As a result, she has grown apart from her former best friend and fellow Indian student, Tamira, who is now a social outcast for acting withdrawn and carrying a strange glass jar.

The next day at school, Tamira privately approaches Sam for help, claiming that a supernatural entity from a story they were told as children actually lives in the jar and has been terrorizing her.

On October 14, 2021, Neon and QC Entertainment announced a partnership to produce a then-untitled debut feature from Dutta, starring Megan Suri, Neeru Bajwa, Vik Sahay and Betty Gabriel.

[7] Dutta explained:"After I moved to North America from India at the age of four, a lot of my social education came from watching American horror films.

I always wondered, what were families like mine doing while Bruce the shark tore through Amity's waters, while Freddy Krueger slashed teenagers in the dreamscape, and while Jack Torrance chased his son through the maze-like halls of the Overlook?

[10] Released alongside Expend4bles in the United States and Canada, the film made $2.6 million from 2,010 theaters in its opening weekend, finishing in seventh.

The website's consensus reads: "Effective horror with a strong core of social commentary, It Lives Inside is an eerily compelling calling card for filmmaker Bishal Dutta in his feature-length debut.

[11] Meagan Navarro of Bloody Disgusting gave the film a score of 3.5/5, writing, "Dutta uses a familiar framework of teen horror as an accessible introduction to underexplored mythology exacerbated by a cultural divide and adolescence.

"[15] The Hollywood Reporter's Lovia Gyarkye wrote, "The potency of It Lives Inside — and why it might be worth checking out even if it isn't wholly satisfying — lies in how it introduces Sam and Tamira's relationship and links it to Hindu lore.

"[16] Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com was more critical, writing, "While I appreciate the effort here and the quest for representation involving a culture that is not often seen in American horror, the execution misfires in every direction, leading to one of the most frustrating films I saw at SXSW this year.

"[17] Slant Magazine's Derek Smith wrote, "Had the film actually delivered some genuine chills, it would be easier to look past its derivative story, hollow characterizations, and overly literal symbolism of depression and alienation", and gave it 1.5/4 stars.

[18] David Fear of Rolling Stone wrote, "while the idea of using a supernatural scary movie as a starting point for exploring the second-gen immigrant experience... is rife with possibilities, the end result here doesn't necessarily make good on the promise of that premise.