Netflix’s new sci-fi horror comedy It’s What’s Inside has quickly become one of the platform’s most talked-about films of 2024. What looks at first like a familiar “party game gone wrong” setup evolves into a psychological thriller that pushes far past the usual horror-comedy formula.
The movie dropped on October 4, 2024, following its splashy debut at Sundance earlier in the year, where Netflix acquired worldwide rights for a reported $17 million — the biggest deal of that festival. The buzz was immediate, and for good reason: the story taps into classic body-swap tropes while also speaking to modern anxieties about identity, authenticity, and the way we present ourselves in social spaces.
A Party Game Turned Nightmare
The plot begins innocently enough: a group of college friends gather for a pre-wedding celebration. The reunion takes a sharp turn when an estranged guest introduces experimental body-swapping technology. What starts as a Mafia-style social deduction game soon becomes a terrifying experience. Characters find themselves trapped in unfamiliar bodies, and when deaths start happening during the swaps, the stakes become deadly.
A Breakout for Writer-Director Greg Jardin
The film marks the feature debut of writer-director Greg Jardin, and it’s an ambitious one. Shot in Portland, Oregon, over just 18 days and largely confined to a single location, the movie shows how lean productions can still deliver big impact. Jardin himself used a detailed Photoshop map to track which character’s consciousness was inside which body at any given point — a necessity given the film’s intricate swapping mechanics.
This complexity places heavy demands on the ensemble cast, who must embody multiple personalities throughout the story. Critics have singled out David W. Thompson’s performance as Forbes, along with the ensemble’s ability to convincingly switch identities without losing the thread of the narrative.
Why It Stands Out in the Genre
It’s What’s Inside isn’t the first film to use a party game or body-swapping as a premise — movies from Clue to Freaky Friday to Ready or Not have walked similar ground. But what sets Jardin’s take apart is its emphasis on psychological tension rather than gore or cheap scares. The film blends horror, comedy, sci-fi, and thriller elements in a way that feels surprisingly coherent.
That balancing act is one reason critics have praised its editing style, sharp visual design, and willingness to explore deeper themes about how people perform different versions of themselves in front of others — a reflection of our current, social media-driven age.
What It Means for Streaming and Indie Film
The acquisition of It’s What’s Inside also says a lot about where Netflix is putting its money. With heavyweights like Colman Domingo and Raúl Domingo on board as executive producers, the film shows how independent projects with high-concept ideas can land serious backing from major platforms. For filmmakers, it’s a reminder that tightly budgeted, inventive horror comedies can find their audience on streaming even if theatrical prospects are limited.
The Bigger Picture
For Netflix, the bet has already paid off. The film has been well-received by both critics and viewers, and it points to a growing appetite for horror comedies that are smart, stylish, and conceptually bold. For the genre itself, it offers a kind of blueprint: you don’t need massive budgets to get audiences talking, just a fresh idea and the craftsmanship to pull it off.
In the end, It’s What’s Inside works on two levels — as a tense, body-horror thriller and as a timely commentary on identity and authenticity in the digital age. It’s the kind of film that starts as a party game and ends as a mirror, asking us what we really show the world and what we keep hidden.
