It's What's Inside is one of the best Netflix movies of the year, building to an ending that delivers a final twist that changes everything and leaves you second-guessing yourself.
The must-see thriller is another spin on the 'Gen Z party game goes wrong' vibes of Bodies Bodies Bodies and Talk to Me. This time it comes with a sci-fi twist as a group of friends reunite for a pre-wedding party, and one of them has brought a body-swapping machine.
So begins an existential twist on classic party games like Werewolf and Mafia, and like those games, it's eventually revealed that the group can't trust everybody who's taking part in the game.
But if you were a bit confused by the frantic ending of It's What's Inside, let's delve into it to explain who ended up in whose body, whether Shelby is really Shelby at the end and any other questions you have.
It's What's Inside explained: Who ended up in whose body?
It's tech bro Forbes who brings the experimental machine to the party, having been estranged from the group for nearly a decade. Back then, there was a birthday party where his underage sister Beatrice got drunk, leading to Forbes being expelled from college.
Everybody is a bit sceptical about trying the game first as a result, but they soon get into it. The idea is that Forbes switches the bodies and then everybody has to guess who ends up in whose body.
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The first round is relatively incident-free, except for a weird moment where Forbes pretends to be Cyrus in Dennis's body when Cyrus is actually in Reuben's body. It does at least allow Cyrus in Reuben's body to make out with Nikki, who he has long lusted after despite being with Shelby for nine years.
(This is all important for later though, so remember all of this.)
It's in the second round where things spiral out of control. Before we go into it, it's probably easier if we outline who's in whose body to refer back to if needed.
• Shelby in Nikki's body
• Cyrus in Forbes's body
• Reuben in Dennis's body
• Brooke in Maya's body
• Dennis in Cyrus's body
• Maya in Shelby's body
• Forbes in Reuben's body
• Nikki in Brooke's body
Reuben is getting married the next day, but he can't stop thinking about Maya who he used to be with. When Reuben is in Dennis's body, he spots his chance to make out with 'Maya' when Brooke is in her body.
Unfortunately, they start to make out on the roof and the building hasn't been kept up to scratch, so it crumbles and they both fall to their deaths. Important to remember though – this means that Brooke and Reuben are dead, while Maya (who is in Shelby's body) and Dennis (who is in Cyrus's body) are still alive.
Maya and Dennis refuse to switch back to the 'vacant' bodies of Reuben and Brooke, with Dennis even going as far as to call the police as Cyrus, claiming that Cyrus pushed the two to their deaths.
While this is all going on, Forbes attempts to escape with the machine, but Nikki knocks him out and they tie him up. Shelby is the only other one who knows how to work the machine, but refuses to switch out of Nikki's body.
Cyrus pleads with Shelby that he wants to be with her and not Nikki. However, Maya is also there and when Cyrus reveals that he was actually in Reuben's body in round one, remembers that when she was in Nikki's body in round one, Cyrus made out with her.
Shelby gives Cyrus an offer that he isn't able to resist. She'll stay in Nikki's body and switch him to Reuben's, leaving Dennis to deal with the police (as Cyrus) and the two of them will run away together.
The problem is that Nikki has her own deal going with Forbes to switch everybody back to their own bodies, except to put Dennis into Forbes's body and Forbes into Reuben's body. Nikki needs to get Shelby to agree to let Forbes look at the machine set-up, so she intentionally triggers her own peanut allergy in her body.
Shelby is still in her body so would die if 'Nikki' dies, and Nikki will only give her the EpiPen if she lets Forbes check the machine. He does so and then presses the button as Shelby gets the important EpiPen injection to save her life/Nikki's body.
What none of them realise, though, is that Forbes has never actually been at the party. The coda reveals that Beatrice has been in Forbes's body the entire time – and she's out for revenge for what happened at that fateful party a decade ago.
If you were really paying attention, you could have spotted this twist earlier. "When Forbes is explaining how to play the game, he says, 'The Dungeon Master can't make guesses, nor can she or he win'," writer-director Greg Jardin told TUDUM.
"Which is meant to be a very slight Easter egg [pointing] to the fact that it's actually a female, not [a] male, saying that."
Forbes had been visiting Beatrice at the institution where she was sectioned after having a "huge" episode at that party. He thought the machine would "reconnect" them, but she ended up knocking him out, leaving Forbes in Beatrice's body while she went to the pre-wedding party.
"This whole time she's just been stewing, festering, waiting to get back at you, me, everyone," Forbes (in Beatrice's body) tells Dennis (who is now in Forbes's body) when he arrives at the wedding venue the next day.
When Beatrice got a chance to check the machine before the final switch, she enacted her final revenge with who she chose to put where. It ended up like this:
• Dennis in Forbes's body
• Beatrice in Nikki's body
• Maya in Brooke's body
• Shelby back in her own body
• Cyrus back in his own body
• Nikki in Reuben's body
Beatrice took the trust fund money out of Dennis's account when she was pretending that she was Cyrus inside Dennis's body in round one (we told you it was important). It frames Cyrus for taking the money before he apparently pushed Dennis to his death.
And more importantly, it leaves Beatrice with a lot of money to enjoy her fresh start in life as social media influencer Nikki.
But can we be sure Shelby is really Shelby? Let's dig into it.
It's What's Inside ending explained: Was Shelby really Shelby at the end?
With all the body-swapping going on, we don't blame you if you're a bit sceptical that Shelby is really Shelby when she visits Cyrus (who is definitely Cyrus) in prison in the final scene of It's What's Inside.
It definitely is Shelby, though, partly because of process of elimination as there's no other combination of bodies, but also because of what she knows. She reveals to Cyrus that the offer to stay in Nikki's body was all a test and Cyrus's answer proved that he was lying to Shelby for their entire relationship.
As a result, she isn't going to help out Cyrus and goes along with the story that he was "super high" at the party, the game was all pretend and he really did push Dennis and Brooke to their deaths after transferring Dennis's trust fund to an offshore account.
But if you're confused as to why Beatrice let Shelby have the only happy ending (aside from her own), there's a crucial bit of information earlier in the movie. When they first arrive at the party, Shelby has to be reminded of what happened to Forbes as she was never at that fateful party.
Beatrice had no reason to be annoyed at Shelby for what transpired and probably felt something in common with her. Dennis lied to everybody about sleeping with Beatrice when he was with Nikki, and Cyrus has constantly lied to Shelby by pretending not to be in love with Nikki.
When Beatrice (in Reuben's body) in round two suggests that Shelby test out Cyrus's love with the Nikki offer, Shelby says, "You wouldn't get it" about why she wanted to stay in Nikki's body. Beatrice responds: "Get what? How liars get away with shit?"
Beatrice made sure that Cyrus didn't get away with his lie and as Shelby tells him in prison, it was "the last lie you are ever going to tell me".
"[Beatrice] can relate to Shelby," David Thompson – who plays Forbes, although really he played Beatrice throughout – told TUDUM. "Shelby and I have both been victimised in ways by these guys."
It's What's Inside is out now on Netflix.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
