Shopworn concept improved by up-and-coming actor Odessa A’zion, who is insanely watchable in director Jerren Lauder’s American gothic taleDirector Jerren Lauder has levelled up his directing skills considerably since his debut feature, Stay Out of the F**king Attic from 2020.
Sure, the jump-scares, body-hopping demons and gore-letting represent the usual dime-store theatrics you expect from low-budget scare-’em-ups.
But there’s a lot more finesse here in the telling of the backstory, as well as an unsettling moody soundtrack by Sanford Parker, and a sense of menace lurking around every corner in the bland suburban setting; together it evokes indie “elevated horror” features such as It Follows.
But the component that really kicks The Inhabitant up a notch is the lead performance from young Odessa A’zion, who is insanely watchable as Tara, a troubled teenager in her final year of high school living with her lower-middle-class parents, Emily…
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