultimate pre-wedding game: a machine that lets you body swap.

Tossing in copious amounts of drugs and alcohol to such a mix (the untested technology AND complicated matrix of sexual entanglements) leads, as you might have guessed it, to an act of violence and chaotic horror. 

Written and directed by Greg Jardin, It's What's Inside calls to mind the similarly themed and styled Bodies Bodies Bodies. The movie itself is fully in control of how flawed its own characters are, and the cast does a tremendous job in playing out those dynamics. It also manages to be a little deeper in how these people actually relate to one another. The smartest move the script makes is framing the whole story with Shelby and Cyrus's stale romance. It always serves as a sort of compass to the rest of the night's hijinks while also exploring something relatable and awful (and often very funny, thanks to O'Grady, Morosini, and a few of the bodies they end up in).

It's What's Inside isn't quite a masterpiece, and does seem to miss out on a few opportunities to explore more fundamentally interesting questions about body and identity. Still, it's an incredibly good time that I found kinetic and fun. 

High Points

Jardin plays with quite a few visual tricks, making his film occasionally feel like a more grownup TikTok video. Weirdly, it works, especially if you think a little more deeply about how much everyone's different perspectives are constantly driving each action in the story

Low Points

I think the number of characters had to follow a certain logic in order to mathematically add up to the storyline, but I do think the film stumbles a tiny bit in not having enough time to differentiate Brooke and Maya. Neither gets quite enough time to develop before the swap, which makes any reference to both always slightly confusing.

Lessons Learned

A real friend remembers your life-threatening allergies

The best cure for a headache is a new body

Body swapped sex is probably hot and weird, but it shouldn't let you off the hook for taking basic safety precautions

Rent/Bury/Buy

You will likely know very quickly whether It's What's Inside is for you. For me, it was a blast, though I can see its tone not connecting with many a viewer. Find it on Netflix.