If you’ve spent any time scrolling through the "Top 10 in the U.S. Today" recently, you’ve probably seen that neon-drenched thumbnail for It's What's Inside on Netflix. It looks like your typical Gen-Z slasher. Bright lights. Young, attractive people in a big house. A premise that feels a little like Bodies Bodies Bodies met a sci-fi nightmare. But once the suitcase opens, things get weird. Fast.
Directed by Greg Jardin, this flick isn't just another teen scream. It’s a puzzle box. Honestly, it’s the kind of movie that makes you want to keep a spreadsheet just to remember who is currently inhabiting whose skin. It premiered at Sundance to a massive amount of hype, and Netflix reportedly dropped $17 million to bag the worldwide rights. That is a lot of cash for an indie debut. But after watching it, you sort of get why they gambled. It’s stylish, it’s frantic, and it taps into that deep-seated insecurity we all have about whether our friends actually like us—or if they're just pretending.
The Setup That Goes Horribly Wrong
The story kicks off with a pre-wedding party. Forbes (played by David Thompson) shows up after being estranged from the group for years. He’s carrying a mysterious suitcase. Inside? A DIY machine that allows for total neural transplantation. Basically, you swap bodies.
The group decides to play a game. They call it "The Game," which is original, right? They put on masks, hook themselves up to the machine, and suddenly, Shelby isn't Shelby anymore. Cyrus is someone else. The audience is forced to keep up with the mental gymnastics of identifying characters not by their faces, but by their behaviors. It’s a nightmare for the characters, but a goldmine for the actors. Brittany O'Grady and James Morosini do a lot of the heavy lifting here, portraying the fraying edges of a long-term relationship that was already dying before the sci-fi tech entered the room.
What’s interesting about It's What's Inside on Netflix is how it handles the "rules." Usually, these movies have a strict set of logic points. Here, the logic is secondary to the chaos. Jardin uses color-coded lighting and specific camera movements to help the audience track who is who, but even then, it’s easy to lose the thread. That’s intentional. It’s supposed to feel like a fever dream.
Why the Hype is Actually Real
Most Netflix "hits" disappear after three days. This one stuck around in the conversation because it’s genuinely mean-spirited in a way most studio movies aren't. It doesn't care if you like the characters. Most of them are pretty terrible people. They’re influencers, trust-fund kids, and insecure narcissists.
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The film explores a specific kind of modern dysphoria. We spend so much time curating our digital selves that the idea of literally stepping into someone else’s life—their "better" life—is a terrifyingly relatable temptation. When the characters start realizing they can use someone else's body to commit crimes or sleep with people they shouldn't, the movie shifts from a fun sci-fi concept into a pitch-black social satire.
The Technical Wizardry of Greg Jardin
It’s rare to see a first-time feature director have such a clear visual language. Jardin comes from a music video background, and you can tell. Every frame of It's What's Inside on Netflix is meticulously planned. He uses split screens, frantic pans, and a rhythmic editing style that matches the heartbeat of the characters.
One of the coolest things he does is the "memory" sequences. When characters explain their past or their motivations, the movie doesn't just do a standard flashback. It uses a theatrical, staged aesthetic that feels like a play. It breaks the fourth wall without actually breaking it. This keeps the energy high even when people are just sitting around a room talking. Let's be real: a movie set almost entirely in one house can get boring. This doesn't.
Keeping Track of the Body Swaps
If you’re watching this and feeling confused, don’t worry. Even the cast admitted in interviews that they had to constantly check their "identity cards" between takes.
The core conflict centers on Shelby (Brittany O’Grady), who feels invisible in her relationship with Cyrus (James Morosini). When the swaps start happening, she finds a bizarre sense of liberation in being anyone else. But as the bodies start piling up—literally and figuratively—the game turns into a fight for survival. There’s a specific scene involving a roof and a polaroid camera that serves as the "point of no return." From that moment on, the movie stops being a comedy and becomes a full-blown thriller.
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What People Get Wrong About the Ending
Social media is full of people complaining that the ending of It's What's Inside on Netflix is too cynical. I'd argue it’s the only ending that makes sense. If you give a group of self-obsessed people the power to rewrite their identities, they aren't going to learn a "valuable lesson." They’re going to double down on their worst impulses.
The final twist—which I won’t spoil here just in case you haven't hit play yet—hinges on the idea of the "perfect trade." It asks the question: if you could steal someone's entire existence, would you do it? Even if it meant leaving your own soul in the trash? The movie doesn't blink. It looks you right in the eye and says "yes."
A Note on the Performances
Alicia Debnam-Carey (of Fear the Walking Dead fame) is great here as Nikki, the "famous" one of the group. She has to play several different versions of herself, and the subtle shifts in her posture and voice are impressive.
But the real MVP is David Thompson as Forbes. He’s the catalyst for the whole mess. He plays the "weird kid who grew up to be a tech genius" trope with just enough menace to keep you on edge. You never quite know if he’s doing this out of curiosity or revenge. Probably a bit of both.
How to Actually Enjoy This Movie
To get the most out of It's What's Inside on Netflix, you have to stop trying to "solve" it five minutes in. Just let the rhythm take over.
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- Pay attention to the clothes. The costumes stay with the physical bodies, which is your first clue when things get messy.
- Watch the eyes. Jardin spends a lot of time on extreme close-ups. The actors use their eyes to signal when a new "soul" has taken over the vessel.
- Don't look at your phone. This isn't a "background noise" movie. If you miss a thirty-second dialogue exchange, you will be lost for the next forty minutes.
- Listen to the score. The sound design is incredibly jagged. It uses sharp noises and distorted synths to emphasize the "wrongness" of the neural swap.
Where Netflix Goes From Here
This film is a prime example of the "Sundance-to-Streaming" pipeline working correctly. Netflix needs these mid-budget, high-concept thrillers to fill the gap between their $200 million blockbusters and their low-budget rom-coms. It’s What’s Inside proves that you don't need a massive CGI budget if you have a tight script and a director who knows how to use a camera.
It also highlights a trend in horror/thriller cinema: the "trapped in a room" subgenre is evolving. We’ve moved past the Saw era of physical traps. The traps now are psychological and technological. We are the ones building the boxes we get stuck in.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Watch
If you’ve already finished the movie and your brain is fried, here’s how to process what you just saw.
First, go back and watch the first fifteen minutes again. Now that you know where everyone ends up, the "tells" in the early dialogue are glaringly obvious. Forbes isn't just being awkward; he’s being tactical.
Second, check out Greg Jardin's short films. You can find some of his earlier work online, and you’ll see the DNA of this movie everywhere. He’s been obsessed with visual trickery and fast-paced editing for years.
Finally, if you liked the "group of friends turning on each other" vibe, pair this with a double feature of Coherence (2013). It’s a bit more grounded but deals with similar themes of identity and alternate realities. Both movies prove that the scariest thing in the world isn't a ghost or a masked killer—it's the person sitting across from you at dinner who knows all your secrets and decides they want your life for themselves.
The takeaway from It's What's Inside on Netflix is pretty simple: keep your friends close, but maybe don't let them plug their homemade machines into your brain. Some doors, once opened, can't be shut, and some bodies are better left inhabited by their original owners.