Inhabitants (2025) Review
Punished for living in sin, a young man and his girlfriend are haunted by a malevolent paranormal entity from his past in spine-chilling new possession horror staring Josh Rivera and Anna Jacoby-Heron.
Exploring religious trauma through the haunted house horror sub-genre, Inhabitants is a suspenseful thriller from director Matt McClung (The Mad Whale) with a stellar cast including rising Hollywood star Josh Rivera (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, West Side Story), Anna Jacoby-Heron (Stranger Things, Contagion), Ana Auther (Sunset Beach, Days of Our Lives) and comedy icon Kevin Nealon (Saturday Night Live, Weeds).
Director Matt McClung’s INHABITANTS starts off terrifically. It establishes a sense of foreboding, it builds up the tension but cannot maintain the momentum in the film’s latter stages, slacking off in the second half rather than capitalising on what preceded it. Josh Rivera (from Spielberg’s take on WEST SIDE STORY) stars as Francis and Anna Jacoby-Heron co-stars as his partner Olivia. Both are likeable and therefore easy to warm to, and the actors have great onscreen chemistry, making for a credible onscreen couple.
Kicking off with a couple of highly effective jump scares INHABITANTS quickly establishes that Francis is being punished by the spirit of a religious person from his past who is none too keen on Francis and Olivia living together and not being wed. Add to that Olivia’s leanings towards all things of a new age persuasion rather than those of an established religion, such the Christian values Francis grew up with, and it all adds up to one very miffed spirit wanting to punish them both for their ‘sins’.
For an unknown title INHABITANTS is far better than you may expect. The performances are good, there’s a creepy sense of unease, and there is an incredibly shocking, wince-inducing ‘clipping’ scene that it is hard to not look away from. However, come the latter stages INHABITANTS starts to lack the thrills and chills of what preceded it, so perhaps a tighter ninety-minutes runtime may have prevented it from flagging. That said, I still warmly recommend it to all fans of the supernatural.
Inhabitants is on digital 26 January from Miracle Meida
Trailer
