A zany body swap thriller……

There was a time in the 80’s where the body swap genre was a huge fan favourite at the box-office. We had Fred Savage swapping bodies with Judge Reinhold in Vice Versa to Steve Martin becoming a woman in All of Me and Dudley Moore joining in the craze in the much forgotten Like Father Like Son.

The blue-print has never really disappeared with the likes of Buffy swapping places with Faith and of course Lindsey Lohan having a Freaky Friday that was so popular that she is having another one along with Jamie Lee Curtis in the impending sequel.

Brining the formula back big time is this accomplished debut by first time writer and director Greg Jardin that in an age of Social Media seems a perfect fit to such a concept that manages to bring horror, comedy and thrills and a zany energetic buzz that makes “Its What’s Inside” such a clever and stunning watch.

From the opening moments you can’t help but be swept in. A stale love life leads to Shelby (Brittany O’Grady), donning a wig and dressed to impress in hope to seduce her boyfriend Cyrus (James Morosini) who seems more than happy to watch porn on his laptop than to pay any attention to a girlfriend who is clearly in love with him. There is a great sense of foreboding as this young woman feels she needs to be someone else to get noticed and its little moments like that which sparkle with delight as the plot progresses.

After the bedroom failure they drive off to a friends reunion in which in the car on the way Shelby can’t help but feel envious as she looks at her friend Nikki (Alycia Debnam-Carey), social media posts, clearly popular with thousands of likes compared to her own in which she feels the need to delete an entry if it doesn’t get the required ticks of popularity.

The celebration is for the wedding of their friend Reuben (Devon Terrell), a weekend of drunken debauchery awaits in which the gang of seven have the required catch up on how life has been and the jokes flow until there is a knock on the window and in walks Forbes (David W. Thompson) a friend who they haven’t seen for years and who just happens to be carrying a mysterious briefcase.

The get together quickly becomes a game night as Forbes opens his suitcase and convinces the gang to play something he has created. All wired up to a machine and not knowing what to expect, a simple flick of a switch brings gasps and horror as the whole gang realise they have swapped bodies. The aghast soon turns to curious, before heading towards the fun building up to a frenetic two rounds of who is who in which eventually leads to some devasting revelations, the fragile cracks and insecurities coming to the fore all in spilt screen and neo lighting which is just so damn captivating.

To say anymore would be a spoiler as there is enough twists and turns that thankfully manages to keep up with the high pace as Jardin wastes no time in selling the concept and the film feels so brisk that much like the characters with the game, you’ll get addicted to all the going’s on, the only flaw being is that at times its hard to keep track on what character is in what body but thanks to the fact that its so mean-spirted which makes it even more delightful, any gripes are quicky put aside.

With Freakier Friday on the horizon, it seems the body horror/comedy/genre is making a comeback of sorts, but already it seems Generation Z may already have a classic with this drug-hallucinating tale….

4 Hatchets Out of 5