IN THE EARTH (2021) REVIEW
“Everything seems to just keep us here.”
Ben Wheatley has been making waves in the industry for quite a while now — known for crafting a variety of experiences that either have audiences calling him a “pretentious hack” or praising his integrity in doing whatever the hell he wants. With his newest film, a restrained “pandemic horror”, Wheatley has definitely convinced me in falling into the latter category. Maybe it’s just that I finished my first full watch of Twin Peaks: The Return — but I am craving some weird shit. And Wheatley delivers.
The film is a lot simpler than people are giving it credit for; I wouldn’t go as far calling it “elevated horror” — a term people have been using to describe this new wave of “psychological thrillers”. There are themes of reverting humanity back to its natural roots and bringing on the ideology that somehow the pandemic is a way for nature to fight back and regain balance. But other than that — this movie is just a wild ride filled with bad psychedelic trips and gore galore. I don’t think Wheatley has a deeper ulterior motive here other than creating a thrilling slasher in his own way — and he does a damn good job at making it stick. The visuals are enticing and scratch you to your core in ways most horror films fail to do; it’s this suture of sound design and haunting visuals that I couldn’t help but think is the method Terrence Malick would use to make a horror film. The end result is a haptic sensation that has you gripping to your seat; the tension of the unknown remains true throughout the film but there are moments where we also spend time with our characters and let the true hysteria sink in.
Narratively, the film is quite simple but the way in which the events unfold may confuse some audiences. We follow Martin Lowery (Joel Fry) and Alma (Ellora Torchia), a scientist and park scout, as they go on a routine equipment run but get caught up by a homeless man named Zach (Reece Shearsmith) — who has more “divine” plans for them. Zach is attempting to garner the attention of the mysterious entity within the forest; one that he has seen before and has been obsessed with recreating another encounter. To do so, he recreates haunting folk horror-like imagery with the unconscious bodies of his victims. The first half of this film definitely feels like a contained hostage drama but once we break out into the other half — the terror finally encapsulates throughout the rest of the story world. On the other side, we have Olivia Wendle (Hayley Squires) who takes on the role of the exposition-heavy scientist that puts everything into perspective for the viewer; for better or worse. It’s at this point the movie plays out all its narrative cards and the viewer is left along for the psychedelic phantasm of a joyride — if that’s the word to call it. It doesn’t choose to focus on story beats because it feels as if it’s aware the narrative isn’t what makes it unique; it doubles down on the imagery and cryptic atmosphere. For me, it felt as if Wheatley got to make his “horror in the woods” tale — much like Raimi going on an all out rampage in Evil Dead 2. I think it’s wacky, unsettling fun; contradictory yet passionate in the best kind of way.
Though, with all its positives, In the Earth isn’t necessarily anything we haven’t seen before; it’s an amalgamation of many horror elements melded together by Wheatley in a very competent manner. And with being such a small-scale production — it all feels like a personal project; one that was manufactured by an individual’s vision rather than multiple studio executives. And I’ll give it props for that too. I liked this one quite a bit.
