Pandemic adds extra layer of threat to folk horror film rep-am.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rep-am.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Katie Walsh, Tribune News Service
There is a plague in England the plague that we happen to be living through, as writer/director Ben Wheatley started writing the script for In the Earth, early in the 2020 lockdown. As such, it s a quarantine film that actually captures the world we re living in, of surgical masks and nasal swabs and social distancing.
The extreme caution and danger that the plague dictates adds an extra layer of threat to In the Earth, a film that draws from a deep well of horror references, from Frankenstein to The Wicker Man. Wheatley has dabbled in folk horror before, notably in Kill List and A Field in England, but the subgenre, which grapples with the clash of the ancient and the modern, is especially suited to a story like In the Earth, troubled by mysterious rhythms of the earth, and their affect on the human body and mind. Just when it seems like nature is out to get us, Ben Wheatley reminds us that, indeed, it is. Unless it s just us.
In the Earth movie review & film summary (2021) rogerebert.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from rogerebert.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Better Tagline: There is unrest in the forest. There is trouble with the trees.
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Mankind is suffering from a terrible pandemic (sound familiar?), which doesn t stop Martin (Joel Fry) from traveling to a remote English nature preserve to conduct his crop experiments. He s escorted to his destination by Alma (Ellora Torchia), a park ranger. As they venture deeper into the woods, it becomes apparent that stranger things than the virus are afoot. Critical Analysis: Writer/director Ben Wheatley wrote and directed
In the Earth over a 15 day stretch in autumn of last year, as COVID brought the rest of the world to a standstill. It s an impressive achievement that even accounting for the the external factors and macro themes at play nevertheless resulted in a disjointed end product.