Sundance 2021 Review: In The Earth – “Good effort, but falls short”

We live in stressful times.  Isolation.  Reality Warping.  Death borne in the very air we breathe, from a viral threat we can not see.  Modern society puts faith in reason and science.  These days, some put faith In The Earth.

As a side note, be warned that even watching In The Earth can be stressful.  Strobe lights flash for much of the film.  So, if you are suseptable to strobe lite seizures or head aches, please be aware of that going in to this film!

The Plot – In The Earth

Director Ben Wheatley sets In The Earth amidst a worldwide pandemic.  While the film does not specify Coronavirus or Covid-19, the film’s reality reflects our current reality.

Dr. Martin Lowery, played by Joel Fry (Rocky from ‘Yesterday’), arrives at a Summer Camp turned Medical Research Facility, already wearing a mask and social distancing.  Dr. Lowery arrives to help researcher Dr. Olivia Wendle, played by Hayley Squires, with her field research.  After getting tested for the virus, Martin meets his field guide.  Alma, played by Ellora Torchia, is a Park Ranger assigned to guide Martin out to Dr. Wendle’s research site.

While packing up his gear and getting to know Alma, Martin sees a painting on the wall of a strange creature.  Alma explains the local fable of Parang Fegg.  Parang Fegg is a monster living in the woods meant to scare children to keep from wandering off.  Alma also explains the research site is a two day hike, cell phone service does not work in the area, and people had to be rescued from there mere months ago.

The next morning, Martin and Alma head out on foot.  By the first night, Martin can hear screams echo through the woods as he tries to sleep.  By the second day, Martin’s already feeling fatigued as they find an abandoned camp site.  They find a children’s book at the camp that features Parang Fegg.  The tension starts to build.

That night, Martin and Alma awaken in the middle of an attack.  Each alone in their tents, the attack comes from outside, leaving no way to defend themselves.  Martin awakens the next morning face-down, his tent stolen.  Next, he sees his shoes, and other supplies are missing as well.  Martin finds Alma injured and shoeless as well.

Our hikers continue their barefoot journey into the woods, and before long, Martin severly cuts his foot.  Martin, now walking with a crutch made of a tree branch, suddenly hears silence.  The woods have gone quiet.  Alma knows they are being watched.  With wild eyes and a long beard, Zack offer help.  He offers first aid and shoes back at his camp.  More feral than civilized, Zack has been alone in the woods for quite some time.  Even more stressed than our socially distanced hikers, Zack sizes up Martin and Alma.  They size Zack up, as well.

At Zack’s camp, Martin gets stitches, many of them.  Zack gives Alma and Martin new shoes as they sip on their drinks.  Suddenly very sleepy, Alma and Martin try to not pass out.  Alma senses fear and tries to flee.  Zack catches Alma, ties them up, and partially strips them.  But, what follows is where things truly get bizaar.

The Good

Like many good, low budget suspense/horror films, In The Earth slowly raises the stakes.  In order to believe our protagonists wouldn’t just turn around when things get weird, we need to feel the reality of their situation.

Zack throws their clothing into a bag, and puts cucumbers over their eyes.  He takes pictures of them, and no one’s smiling.  Zack intentionally places scars on Martin’s arms, just so Zack can see them.  He refuses to let them go as he develops the pictures.  Before long, talk of ‘sacrifice’ to his God starts and he pulls out an axe.

Claiming Martin’s toes are infected, Zack swings away with his axe.  Swing and a miss, strike one.  Swing and a miss, strike two.  Each impact grows louder and louder.  At this point, we go full horror film.

Alma and Martin spend the next good while running for their lives, finding dead bodies, and avoiding even more weaponry.  Next, the frenetic pace builds from day into night, until loud speakers warn of being on private property, and strobe lights breakup the dark of night with rapid flashing.  If you, the viewer, get seizures from strobe lights, this is where you want to stop.

The visuals are distinct and disturbing.  Zack gives chase with a red flare in one hand, axe in the other.  The red flare mixes with the flashing strobe lights and blaring sound from the speakers.  All seems lost as we see an eerily red hazmat suit.  Dr. Olivia Wendle, played by Hayley Squires, takes off her helmet.  Martin tells her about Alma, and she saves her as well.

Olivia, too, has been living in stressful conditions.  And, her research barely progressed.  Stress, isolation, reality warping have even affected this highly regarded scientist.

The Bad

Olivia tells Alma and Martin what has been happening with her research.  Her hypothesis that all plant life in the area is connected reached a scientific dead end, so she turned to Parang Fegg fable to continue her research.  Wait, WHAT??!!  Our highly regarded researcher has shifted from science to children’s fables.  Yikes.

This is where the film starts to breakdown.  Olivia reveals that the name ‘Fegg’ translates to sound and torture, hence why Zack was torturing Alma and Martin.  Oh, and Zack is her Ex.

At this point things start to get really, really weird and spoilery.  Suffice it to say, the barriors continue to fall, as the story and the logic behind the characters actions continue to blur.  By the time we ge to the end, up is down, left is right, and really talented film editors had a field day putting different visuals together.  Aside from the visuals, this is not necessarily a good thing.

The Review – In The Earth

In The Earth has a well shaped story arc, and starts in a place that most of us are experiencing in 2020 and 2021.  The protagonists relate well with the audience, as they set out on an easy to understand journey.  The tension and stakes slowly build in a logical and believable way.  That is, until we reach Zack in the woods.  That is where the rails start to come off.

Great horror films define themselves by the villain/monster.  Everything from creepy, off the wall characters; to grounded-in-reality characters that are driven too far, become evil.  And then, there’s Zack.  Maybe, it’s because the villain’s name is ‘Zack’. And, maybe the visage of a classic horror movie villain mixes with the personality that just doesn’t match.  Something just doesn’t add up with our villain, and not in a purposefully vague sort of way.

Joel Fry does a capable job in the lead role, but every time I see him on screen, I think of his character from ‘Yesterday’, the movie about Beatles music from 2019.  This is not a critique of the former so much as a compliment of the latter, but either way, it is a distraction to the movie.  Ellora Torchia does a standout performance as Alma.  Her strength, sensitivity, motivations, all jump off the screen, as she becomes even more the audience point-of-view character than Martin as the film progresses.

While being topical, and utilizing a creative production technique, the internal logical consistency starts to fail around the third act.  The editing is strong, and the look of the villain is well conceived; but the paint doesn’t match the can for the villain, and the strobe lights were just too off-putting (think the end of Star Wars IX The Rise Of Skywalker).  Mostly, the connective tissue between the spoiler and the spoiler just didn’t ring true for me.  Even in an era of warped reality.  Good effort, but falls short.

Not Rated, 100 Minutes, Suspence/Horror/Supernatural

Additional Information

www.imdb.com/title/tt13429362

Sundance Film Festival 2021 Movie Ranking