Netflix film “It’s What’s Inside”, which was released on last Friday, is a cheerfully funny and confusing mix of comedy, horror, and thriller. I must confess that it was a bit too hard at times for me to follow whatever is happening among a bunch of main characters I did not care that much about, but I was entertained nonetheless by how the movie pushes its comically dark story premise to the end with enough style and mood.

The setup part of the story is pretty familiar to say the least. At first, we are introduced to Shelby (Brittany O’Grady) and her boyfriend Cyrus (James Morosini), and we subsequently see them going to a little evening part to be held at a big family house belonging one of their mutual friends of theirs, who invited them and their several friends for having some fun evening together before his upcoming wedding day on the next day. Due to the growing distance between them, Shelby and Cyrus are actually not so willing to go there, but they cannot say no just for keeping their appearance in front of others.

Not long after Shelby and Cyrus arrive at the house, there comes the last person to join the group. Although he has been quite estranged from others due to a serious incident which occurred during their college years, Forbes (David W. Thompson) got invited anyway, and, as a professional technician working in some IT company, he presents a very special device for their little game night. His friends are not so serious about that at first when he suggests doing a game via this special device, but, what do you know, they get their minds swapped among their respective bodies once he turns on that device for a test.

It goes without saying that everyone around Forbes is both surprised and disturbed by this very strange experience, but they eventually agree to do a game which is not so far from what most of you sometimes played with your friends for some evening fun. After getting their bodies swapped by Forbes again, they should guess the correct identity of whoever is actually inside their respective bodies, and this surely sounds like a lot of fun to them.

Of course, the mood gradually gets tense and unnerving as the main characters later come to find more of how much they can be free as hiding inside some other body. Although we cannot be entirely about who is who at times, the movie sometimes reveals the true identities behind those swapped bodies via a nice visual touch, and that certainly gives us some amusement especially when two certain swapped characters show more of their feelings to each other as enjoying being someone else.

During its second half, the movie eventually becomes a sort of cross between “Talk to Me” (2022) and “Bodies Bodies Bodies” (2022), and director/writer/editor Greg Jardin and his cinematographer Kevin Fletcher frequently emphasize the nightmarish circumstance of the main characters. While quite isolated from the outside, the house is decorated with various odd and weird stuffs thanks to the artist mother of the groom, and they look all the stranger with the striking utilization of light and shadow. For example, we instantly sense a trouble when a certain big sharp artwork is shown early in the film, and the movie exactly delivers what is expected at some point later in the film.

Because most of the main characters are quite superficial or unlikable, we often observe their plights from the distance without much care, but the movie has some nasty fun with how selfish and opportunistic its main characters can be. As coming to face more of the estrangement between them, Shelby and Cyrus have more doubts on their relationship, and, not so surprisingly, they come to focus more on their respective self-interest just like others around them. In case of their friends, they are no better than them at all, and some of the biggest laughs in the film come from one of them who is incidentally a popular (and very banal) online influencer.

Jardin’s screenplay stumbles a bit as arriving at the finale where everything in the story is hurriedly wrapped up along with a little unexpected plot turn, but it does not lose its sense of fun entirely. While you may feel a bit sorry for what eventually happen to some of its main characters, we all can agree that they richly deserve that for their folly and selfishness, and we surely get some another dark laugh from that.

The main cast members of the film certainly have a blast with playing several different roles along the story. While Britanny O’Grady and James Morosini have the most fun as we come to see more of their characters’ serious relationship problems, several other main cast members including Gavin Leatherwood, Nina Bloomgarden, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Reina Hardesty, and Devon Terrell are also well-cast in their respective roles, and David W. Thompson brings enough creepiness to the screen during the first act despite his rather thankless part.

On the whole, “It’s What’s Inside” could be improved more by more substance in terms of story and character, but its weak aspects are compensated enough by its wit and style at least, and it surely reminded again me that I should never, never, never play with something I do not understand at all. While this may not be the scariest stuff for the upcoming Halloween season, it is fairly dark and nasty enough in my humble opinion, and you may try it later along with your friends at any chilly autumn night.