In the Earth
If Midsommar and The Blair Witch Project had a kid, it might look something like In the Earth — complete with all the genetic assets and defects of its horror parents.
The latest from unpredictable — to an extent — writer/director Ben Wheatley (High-Rise; Rebecca), the pandemic-shot and -set thriller dabbles in folklore terror to varying degrees of success, yet feels hemmed in by the limitations of a COVID production.
From the onset, Wheatley capitalizes on the bracingly current viewer paranoia of the unknown as Martin (Joel Fry, Yesterday) arrives at a rural British makeshift hospital, tests for infection, and preps to set off on a mysterious two-day hike into the woods with park ranger Alma (Ellora Torchia, who was actually in Midsommar) as his guide.
Whether due to Fry’s guarded performance or Wheatley’s spotty writing, the sense that Martin is harboring a secret — plus Alma educating him on a vengeful forest spirit called Parnag Fegg — layers their rugged trek with significant tension.
Though much of the footage appears shot by the Third Assistant Director team and the characters and their purpose for making the trip are barely developed, the handheld camerawork does occasionally give the impression of an entity watching Martin and Alma.
Wheatley makes good on that potential threat without wasting undue time as our heroes endure a midnight campsite looting and soon cross paths with seemingly benevolent hermit Zach (Reece Shearsmith, High-Rise).
Where their intertwined paths go from there deserves to be discovered — otherwise, there’s little point in watching — though it’s safe to say that Martin and Alma eventually reach their destination and link up with Dr. Wendle (Hayley Squires, I, Daniel Blake), whose alleged communications with the surrounding flora via what’s essentially a complicated DJ booth and a monolith with a hole in it yields some of the film’s most suspenseful moments.
It all builds to a hallucinatory climax that nicely blends serial killer and body horror traditions, but whatever Wheatley is attempting to say about humanity and its effects on the natural world that wasn’t already attempted 13 years ago by M. Night Shyamalan in The Happening remains somewhat foggy.
Grade: B-minus. Rated R. Now playing in select theaters
(Photo: Neon)
