Film School Rejects
A disorienting kaleidoscope of folk horror intertwining with science to illustrate the sheer incomprehensibility of the truths offered by connecting to a god-like figure.
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In the Earth
A venture in the woods gives way to a surreal terror in this horror from filmmaker Ben Wheatley (Free Fire, Kill List). Stars Joel Fry (Yesterday), Ellora Torchia (Midsommar) and Reece Shearsmith (High-Rise).
As a deadly virus ravages the world, Dr. Martin Lowery (Fry) embarks on a mission to reach test site ATU327A, a research hub deep in the Arboreal Forest. The arduous journey, guided by park scout Alma (Torchia), is set back by a nighttime attack that leaves the two bruised and shoeless. When they run into Zach (Shearsmith), a man living off the grid, they gratefully accept his help. Zach’s intentions aren’t exactly what they seem, however, and a path out of the forest and into safety quickly fades as the line between myth and science blurs.
Inspired by the Coronavirus pandemic, Wheatley wrote the screenplay in 15 days on August 2020.
Less2021107 minsUK, USANeon
Horror
In the Earth | Reviews
79%170 reviewsRotten Tomatoes® Score
All reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Bloody Disgusting
Wheatley finds inspiration from nature, crafting a wild, hallucinogenic descent into abject terror.
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Total Film
What a shame then that Wheatley's relative restraint slips for a final act freakout...
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Slant Magazine
Ben Wheatley perversely, cheekily follows characters who flee into the woods implicitly on the run from a virus only to find that nature has more than one way of exacting its wrath.
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Little White Lies
The film feels like the love child of Kill List and A Field in England, but cleaves closer to straight horror, with a creeping sense of dread established from the opening scene.
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Paste
Wheatley hits a brick wall, but he hits it hard enough that whether one sees the film as successful or not, the effort remains admirable.
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Time Out
It's a jab of timely anxiety, destined to be a freakout midnight movie when cinemas finally reopen.
Full reviewIn the Earth | Release Details
In the Earth is available to stream in New Zealand now on Google Play and Apple TV and Neon Rentals and Academy On Demand and AroVision.