Netflix Serial Killer Thriller Exposes Everyone’s Dark Secrets

At its core, There’s Someone Inside Your House has a rock-solid premise that kept me interested. We’re immediately introduced to a masked killer who has a clear motive, and he (or she) has a distinct calling-card that’s not like anything I’ve ever seen before. The killer learns about their subject’s deepest and darkest secrets and taunts them by sending out a mass text message to everybody they know, but only before emerging from the darkness wearing a 3D-printed mask bearing their likeness and murdering them. 

Since all of this is made incredibly clear after the opening kill sequence, There’s Someone Inside Your House has a lack of urgency that kind of kills its premise. Not only does the film’s protagonist, Makani (Sydney Park), and her friends all have their own dark secrets that they don’t want to reveal to one another, there’s no tension because they are immediately aware of the killer’s modus operandi before we’re even halfway through the first act. I’m normally a fan of getting the exposition out of the way for the sake of pacing, but There’s Someone Inside Your House shot itself in the foot because what should have been the film’s first big reveal had very little time to gestate. 

Conversely, There’s Someone Inside Your House generates tension by making every single central character a suspect. Given how unphased everybody seems while their friends and classmates are getting brutally murdered in such a public way, I’ll admit I had no idea who the killer was until it was revealed to me. Everybody breaks curfew, shows up to the same parties and events, and are more or less present whenever the killer claims another victim, and this film does an excellent job making you wonder who’s the guilty party. 

There’s Someone Inside Your House also gets points for making everybody dishonest to a certain degree. Since the killer is aiming to expose some pretty awful behavior from each victim’s questionable past, it’s easy to point your finger at multiple suspects because everybody’s hiding something, and nobody’s truly innocent. Through this narrative construct, There’s Someone Inside Your House has a lot going for it. 

But still, I wish There’s Someone Inside Your House was either a little more serious with some comic relief or a just straight-up horror comedy. Not unlike the Scream franchise, everybody in this movie knew they were in a slasher movie and recognized the tropes. However, they knew a little too much because their fear didn’t seem genuine, which is especially disappointing because this movie tried to play it straight. 

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There’s Someone Inside Your House is one of those movies that boasts a brilliant idea but suffers from its own unsatisfying execution. I can’t fault it entirely because it tried doing something new, but it leaned too hard into its own gimmick in favor of generating any real tension that would make it a worthwhile viewing experience. At the end of the day, I’d put this modern slasher into “party movie” territory because the kills are pretty brutal, but not much more than background fodder while you’re doing something else a little more entertaining. 

You can stream There’s Someone Inside Your House on Netflix. If you’re like me, you’ll be impressed by the concept, but disappointed by the outcome.