July 06, 2024

There’s Someone Inside Your House Adaptation: Small Town Secrets

33 minutes

We begin by noting that this episode of the Fully-Booked: Literary Podcast is focused on young adult mystery thrillers, a genre that has become increasingly popular in recent years. To kick off the month, we’ve chosen to discuss the 2021 Netflix book adaptation of There’s Someone Inside Your House, based on a 2017 novel by Stephanie Perkins.

NoteThe following is an editorialized transcript of our weekly literary podcast. If you would like to listen to the podcast, click the play button above orlisten on your favorite platform with the links below.

There’s Someone Inside Your House: Synopsis

Courtesy of Netflix

The film has received mixed reviews, with a 4.9 out of 10 rating on IMDb and a 47% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite these mediocre ratings, the hosts express that they found the movie to be more enjoyable than the scores suggest, describing it as captivating and fast-paced.

The plot of the film takes place in a small fictional town called Osborne, Nebraska. We are introduced to a series of murders targeting high school students, with each victim harboring a deep, dark secret that is revealed as they are killed. The protagonist, Makani, is a transfer student from Hawaii who is also trying to escape her own mysterious past.

We are told that the killer wears 3D-printed masks of the victims’ faces during the murders, which is meant to be a poetic touch but is not executed particularly well. After each murder, the killer sends out mass messages to everyone in town, revealing the victim’s secret.

We discuss several characters introduced in the film, including:

* Jackson – The first victim, a football player involved in a hazing incident

* Caleb – A gay football player initially suspected of the murder

* Alex – A character who frequently points out issues of diversity and oppression

* Rodrigo – A student with a pill addiction

* Zach – A rich kid whose father is a disliked property developer

* Darby – A non-binary student in the protagonist’s friend group

* Katie – A racist and homophobic student who becomes the second victim

* Ollie – An outcast student who had a summer relationship with Makani

We learn that the film attempts to address various social issues, including racism, homophobia, and economic disparity in small-town America. However, we note that some of these attempts feel heavy-handed or poorly executed.

The conversation reveals that the killer’s motives and logic are somewhat unclear and unsatisfying, which may contribute to the film’s mixed reception. The hosts express particular disappointment with the murder of Rodrigo,