Directed by Ben Wheatley, In the Earth is set during a time when the Earth has been devastated by a horrifying virus. (Sounds familiar?) As they search for a cure, scientist Martin Lowery (Joel Fry) and his park scout, Alma (Ellora Torchia) set out on a trek to deliver equipment. However, as they venture out into the forest, their journey takes a dark turn. Hunted by the damned who roam the night, Martin and Alma must do everything they can to complete their mission and, more importantly, survive their mysterious attackers.
While In The Earth isn?t Ben Wheatley?s best film, it?s certainly an entertaining ride that successfully dives into the psychological and supernatural horror genre with enthusiasm. The director of such wild rides as High-Rise and Free Fire, Wheatley has always had a penchant for leaning into the chaotic. With In the Earth, he mostly contains his impulses in the film?s first half, choosing to build intensity through the team?s isolation with a silent forest. However, as the film goes on, he unleashes the mystical (and violent) elements of his world with increasing madness. (This becomes especially true in the film?s final act when he gives himself freedom to blast the screen with bright, primary colours and over-exposed visuals in ways that feel almost like experimental European cinema.)
Intense and effective, Earth provides little in the way of ?jump scares? but does an excellent job of unraveling the psychology of its characters. Without a large cast (the IMDb page only lists six actors and even that feels like a stretch), the film creates a feeling of claustrophobic dread amidst the confines of the trees. In a testament to Wheatley?s ability as a storyteller, Martin and Alma constantly seem like the walls are closing in, despite the fact that they?re moving (relatively) free in the wide wilderness. What?s more, strong performances by Fry and Torchia help make the character?s reactions believable in the midst of unbelievable circumstances.
Though the world may have been ravaged by a disastrous virus, it?s interesting that Wheatley does not allow the pandemic to drive the narrative. Instead, he allows this global crisis to simply operate as a backdrop to the film?s story. (Could it be that this is one of the first examples of a film that has accepted the next phase of our COVID world?)
For Wheatley, the most important message of In The Earth lies in the relationship between humanity and nature. Although they live in a world of scientific inquiry, Martin and Alma become faced with unraveling the spiritual elements that connect man to the natural world. As they begin to go mad from their exposure to the rock, so too does the experience begin to give them greater clarity about their place in the universe.
In this way, Earth exposes a deeper spiritual longing at a time of isolation and fear. At a time when mankind finds themselves separated by their own carelessness, this is an opportunity for them to seek out a connection to something greater that they?ve lost. As a result, Wheatley?s inquest points to the fact that there are consequences for man?s recklessness and suggests that the answers lie outside of ourselves. Since mankind has ruined creation, is it possible that they have done greater damage to Mother Nature than they?d realized? (As Jeff Goldblum might say, ?Mommy?s very angry??)
Featuring an intensity that continues to build to its grand crescendo, In the Earth is a wild venture into the mind of Ben Wheatley who asks new questions about a pandemic-infected world. Rather than finding ways to defeat the virus, Wheatley?s film seems more interested in how we cope with the new realities that it has created. Nevertheless, at the same time, he also points to questions that extend beyond visible reality and into the unknown spiritual realms.
In The Earth?is available on VOD on May 14th, 2021
