You know that feeling when you're at a party and someone suggests a game, and suddenly the vibe just... shifts? Usually, it's just a boring round of Charades or maybe Truth or Dare if things are getting spicy. But in the It's What's Inside movie, that shift involves a mysterious suitcase, a DIY brain-swapping machine, and enough psychological trauma to keep a therapist in business for a decade.
Honestly, I didn't expect much when I first hit play on Netflix. Body-swap movies are usually "Freaky Friday" territory—light, predictable, maybe a bit corny. But Greg Jardin’s directorial debut is a completely different animal. It’s frantic. It’s neon-soaked. It is, quite frankly, a total mind-bender that manages to critique our obsession with social media without feeling like a "phones are bad" lecture.
What Actually Happens in the It's What's Inside Movie?
The setup is classic slasher-flick stuff, minus the actual slasher. A group of college friends reunites at a creepy, isolated mansion for a pre-wedding party. Reuben (Devon Terrell) is the one getting hitched, and his old pals—Shelby (Brittany O’Grady), Cyrus (James Morosini), Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), and the rest of the gang—show up with decades of baggage.
Then Forbes arrives.
Forbes (David Thompson) was the guy kicked out of college years ago. He shows up with a literal "black box" and tells everyone he’s invented a way to swap consciousness. He calls it a game. Naturally, because they're young, attractive, and bored, they all agree to hook themselves up to electrodes.
The first round is a novelty. "Hey, look, I'm in your body! This is weird!" But as the movie progresses, the "game" stops being about discovery and starts being about theft. They're basically playing a high-stakes version of "Mafia" or "Werewolf," trying to guess who is inside which skin.
It's a mess. A beautiful, chaotic mess.
The Ending Everyone Is Freaking Out About
If you’ve seen the film, you know the last twenty minutes feel like a fever dream. If you haven't, well, major spoiler alert: everything you thought about Forbes was a lie.
The biggest twist in the It's What's Inside movie is that the "Forbes" we see for 90% of the runtime isn't Forbes at all. It’s his sister, Beatrice (Madison Davenport). She’s been in his body the whole time, orchestrating the entire night as a revenge plot against Dennis (Gavin Leatherwood) for ruining her life in college.
She wasn't just there for a reunion. She was there to steal a life.
By the end, Beatrice successfully swaps into Nikki’s body—the beautiful, famous influencer—and walks away with Dennis’s family fortune. Meanwhile, the real Forbes is stuck in Beatrice’s body, and half the friend group is either dead or trapped in the "wrong" skin. It's bleak.
Why the Visuals Matter (The Red and Green Lights)
Greg Jardin does something really clever with the cinematography that you might miss if you're just looking at your phone. He uses specific lighting cues to help the audience keep track of the chaos.
When the characters are in their "swapped" state, Jardin often uses a red-lit, stylized look to show us the actual person inside the body. It’s like a peek behind the curtain. Then there’s the green light, which usually represents the physical environment or the "mask" they are wearing.
This isn't just for style. It’s a necessity. With eight characters constantly jumping between bodies, the audience needs these visual anchors. Without them, we’d be as lost as Cyrus trying to figure out why his girlfriend is acting so weird.
Let's Talk About Shelby and Cyrus
Their relationship is the beating heart of the movie, and it’s a pretty rotten heart. Shelby is desperately insecure, constantly comparing herself to Nikki. Cyrus is... well, he’s a bit of a jerk who clearly has a thing for Nikki.
The movie uses the body-swapping to expose their rot. At one point, Shelby (in Nikki's body) tests Cyrus. She wants to see if he'll stay faithful to her spirit or give in to the "hotter" exterior. He fails. Miserably.
A lot of people on Reddit have been arguing about whether Shelby is a hero or a villain at the end. She leaves Cyrus in jail for a crime he didn't technically commit (well, he was in the body that did it). Is it "gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss" energy, or is she just as unhinged as the rest of them? Honestly? She's probably just as messed up. That's the point. Nobody in this house is a "good" person.
The "Anxiety Chic" Aesthetic
Director Greg Jardin has called the movie’s style "anxiety chic," and it fits. The editing is fast. The music is a jarring mix of classical scores and modern beats. It feels like a panic attack looks.
I think that's why it's been such a hit on Netflix. It captures that modern feeling of never being "enough"—not pretty enough for Instagram, not successful enough compared to your college friends, not interesting enough to keep your partner's attention.
Fact Check: Is the Body-Swapping Scientifically Explained?
Not really. And that’s a good thing.
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The movie treats the machine as a "MacGuffin." We know there are electrodes. We know there’s a suitcase. We know it works. If the script spent thirty minutes explaining quantum entanglement or neural mapping, the pacing would have died. It’s a sci-fi thriller that cares more about the consequences of the tech than the tech itself.
Why It’s What’s Inside Is One of the Best of 2024
It’s rare to find a movie that feels this original. Sure, it takes notes from Bodies Bodies Bodies and maybe a little bit of Coherence, but the execution is singular.
- The Acting: The cast had to play multiple "souls" in one body. Watching James Morosini channel the different personalities is a masterclass in physical acting.
- The Pacing: It never drags. Once the machine is turned on, the tension just ramps up until the final, devastating reveal.
- The Social Commentary: It asks the question: if you could be anyone else, would you still be you? Or would you become the worst version of yourself?
What to Do After You Watch
If you're still reeling from that finale, you aren't alone. The best way to process the It's What's Inside movie is to go back and watch the first twenty minutes again. Now that you know Forbes is actually Beatrice, all of his—her—lines take on a completely different meaning.
Keep an eye on the way "Forbes" interacts with Dennis. Look at the way she handles the suitcase. Every single move was calculated from the second she stepped into that mansion.
Ready for your next watch? If you liked the "group of friends in a house" tension, you should check out Coherence (2013) or The Invitation (2015). They don't have the body-swapping, but they definitely have the "I don't trust the person sitting next to me" vibe down to a science.