Here’s a hot take: I love teen slasher movies. There is a wide range of quality in the genre, but mystery killer killing teens one by one is a genre that I almost always enjoy. There’s Someone Inside Your House is a solid entry in this genre, with some fun kills that will let you compare it to the classics, and a healthydose of Gen Z wokeness to make it feel more modern.

The story centres on Makani (Sydney Park), the not-quite-new-anymore girl in class who transferred to Nebraska to live with her grandmother and escape a past with a dark secret. She has a close group of friends, most of whom are social outcasts for one reason or another, but each of them has secrets.

Enter the killer, a person in a hoodie who wears a 3d printed mask of their intended victims faces, and stages elaborate sets upon which to execute their kills, and each kill forces the victims to confront whatever their dark secret is.

To say much more would spoil the fun, but suffice to say that the young actors are all good. Young’s career feels like it’s poised to ramp up after this and her appearance in Moxie earlier this year. The rest of the cast is adequate to the task, each bringing sincerity to their performances, but there are no real standouts among them. That said, Canadian actor Théodore Pellerin –who co-starred in last years Souterrain– appears in a supporting role here and I am glad to see his career gaining momentum, too.

A slasher is only as good as its villain though, and There’s Someone Inside Your House has a pretty good one. Not amazing, mind you, but having the killer wear a mask of their victims face is unsettling thematically on point. Each of the kills we get to see are brutal though, and director Patrick Brice has a keen eye for where to point the camera and when, especially in the opening sequence which has to show you so much of the kills while simultaneously showing you very little of the killer. Interestingly, that first scene is one of only a few where the title makes sense, too.

There’s Someone Inside Your House doesn’t do anything miraculous with it’s material, but it is a well made film with a talented young cast. The resolution of the “who is the killer” mystery is not really a surprise (if you’re paying attention, as always, you will figure it out well ahead of it being revealed), but when it is revealed there are some choice words spoken that give the film a nice up to date feel.

There’s Someone Inside Your House played as part of Fantastic Fest 2021 and will be released on Netflix on October 6th 2021.

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