Editorials
‘It Lives Inside’: The Legend of the Pishacha – The Terrifying Lore Behind Neon’s New Horror Film
One of the most frightening entities in all of Hindu and Buddhist folklore is a demonic being known as the Pishacha. Also called Piśāca, this sinister breed of flesh-eating creature has been compared to the Christian Devil and is believed to be the personification of pure evil. Pishachas are parasitic creatures who sow the seeds of chaos then feed on the resulting negative emotions. Bishal Dutta’s terrifying new film It Lives Inside brings this fearsome creature to life in a story that explores the horrors of adolescent cruelty as well as the dangers lurking around the edges of teenage angst.
Samidha (Megan Suri) is an Indian American high school student wrestling with her cultural identity. Trying to fit in with the popular crowd, she’s distanced herself from her traditional mother Poorna (Neeru Bajwa) and attempted to erase evidence of her earlier life. When Samidha’s childhood best friend Tamira (Mohana Krishnan) begins to act strangely, Samidha dismisses the poor girl’s disheveled appearance and the creepy mason jar clutched in her hands as a macabre play for attention. Smashing the jar in anger, Samidha accidentally unleashes an ancient evil – a Pishacha hellbent on devouring her body and soul. With a script co-written by Ashish Mehta, Dutta brings this bloodthirsty creature to life while exploring the relatable fears of adolescent insecurity and the overwhelming pressure to conform.
The Pishacha is a beast nearly as old as time itself. Said to be a creation of the Hindu god Brahma, the first mentions of the vampiric being appear in the Mahabharata, a Sanskrit epic chronicling the Kurukshetra War likely occurring around 3102 BCE. Pishacha are also mentioned in the Veda, a large collection of ancient religious texts and Hindu scriptures written in archaic Sanskrit during the 2nd millennium BCE. Dharmic religion and Puranic literature describe the Pishacha as powerful, but lesser demons who feed on base emotions such as fear and sorrow. Instigators of corruption, they are also said to have been formed by stray drops of water spilling from the creation of life, toxic byproducts of the universe itself. They are the sons of Krodha, a mental state similar to wrath or fury, and foster corruption and chaos in the lives of their victims.
The Pishacha thrive in darkness. Late at night they lurk in the shadows and torment their victims, sweetening the meat before going in for the kill. Though these malignant creatures can occupy any space, they particularly enjoy cross-roads, cemeteries, crematoriums, and other locations where the spirits of the dead are disincorporated from their earthly bodies. Sites of violent death or a particularly devastating tragedy would also appeal to the pain-eating fiend.
Pishacha may employ a multitude of devious tactics, but their main goal is usually the same: to create conflict, chaos, and pain. Because energy cannot be created–only shared, stolen, or displaced–Pishachas infest homes and corrupt positive energy in order to compound emotional devastation. Compared to its potential for destruction, the Pishacha’s methods are relatively simple. Having identified the most vulnerable member of the family, the Pishacha will try to enter in through simple vices like jealousy and temptation. A master of manipulation, this demonic entity has been known to possess the bodies of its victims or those that they love. This ruse is designed to break the bonds of trust and sever ties with those who may comfort the targeted individual.
As the targeted infestation intensifies, a Pishacha might drive the individual to more destructive behaviors like excessive drinking, drug use, and other forms of toxic pleasure. Arguments and anger will spread through the home as the Pishacha’s negative energy grows stronger. This causes further isolation, and the cycle repeats itself again and again. It’s a common tactic of this demon whose intent is to disrupt larger communities and ultimately the world. Entering its final stage, the negative energy begins to spiral out of control and spill into the larger community. Anyone who tries to assist may find themselves becoming the next victim.
Pishachas are manipulative manifestations of pure evil and little can be done to defeat them. Some say that anyone who lays eyes on this devilish monster will be doomed to die within six months. Others believe the creature can be killed using a blessed sword, however, this will result in the spirit of the Pishacha haunting the location of its destruction until the end of time. However, there are ways of keeping the monster at bay. Repeated offerings can appease the beast, feeding it just enough to suppress its deadly rage. Mantras can also be effective in combating the monster’s talent for corrupting positive energy. However, the best tool against the Pishacha may be love itself. If we can concentrate on gratitude, friendship, and human connection, we can hopefully keep ourselves out of the emotional shadows where the creature is known to lurk and safely stay in the healing light of positivity.
It Lives Inside hits theaters nationwide on September 22nd. Get tickets now!
Some movies are just so beloved that you can experience them through cultural osmosis without ever sitting down to actually watch them. From loving parodies to meticulous recreations of iconic scenes, memorable filmmaking lives on even after the curtains close on the silver screen. And when it comes to horror, few films can compete with the massive impact that Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining had on popular culture as a whole.
Whether or not you think the flick is a good adaptation of Stephen King’s seminal novel, 1980’s The Shining slowly but surely grew into one of the most influential genre movies ever made, inspiring everything from surprisingly heartfelt sequels to classic episodes of The Simpsons. However, not all The Shining references are created equal, and today I’d like to shine a light on six unexpected homages to Kubrick’s iconic film.
In this list, we’ll be focusing on references and Easter eggs that either came out of the blue or came from creators that you wouldn’t expect to be fans of this classic ghost story. That being said, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorite references to the Torrance family and the Overlook Hotel if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.
With that out of the way, onto the list!
5. A Nightmare on FaceTime – South Park (2012)
Regardless of the brand’s iffy reputation among former employees, the death of Blockbuster Video was a serious blow to fans of physical media. Of course, some folks were more affected by this than others, and South Park’s Randy Marsh definitely took things a little too far in the twelfth episode of the show’s sixteenth season.
Titled A Nightmare on FaceTime, the main plot of this 2012 story is a surprisingly faithful recreation of The Shining where Randy purchases an empty Blockbuster store and begins to go mad once he realizes that his investment may not have been a very good idea due to the rise of streaming and the now-defunct RedBox storefronts.
4. The Overlook Hotel Level – Ready Player One (2018)
I was never really a fan of Ernest Cline’s Ready Player One, so I viewed Stephen Spielberg’s divisive adaptation of the novel as an improvement over the source material despite having its own narrative issues. In fact, I actually prefer how Spielberg changed the story by removing several references to his own work and replacing a lengthy Blade Runner detour with an over-the-top homage to The Shining.
A CGI-heavy recreation of the film’s most iconic moments that feels like a big-budget ghost train ride set within the Overlook Hotel, this intense sequence is more of a recreation of the freaky aesthetics of The Shining rather than its mind-bending narrative. However, it’s still fun to see Spielberg make a heartfelt tribute to a filmmaker that was once his close personal friend.
3. IKEA Singapore Halloween Ad (2014)
It makes sense that commercials don’t typically borrow from the horror genre, as it might be a bad idea to scare away potential customers, but some references are just too much fun to pass up.
That’s probably why the publicists behind this Ikea ad from Singapore were allowed to turn their commercial into a genuinely unsettling recreation of Danny’s tricycle scene from The Shining. After all, nobody cares if your store is haunted so long as it offers late-night shopping hours and a large selection of merchandise that you can become lost in forever and ever…
2. The End of ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’ – Community (2014)
Community is no stranger to recreating iconic movie moments within the show, and the series had previously tackled horror tropes in episodes like the fan-favorite Epidemiology. However, the most laugh-out-loud moment on this particular list comes from a brief gag towards the end of the season five episode ‘Bondage and Beta Male Sexuality’.
The majority of this episode has nothing to do with scary movies, but there’s a brief subplot involving supporting character Chang and a possible encounter with ghosts that leads him to question his own existence. This subplot culminates in the episode’s hilarious ending where the camera zooms in on a black-and-white photograph of Chang in period clothing at some kind of celebration, just like Jack Nicholson at the end of The Shining.
However, the picture’s subtitle eventually reveals that it’s merely a conveniently placed keepsake from the ‘Old Timey Photo Club’.
1. The Overlook Hedge Maze Sequence – Zootopia 2 (2025)
Disney movies are pretty far removed from both the gruesome horror of Stephen King and the heady filmmaking of Stanley Kubrick, so I don’t think anyone was expecting the climax of last year’s Zootopia sequel to take place in an animated version of the snowy hedge maze from The Shining.
In this unexpectedly intense sequence, friend-turned-villain Pawbert Lynxley (an unhinged lynx cat played by Andy Samberg) chases our protagonists through a creepy labyrinth in a loving recreation of Jack Nicholson’s icy demise outside the Overlook Hotel. The actual ending here might be a little more child-friendly than what’s being referenced, but it’s amazing that the filmmakers were able to push the horror elements as far as they did – especially since the scene doesn’t really have anything to do with the rest of the movie.
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