There's always something engaging to look at and listen to due to the unique stylistic flourishes. In the Earth deserves some praise for what writer and director Ben Wheatley was able to cook up in such a brief period. Joel Fry is borderline unintelligible throughout. A somewhat unrelated complaint, but this may also be the sole time I've had to watch a movie where everyone spoke English with the subtitles on because a portion of the cast's accents were too thick to understand. Meanwhile the hallucinogenic visuals and coarse synth soundtrack craft one heck of an atmosphere that sadly only feigns the presence of the supernatural without anything of actual terror manifesting to show for it. The science at the core of the plot shows signs of depth, but is ultimately brought down by it's lack of exposition and explanation behind character's actions. Reportedly scripted and filmed in a mere two weeks, the project's spur-of-the-moment nature makes it simultaneously both impressive and half-baked. While it's cool to see something that encapsulates and plays on so many of our present day anxieties as we're still in the midst of being afflicted by them, the film's timeliness is a bit of a double-edged sword. It explores the effects of isolation on the human mind and the things people will be willing to latch onto no matter how illogical or untested if it comes with any sort of promise of relief from their stresses and fears. Born during the first year and out of the frustrations of our modern pandemic era, the film tells the story of a world ravaged by its own virus. What we were actually given instead though is a cult horror flick where our protagonists get tormented by a deranged weirdo with some serious old-world religious fanatical issues, which while not terrible is nowhere near as intriguing as what it was implied to be offering. Things such as its "Nature is a Force of Evil" tagline, the various synopses you can find out there that say things like "as the forest comes to life around them," and even the alternative poster that sees a plant growing up into the nose of actress Ellora Torchia paint the picture of a biological nightmare akin to the Annihilation adaptation we should have gotten back in 2018. So much of In the Earth's other promotional material was/is misleading. Things such as its "Nature is a Force of Evil" tagline, the various synopses you can find out there that say things like "as the forest comes to This might have just convinced me to start watching movie trailers again.
This might have just convinced me to start watching movie trailers again.