Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Every self-respecting teen movie should come with a “bad boy who’s secretly a huge softie” character. Thankfully, Théodore Pellerin in There’s Someone Inside Your House—the new Netflix horror movie that is now streaming—understood the assignment.
Based on the 2017 book by Stephanie Perkins of the same name, There’s Someone Inside Your House tells the story of a high school senior named Makani Young (played by Sydney Park) who recently transferred to a new school. Unfortunately for Makani, there’s a serial killer on the loose who is killing students after exposing their deepest, darkest secrets. And Makani has plenty of secrets.
One such secret is the fact that she is secretly hooking up with the school’s resident bad boy/weirdo, Ollie, aka actor Théodore Pellerin. Everyone at school has labeled Ollie a freak, a sociopath, and the most likely suspect in the ongoing serial killer case that just keeps on getting gnarlier. And you better believe that Ollie comes with that tragic bad boy backstory—both of his parents died by suicide. Also, he’s in love with Makani, but she refuses to be seen with him at school.
Though the trope is a beloved staple of teen movies, it only works if you cast the right actor. You need someone who can make brooding hot, rather than annoying; someone who is threatening enough to give you that thrill of bad boy danger, but not so threatening that you don’t root for him to get the girl. And of course, you need someone who can go to that place of vulnerability when it comes time for the bad boy’s redemption. Pellerin’s performance in There’s Someone Inside Your House checks all of those boxes and then some.
You may already be familiar with Pellerin, a 24-year-old Canadian actor, from previous roles, such as his critically acclaimed performance in the French-Canadian film Family First, or his character Cody from the Showtime series, On Becoming a God in Central Florida. Though only 24, he’s clearly destined for fame. There’s just something so compelling about that long, slightly off-kilter face and those sunken, sallow eyes. Pellerin has the kind of face that grabs your interest and draws you in. You find yourself hanging on every word he says, though you’re not quite sure why.
As Ollie, Pellerin goes full classic bad boy—leather jacket, all black clothes, terrible crew-cut, the whole deal. He even smokes cigarettes, which Makani rightly questions with: “Who even smokes cigarettes any more?” And even though it’s the year 2021, he drives around in a vintage ’80s car and listens to obscure music on cassette tapes. It’s like he stepped straight out of the year 1999.
To make a long story short, Pellerin is giving major “Ezra Miller from The Perks of Being a Wallflower” in this, and I am very here for it. Give this man more jobs, please. I want to see him everywhere.
