Cringey comedy films often lose my attention—so I’ve turned to gruesome, terrifying horror movies.

Recently, all snuggled up by the fireplace, I finished watching There’s Someone Inside Your House—a thriller that had me leaning closer to the warmth of the fire next to me, watching the shadows dance around the windows. 

Nobody suggested it or told me, “Wow this movie is awesome; you should definitely try it out.” I simply found it while scrolling through Netflix. What caught my eye was the cinematography presented in the trailer. The motion pictures captured with a dark, dim, unflattering effect drew me to click “watch.”

For the whole hour and 36 minutes, I was engaged—I never dozed off or turned my back to the film. I was drawn in like a fish on a fishing pole from the very beginning.

In this horrifying and gruesome movie, the main character, Makani Young (Sydney Park), battles a series of mysterious deaths in her new hometown of Osborne, Nebraska. After Jackson Pace (Markian Tarasiuk), a football player, is murdered at the start of the movie, Makani and her friends lose others from Osborne High school to the masked killer. 

A blaze of events builds the ultimate climax to the reveal of who the murderer is. 

With all the chaos in the world, I felt as if I could understand some of the decision-making by the main characters. We all have secrets, some more than others, but what will those secrets tell about us if we cease to cover them up—if all the insecurities of our past continue to define who we are? The connections between Makani and her firing secret in the back of her head showed just that. 

Within the first few minutes of staring at my screen, the eerie music intensified my fear each time it carried through each scene. In some cases, I was even anxious about who was next to disappear. 

Although I kept wanting the movie to deviate from the murders and focus more on the message of it, the movie did a great job dramatizing the aftermath of each death.  

For instance, after a new person was killed, some sort of video or secret would appear on the face of everyone’s phones—a news flash of who that individual was behind the act they put on. When Jackson was murdered, a video clip was released, and everybody witnessed the true bully that he was as they watched him beat up someone for their sexuality. 

I enjoyed the way I had to pay close attention to detail. Within the first scene, a timer was set, and though Jackson never touched it, it kept appearing in different rooms as if someone had been moving it, someone inside his house—I could never spot it when it was moved.

Although I sat back enjoying what was bestowed upon me, I disliked how realistic the blood of each of the victims was. The killings of each character were quite frankly disturbing.

Overall the detail of the film was spot on, but I wouldn’t consider it mind-blowing—in fact, I would not recommend it to anyone who finds gore sickening—even though it was subtle. It left me a little paranoid being home alone, but that’s what you should take away from a good thriller movie. 

There’s Someone Inside Your House could leave you with goosebumps or completely thinking that was a waste of your time.