Throughout the past couple of weeks, I have been seeing edits on TikTok for a Netflix film called It’s What’s Inside. While I was intrigued by cinematography and “comedy-horror” genre (one of my favorites), I was too busy to really look into the film further.

Flash-forward to last Wednesday morning, I had just boarded my flight back to New York for Thanksgiving break. After connecting to the Delta Fly-Fi and putting in my AirPods, I opened Netflix to find something to watch. Lo and behold, It’s What’s Inside was on the trending page. I immediately recognized the title and began watching. Without TikTok, this film wouldn’t have really been on my radar when scanning through Netflix.

I could not have been more impressed with this film, and I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for a visually pleasing and wildly entertaining experience. It’s What’s Inside follows the a group of college friends who get together for a party before their friend’s wedding. The group has a very complicated dynamic, which is explored further through a “body-swap” game using their scientist friend’s secret device.

While the plot does sound wacky, I was thoroughly entertained throughout the entire film. Since the friends switch bodies multiple times across the course of the film, it was a little confusing to keep track of who’s who. Nevertheless, the ingenious use of red lighting to indicate the “real” characters inside each body helped to ease that confusion.

That takes me to my absolute favorite part of the film – the cinematography. This film was one of the most unique films, visually speaking, that I have ever seen. Therefore, I wasn’t surprised to learn that it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.

Along with utilizing colored lighting to show “who’s who” during important scenes, the film also employed many impressive and unique visual techniques to move along the narrative.

One of the most interesting techniques, in my opinion, occurred during a flashback sequence near the beginning of the film. Instead of a normal flashback scene, a stop-motion-esque technique was used to explore the characters’ past during an integral moment in their lives. This scene was visually pleasing and I had never really seen anything like it before (so much so that I actually had to rewind and watch it over again).

I have seen many “body-swap” films in my life (i.e. Freaky Friday (2003) and Freaky (2020)), but none have handled the “swapping” sequence as well as It’s What’s Inside. In this film, the “swap” wasn’t just a scene, but an experience for the senses. As a viewer, I was completely overwhelmed (in a good way) by the colors, sounds, and fast cuts. In fact, I actually felt like was experiencing this inside moment along with the characters themselves.

Without spoiling anything, I also appreciated It’s What’s Inside‘s new approach to this film genre. Body-swap comedies have been done to death in recent years, so this was a welcomed change. The plot was consistently engaging and entertaining without getting to the point where it was too over-the-top. The dynamic between the characters was very intriguing and only became more interesting as the movie (and swapping) went on. Additionally, the final twist was completely unexpected! (Okay…I called it a couple of moments before it happened, but it was entertaining nonetheless).

While Netflix often gets a bad rap for their films (sometimes for good reason), I was very impressed by the quality of It’s What’s Inside. Oftentimes, people equate social media and streaming with “cheap and uninspired” films. While this is sometimes the case, there is also the possibility of finding hidden gems.

Through my search history and recently viewed videos, TikTok suggested It’s What’s Inside edits to me way before I even knew what it was. Since social media feeds are curated towards our own interests, maybe we can use them to our advantage. After seeing different edits of the film, I knew that it would be up my alley. In the future, I will definitely make an effort to explore my feed when I am in search for new movies that I may enjoy.

If you are planning on watching It’s What’s Inside, I recommend watching it on a large screen. After using my phone to view it on the plane, I decided to watch it again on my TV. I highly suggest the latter for a much better experience.