Its, Inside….2.0

Stop me if you’ve heard this before! A heavily pregnant woman all home alone in the middle of nowhere, targeted by a mysterious intruder who wants nothing more than to cause bloodshed and mayhem, to harm her and the poor unborn baby that is due into this world. Yes, this does sound like we are reviewing the French noughties classic Inside aka À l’intérieur, but in fact its the new horror flick by writer-director tandem David Charbonier and Justin Powell who brought us the very good The Boy Behind the Door.

Comparisons will made no doubt to the 2007 fan favourite and to be fair, its hard to dismiss the notion but despite the obvious riff PUSH does contain enough suspense and lingering dread to make most horror fans squirm with delight, even though it does go a bit crazy and ridiculously dumb as it reaches the final third act.

Alicia Sanz plays Natalie, heavily pregnant and also traumatised by the loss of her partner after a tragic car crash who decides against her better judgement to do an open house in the middle of nowhere on a place that has a dodgy chequered history where death lingers in the air. Why she decides to do this while eight months pregnant will be a question that floats long in the air for any horror veteran? but I am guessing the modern cinemagoer will state “Why can’t you be eight months pregnant and do an open house, miles from anywhere in a place where the last residents died?”. Well the reason you shouldn’t is simply what the plot offers!

A lingering opening in which Natalie walks through the house on her own while wearing a beautiful white dress is expertly created as we the viewer are not looking at her but each crack and corridor of the vast mansion in anticipation that something or someone may be lurking. Its a riff of the Paranormal Activity films in which we know each shadow of the room could mean a horror moment and its beautifully filmed to the point that you are already sensing dread that something is going to appear at any moment.

A knock on the door and the appearance of The Client (Raúl Castillo) who is obviously not interested in buying the house, soon spells danger for Natalie and its here the movie sparkles with delight and threatens to become a strong contender for being one of the best horror films of 2025. But it doesn’t quite eventually work like that which despite some wonderful tension filled moments, a frustrating nag appears for us watching.

Flickering lights, ominous music playing on its own, her own car not starting as she tries to leave are all red flags to imminent danger, but somehow Natalie is obvious to all this, trying to find some rational reason for like why the guy she called to fix her car as suddenly disappeared. Its odd moments in an otherwise strong film that overshadow the magical delights in which we finally get rewarded for the scene of Natalie walking and we glimpse the danger behind, all Michael Myer style, that get our horror juices flowing and you can’t help but be hooked by the danger unfolding.

A cat and mouse game begins as the each corridor of the house becomes like a maze and while INSIDE went for a memorable gory finale, here its all about the action with a labyrinth of underground tunnels beginning the swift to a third act that can only be described as going into a direction of high-octane dumbness, a simple home invasion set-up turning into hints of the supernatural with dreamlike scenarios that baffle more than actually entice.

PUSH for all its impressive camerawork and great build up, simply becomes muddled, unsure of what horror genre in belongs to and while there is a lot to enjoy within its lean mean running time, if anything its end of credits stinger proves that in-between the delightful moments there is a nonsensical narrative drive that drags the quality to a confusing and frustrating level.

2.5 Hatchets out of 5

PUSH is now available to stream on SHUDDER