After writing many sweet and romantic young adult novels, Stephanie Perkins turned to the horror genre, and her 2017 book There's Someone Inside Your House is terrifying and well-written. Makani Young is living in Nebraska with her grandma after a horrible trauma that she is still dealing with. The Netflix movie adaptation was released on the streaming service in October 2021, and while some elements remain the same (most of the characters, the setting, and Makani's difficult past), some major changes altered the meaning and tone of the story.
While it's an entertaining watch, it isn't anywhere near as good as it could be. The adaptation of There's Someone Inside Your House wastes perfectly good source material, as it's possible that the film would feel much stronger and more cohesive if it had followed the novel more closely.
While the streaming platform has some incredible horror TV shows, sometimes a Netflix horror movie falls flat, and There's Someone Inside Your House wastes a great opportunity with its opening scene. In the novel, the killer targets Haley, a sweet student who is home alone after school. An egg timer gets moved around, which is perfectly creepy and a nice detail that stands out. In the film, a jock named Jackson Pace (Markian Tarasiuk) is murdered in his home, but the idea of a mean high school athlete deserving to die doesn't feel all that unique.
One main problem with the Netflix adaptation of There's Someone Inside Your House is that the killer has been changed from the book. That totally changes the entire story. When teenagers in her town are suddenly being murdered, Makani is understandably shaken and scared. In the novel, David is the killer, a teenage boy who is devastated and angry that his classmates are going to leave their tiny town and do something with their lives. He decides that killing them is the best way to work through his emotions. In the movie, rich kid Zach Sanford (Dale Whibley) is behind the murders, and although he's a terrible and cruel person, this doesn't feel all that interesting or meaningful. It's hard to really understand his motivation or get a good grasp of his character and who he is.
While there are some underrated teen horror movies, there are just as many that feel lackluster, and There's Someone Inside Your House decides to make all of the high school victims bad people who deserve to die. They also each have secrets that they don't want anyone to find out about. There are many teenage thriller TV shows about secrets, from Pretty Little Liars to One Of Us Is Lying, so th movie doesn't feel compelling enough.
There's Someone Inside Your House has been compared to slasher films like Scream, and while Scream talks about horror rules and has many features that stand out, this movie doesn't feel that inventive. The reason why the killer goes after people just doesn't add up. When the teens attend a massive gathering at Zach's house, Makani's friend Rodrigo Doran's (Diego Josef) secret comes out: he's addicted to pills. Zach murders Rodrigo, which feels needlessly cruel as he's a kind person who is struggling.
The movie's premise falls apart here as it seems like only mean teenagers are being murdered, but Rodrigo did nothing wrong, so this doesn't make sense. David's desire to kill people his own age for having dreams and wanting to leave town is much more interesting, and the movie would work a lot better if this was kept the same. Killers are often getting revenge for a past wrong or they're targeting people who they know, so this is a really original premise, and it would have made for a better reveal.
The movie also introduces the element of fire which is related to Makani's secret. It's scary that the killer starts a fire in the corn maze, but it also feels too easy, as Makani was part of a hazing ritual and accidentally burned a girl. In the book, her secret is still about hazing, but there's no fire. It doesn't really feel like Makani and her love interest Ollie Larsson (Théodore Pellerin) will die here so this moment isn't as horrifying as it could be. This is another missed opportunity for a more close following of the book.
As a novel, There's Someone Inside Your House is a scary read that is just as good as any well-crafted slasher movie. There's a clear setting, character development, and a murderer whose actions make sense. While horror fans will enjoy watching the Netflix movie There's Someone Inside Your House, especially if they like the genre of teen stories, it's hard not to wish for a more faithful adaptation of this amazing novel.
