Rent In the Earth (2021)

Interesting Pagan Horror - In the Earth review by GI

The few attempts at making films during the Covid 19 restrictions mostly met with dismal failures but British director Ben Wheatley has here made an interesting pagan horror film that for the most part is rather good, tense and at times very disturbing. It's an ambitious film considering there have been a few films set in forests where something may or may not lurk. This has a phantasmagoric feel to it, and if you like your horror films to be a little different then this is a bit of a treat. It's a part folk horror and part survivalist story where the backdrop is that a devastating virus is affecting the world. But this isn't the focus of the narrative. It begins with a young scientist, Martin (Joel Fry), who has come out of enforced isolation to embark on a journey deep into an ancient forest searching for his muse, Dr Wendle (Hayley Squires), who is conducting experiments at a camp and hasn't been heard of in awhile. Accompanied by a guide, Alma (Ellora Torchia), they head off on the two day trek but are attacked and have all their equipment including their shoes stolen. They are helped by a strange hermit, Zach (Reece Shearsmith), who turns out to be someone with a much darker agenda. There's some edge-of-your-seat stuff juxtaposed with some more relaxed scenes that gives the film a growing sense of eeriness and malevolence. Unfortunately though as it moves into the final third the film does lose its way a little with a bit too much exposition that really was unnecessary. That said though this has Wheatley's unique touch that gives his films that extra zing (be prepared there's some shocks) and whilst it's not perfect it is a welcome return to horror with a touch of difference. Worth trying.

Deadly dull despite a good premise. - In the Earth review by NP

Strange to see a research team fitted with face masks and sanitizers and realise it’s set in the world as it is in the early 2020s. I write this as we’re getting to what might be the end of the Covid pandemic that has changed lives for two years. When it first occurred, I remember walking into a supermarket and seeing it full of empty shelves and thinking how it was like something out of a sci-fi film – and terrifying. Ben Wheatley transfers this every day terror very well to film; people getting on with their lives as best they can in a newly dangerous world.

A routine reconnaissance is interrupted by the arrival of the initially benign Zach (always brilliant Reece Shearsmith), and what follows is distinctly uncomfortable. The leaden pace means we can really relish and dwell on the unsophisticated unpleasantness, and the effects are such that nothing looks like it isn’t happening.

The problem is, it is for the most part, pretty dull. Perhaps that’s the point, but there’s no pace, no spectacle: nothing – perhaps that would be too obvious.

The folk horror credentials are nicely displayed - rolling landscape, hippy-ish characters, runic symbolism and effigies hanging from trees, and plenty of psychedelic imagery – but none of this really comes to anything. Sometimes weirdness is just as unsettling and disorientating as horror, but that’s not the case here. Ultimately, the whole viewing experience is sadly turgid and vacuous. My score is 4 out of 10.

So-so Trippy British Mystery Pagan Horror - In the Earth review by PV

All very mystical BUT not a patch pf films like MIDSOMAR or RELIC.

The writer/director's film SIGHTSEERS is much better and his best is DOWN TERRACE.

I get annoyed too by the endless diversity tickbox casting - I think directors do this to try and nudge a BAFTA nomination in our brave new wokeworld. but honestly, just look at UK demographics and match that.

The trippy scenes are fun and probably great watched collectively in a late night cinema.

But it is all so vague and weird and ultimately does not go anywhere much. All a bit X-files.

2 stars

It had potential... - In the Earth review by F15HF1NG3RZ

... But some of the casting was so poor. I don't personally think for one second that Joel Fry should be the leading man for a horror film. He is somebody I would use a bumbling comedy character and in fact all I can think of him as is Leyton from Trollied. The other terrible piece of casting was Hayley Squires as the doctor... She was so uninterested in being there and was really dialling the performance in. The way they spoke about "the doctor" throughout the film I was expecting and older, more mysterious woman to be playing the role. Anyway, it was all quite boring apart from the lovely lights and sounds towards the end. Wasn't worth wasting 2hrs on though. Look into a kaleidoscope for 5 minutes and save the hassle.