Rishabh Shandilya
Directed by Bishal Dutta, ‘It Lives Inside‘ is a supernatural horror of 2023 featuring Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Mohana Krishnan, Betty Gabriel, Vik Sahay, Gage Marsh, and more. The movie follows the story of Samidha, an Indian -American girl who grapples with the challenges of embracing her cultural heritage while living in a culturally diverse society. The bond with her once-close friend fractures, leaving her feeling adrift and disconnected.
Unknowingly, Samidha unleashes a malevolent demon that thrives on her growing sense of isolation, feeding off her emotional vulnerability and loneliness. The film’s expert use of contrasting light and dark cinematography serves to enhance the terror elements and solidifies its place as one of the year’s best horror films. The tension is ratcheted up a notch, thanks to the way light and shadows work together throughout the story.
Samidha’s internal battle to find her place in society resonates strongly with audiences since it is reflective of the struggles of many people who have gone through or are going through the same thing. If you’re curious to see how the evil haunts Samidha and her family, here’s everything you need to know about the ending of ‘It Lives Inside.’ SPOILERS AHEAD!
It Lives Inside Plot Synopsis
Samidha (Megan Suri) is an Indian-American teenager who, rather than spending time with her mother, Poorna, prefers hanging out with her friends. On many occasions, Poorna (Neeru Bajwa) tries to teach Samidha about their East Indian culture, but she doesn’t show any interest. Samidha believes rituals and cultures like this would make her appear boring in front of her classmates and the boy she’s really trying to impress.
Samidha used to be best friends with Tamira (Mohana Krishnan), but their friendship deteriorated for unknown reasons. Some students at the school believe Tamira to be weird, and Samidha, rather than saying something, often chooses to stay quiet. Tamira always carries a mason jar wherever she goes for some reason. The voices echoing out of it suggest it to be holding some kind of demonic entity that feeds on flesh. Also, Tamira keeps repeating “Shanti Mantra” to keep the evil at bay.
Tamira meets Samidha in the school’s locker room and makes her swear that she will believe everything she says. Tamira states that something sinister lives inside the jar, and it only feeds on raw meat. At first, she believed she could control it by feeding it, but with time, it grew stronger and hungrier. Samidha, on the other hand, believes Tamira is lying and calls her a psycho. She even wrestles the jar off Tamira’s hand and breaks it, freeing whatever was trapped inside.
Tamira rushes outside, leading Samidha to follow her. She tries to calm her down, but Tamira keeps on chanting Shanti Mantra. Samidha rushes to get help, but some sort of evil entity grabs Tamira by her hair and abducts her. Next, we see Tamira waking up inside a box, wherein the invisible demonic entity attacks her and even burns her skin. Tamira’s mother files a missing persons report, and Poorna, Samidha’s mother, arranges for a special prayer for Tamira’s safe return.
Samidha learns about the Choudharys and asks his father, Inesh, what happened to them and why they stopped coming to their prayers. Inesh (Vik Sahay) reveals that when he first met the couple, he felt that they were running from something. Things escalated when, overnight, Karan’s (the couple’s son) behavior changed, and he began talking to something that wasn’t mortal. Tamira checks the journal, which she picked up earlier. The journal had KC initials on it, suggesting it belonged to Karan Choudhary.
The journal contains warnings and drawings of some kind of entity that feeds on raw flesh. Samidha also finds pages full of the number seven and, upon some googling, finds that it is the most important number in Hinduism. Number 7 represents seven days in a week, seven colors of the rainbow, and seven chakras. We also notice some kind of dark spirit standing behind Samidha, suggesting that whatever was trapped inside the jar now has its sights on Samidha.
Samidha reveals to Russ (Gage Marsh) that she doesn’t believe Tamira ran away, and there’s some connection between her and Karan Choudhary. She also shows Russ Karan’s diary, and the duo decides to check his house. Therein, they find strange drawings of some kind of evil feeding on human souls, similar to the ones sketched in the journal. However, before Russ and Samidha can investigate further, they have to leave the house after hearing police sirens. Unfortunately, Samidha drops the journal while leaving in haste.
Things start to go downhill from here. Samidha’s peaceful nights soon transform into something else. She begins to have nightmares about Tamira, where something is burning her alive. Not to mention, the dark figure, which disappears after flashing a light on it, further compounds her fear. Samira tries talking to her mother about this but ends up labeling her as a no-good “Desi Housewife.” Things take a dark turn when the demonic entity brutally kills Russ when he arrives at Karan’s house to fetch the journal. Samidha witnesses everything but can’t even lift a finger to save Russ.
Inesh and Poorna try to ask Samidha about what happened to Russ, but she chooses to maintain silence. She claims they won’t understand even if she tells them everything. Samida tries talking to her teacher, Joyce (Betty Gabriel), but the latter claims she’s hallucinating. Samidha shows Joyce the sketches she found in Karan’s house and requests her help. After probing further, Joyce informs Samidha that the demonic entity is a flesh-eating demon, referred to as “Pishach” in Hindu Mythology. The only way to trap or control a Pishach is to snare it inside some sort of vessel, like a jar.
Joyce offers to drop by Samidha’s house to comfort her, but Pishach attacks her. Poorna learns about the Pishach and cites the old stories that her Ayahs told her. According to the stories, a Pishach doesn’t kill you right away. It first isolates you from those who love you and kills anyone who tries to help. Samidha also realizes that the number 7 refers to the number of days a Pishach keeps its target alive before feeding on its victim’s soul.
It lives Inside Ending Explained: What Happens to Tamira?
Pishach infiltrates Samidha’s home and stabs Inesh in front of his wife and daughter. Poorna tries to distract Pishach with the food she cooked earlier, but it proves ineffective. Fortunately, the duo forces the Pishach to flee by chanting Shanti Mantra. Samidha finally realizes that the Pishach is keeping Tamira captive at Karan’s house and is planning to kill her tonight. Samidha arrives at the house and confronts Pishach by chanting the Shanti mantra.
However, the Pishach overpowers her and throws Samidha into the basement, where it is keeping Tamira. Samidha finds Tamira in a very bad state- her skin is burnt in multiple places, and the Pishach is constantly hurting her to feed on her agony and pain. Pishach enters the room and attacks Samidha again, but the latter grabs a jar and begins chanting the Shanti Mantra to trap the evil in the jar. Unfortunately, it proves ineffective, as Pishach wrestles the jar off Samidha’s hands and shatters it. Samidha remembers what Joyce told her, and with no choice left, she decides to become the vessel herself to trap the Pishach.
Samidha begins chanting the mantra with Tamira and eventually manages to trap the evil inside her body. The movie ends with Samidha and Tamira sharing a heartfelt conversation, with the latter thanking Samidha for coming back to rescue her. Even though the danger has now passed, Tamira worries that Pishach may return. The movie ends with Tamira swearing that it’ll never happen.
Is the Pishach Gone?
No! It still lives inside Samidha. As established earlier, an evil entity like Pishach can never be truly destroyed. It can only be contained. In the final moments of the film, Samidha understood the meaning of all those drawings sketched in Karan’s journal and his basement. Samidha conceded that the only way she could control the Pishach was by making herself a vessel to contain the Pishach, similar to the sages of Hindu mythology.
Toward the end, we also saw Samidha feeding on raw meat to keep the Pishach fed and dormant. However, this doesn’t mean that the danger has been lifted, as Pishach can break out and consume Samidha’s soul the moment she becomes weak. Not to mention, the tears rolling down Samidha’s eyes before the end credits hinted that she was having a hard time controlling the evil entity.
What Happened to Karan and his Family? Where Did Tamira Find the Jar and Karan’s Journal?
During the Pooja, Inesh informed Tamira that he knew something was off about the Choudharys the moment he met them. It felt like they were running from something they found in India. The couple had a son, Karan, who was brilliant and had great ambitions. Unfortunately, tragedy struck, and the evil his family was running from entered their life again. Karan desperately tried to save himself and his family but failed.
The Pishach burnt him from the inside and consumed his soul. The evil then massacred the rest of the family. However, before he died, Karan somehow managed to trap the evil inside the jar. As for Tamira, she found the jar and the journal when she visited Karan’s home to find out what really happened to his family. She brought the jar home and tried feeding it, but the evil inside grew stronger and escaped when Samidha threw the jar.
Read More: Where Was It Lives Inside Filmed?
