In The Earth: A Movie Review

 

We didn’t get to see many films from the horror or thriller genre during the covid lockdown(s). Mostly because such movies require a lot of technical work to achieve convincing and thrilling imagery shots at specific shooting locations. But this was no hindrance to director Ben Wheatley who announced in September 2020 that he had written and directed ‘In The Earth’ in just 15 days. The movie was first released at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2021. This is a rare film that displays warnings for flashing lights and triggers warnings for epilepsy. And you better take these seriously. Because it’s hard to even look at the screen through slit eyes once those flashes get going! 

The movie is based on times when the world is suffering from a deadly virus and everyone is struggling to survive. The story follows an environmental scientist Martin Lowry (Joel Fry) to a research site that is being investigated for extra fertility with mycorrhizae and the head of the research is his ex-lover Dr. Olivia Wendle (Hayley Squires). He sets off on a two-day hike through the forest with a local guide Alma (Ellora Torchia), who informs him about the local legend of a woodland spirit, Parang Fegg. They both face a series of unfortunate events which leave them stranded in the forest, without any supplies or communication. This is the point where the movie takes a turn and we start to get glimpses of exactly what is going on in the forest. The woods themselves feel like a person here, giving a very eerie effect to the whole setting. This was a low-budget movie and I could tell that from the cinematography. The handheld camera scenes had a nice effect in some places. The soundtrack sets the film’s suspense mood, and the musical score works as a character in itself. But this is as far as the good points of this movie go. The main storyline is not so well developed and some things might not make much sense to you, including the climax, which is quite unexpected and bizarre. The movie sets out like it might have a message for you by the end, on how man has destroyed nature and how to bring back the balance between nature and humans. But that doesn’t happen, as the story takes on a whole different point of view in the middle and ends up being a typical horror movie. The strobe effects used with the help of alternate pitch black screen to bright white light are quite disorienting. The colors popping and the vibrancy used are a little over the top. So if you are a horror fan, then you might give it a try, but otherwise, you can skip this movie altogether. You won’t miss much.

With a runtime of 107 minutes and an IMDb rating of 5.1/10, you can watch it on Popcorn Time.