They Live Inside Us

I stumbled upon the 2020 horror movie "They Live Inside Us" here in 2022 by random chance. And I will say that the movie's cover definitely was interesting, and it was sufficient to make me pick up the movie and give it a view.

As I had never heard about writer and director Michael Ballif's movie, "They Live Inside Us", I didn't know what I was in for here, nor what to expect. So I sat down to watch the movie with an open mind and giving writer and director Michael Ballif every opportunity to impress and entertain me.

However, writer and director Michael Ballif failed to do just that. Sure, I managed to sit through the entire movie in all its 104 minutes, but I was not overly entertained, much less impressed with the movie. The narrative felt clumsy and sort of not properly thought through, and that made for a somewhat cluttered viewing experience.

And the rigid, emotionless and wooden acting performances in "They Live Inside Us" didn't exactly help to win me over either. I wasn't familiar with the cast ensemble in the movie, but they surely didn't stand out with putting on exceptional good acting performances.

For a horror movie then "They Live Inside Us" was a walk in the park. Nothing scary here throughout the course of the somewhat disjointed narrative. And for a life-long horror aficionado like myself, this movie was a swing and a miss in terms of being scary or noteworthy in the horror genre.

While I managed to sit through the entire ordeal, then I can honestly say that I am never returning to watch "They Live Inside Us" a second time. Nor is it a movie that I would recommend you waste your time, money or effort on.

My rating of "They Live Inside Us" lands on a three out of ten stars.

I enjoyed this film. The style and camera shots throughout the movie looked very professional considering its small budget. As well as this, the music and sound effects used create a great bone-chilling atmosphere that is consistent throughout the course of the movie. However sadly, the acting lets the movie down a bit, don't get me wrong, the acting was convincing enough but was a little rough round the edges. Overall though, I enjoyed this film even if the acting could be improved upon.

The film started well with two kids bicycling around n as they approach an abandoned house, hope starts to rise when they show a ghost near the window.... But as soon as a writer along with his physically challenged kid moves into the same house on a Halloween nite, the film became very predictable. We see the typical stuff, some same scenes over n over again, just two characters in a single location n nothing scary happens. Generous with a 4 for the effort cos this cud have been a good scary movie if they wud have added some new thing rather than the predictable stuff. U jus cant show purgatory stuff for 100 mins n expect fellas to get scared.

Somebody you knew would just die? That's how I felt watching this catastrophe. I wanted the main character to die so fast, so often, so much, just so there would be something going on in the movie. It actually started off not bad. And by started off, I mean with the kids on the bike. As soon as the actual lead character showed up, everything went down hill. And the plot you figured out 2 minutes after he started speaking.

The male actor's bio says he's been recording and acting since he was a child with his father's camcorder. I'd like to see that. His acting in this was dry, droll, and irritating. He wasn't believable as a father or a writer. He wore the same thing the entire movie, even tho days were clearly changing. He spoke so softly that I had to laugh when he yelled at his daughter. And his crying with no tears was as bad as the people on Maury claiming they don't know who the father is. The daughter was ok. There really wasn't much for her to do. But I never understood why she wasn't in school. Or why he would bring her to this house, which was also never explained.

If you want a movie with no plot and no ending, and random characters thrown in with weird flashbacks, or flash forwards (couldn't really tell), then pick this up.

And I'm talking ten minutes looking at a bloody doorknob waiting for himself to open the damn door we know he's been meant to go through since the year dot. The entire script must have been made of up HOLDs. I think they thought it was arty? But any tension they managed to build up (which was very little) was lost in the hour-long breaks taken to look down a hallway or at a flippin wall. How many 'legs in the orange light under the doorway' and slack-jawed mouth-breathing darting-bug-eyed expressions can a viewer be subjected to? This question needs to be answered and communicated to the writer/director/editor/cameraman. Mind-numbingly boring and predictable.