In the Earth

There's enough foot related gore in this to convince me Ben Wheatley hates Quentin Tarantino. I had a lot of trouble connecting to the world they built despite the minimal players involved. Too much like A Field in England without earning the madness of those mushroom scenes. This will probably grow on me but probably not like a fungus.

Wheatley is a pagan, psychadelic Tarkovsky making Blair Witch. He clearly has mastery over his philosophy and his script is as dense with metaphors and symbology as the masters, but the execution is frequently as sloppy as an amateur with a go-pro. It makes for frustrating viewing, because there's so much there, but the pace and the visual language makes the process of watching this film all too frequently boring despite the fascinating subject matter. Like a 1st draft of a brilliant novel.

A welcome return to Wheatley's most successful filmmaking rubric: rural England, pagan mythmaking, and psychedelic drugs. A tense, full-on sensory experience.

Another outdoorsy but intimate thriller like Wheatley's "A Field in England", but with a Blair Witch flavor this time. He still sort of mixes and matches things - a little bit of cringy torture here, a smattering of montage psychedelia there, etc. and as always, he still doesn't seem to get a full story arc or a paced, consistent windup/release dynamic going; a lot of it seems like fluff. Even so, what little substance it has is reasonably creepy and expertly executed in most respects.

Part psychedelic folk-horror, part jungle fever that is mostly hit and miss, but certainly original take on our fascination with nature myths. Scientist and park ranger go deep in the woods to find researcher in camp site, meet psycho who believes he can connect with some entity through image and art. His ex-wife, the scientist, thinks she can speak with whatever is in the woods -- spirit of a witch, a voice, a presence -- through sounds and lights. Gore stuff is classy, Mansel's score MVP.

I have a great admiration for films shot in 15 days having this much cohesion and fidelity to our moment. Two hapless scientists stumble upon an estranged couple researching an occult monument with vastly different approaches - but one singular result. The current world of viruses are out to get us, we’ve fucked with something, it may as well be this. Would make a great double with Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Charisma. Also: an apocalypse.

Peaks in the middle with a half-hour sequence that unfolds like a trippy slasher film. The foot chopping sequence was goddamn tense. The strobing lights were excessive at times and kind of just hurt my eyes. Lots of interesting ideas but doesn't really deliver on the promised payoff.

Essentially A Field In England II, which is both welcome since that's a great movie to emulate, and a bit of a disappointment since it feels like Wheatley is repeating some of the same tricks here, even when they're technically even more impressive and putting it mid-pandemic adds another level to it. A madhouse of a film that I really want to watch again.

The underlying concept is extremely interesting and the actors do a fine job, but I did not care for the tripyness. MINOR SPOILER AHEAD: I would've loved to see the idea of the sentient 'mycorrhiza' and the attempts to communicate with it explored deeper.

Mileage will vary for people here. If you can stand the unpleasant nature of flashing lights then it's visually interesting. The editing of certain scenes really shines and the soundtrack is awesome. Zach is a memorable character. The problem is in the pacing. Directing is good too, and I like the usage of sound in general. There are moments where this is an absolute slog, and while I think that the inspired parts ultimately make up for it, this could have been special with tighter writing.

This must be one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Starts out boring, then it's mildly interesting and in the end, it's just a pretentious piece of shit that will give you a headache and say it was designed to creep you out and cause you unease. If you show someone flashing lights for 20 minutes, yeah, they are going to feel unease, but does that mean it's talented filmmaking? No. It's just trash.

It's not all great. Some clunky dialogue, it unfolds slowly to its detriment. However, when it works it really works. Shearsmith ever a highlight. Beyond Beyond the Black Rainbow.

There are ways to modernize folk tales about witchcraft and the fae without robbing them of their charm nor making them less spooky. This incessantly expository borefest is not it.

In the Earth or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Epilepsy

Very atmospheric, good performances, and pretty much succeeds in making a virtue of it's COVID-era restrictions. All that said, the film doesn't really have an ending, it just kind of stops.

Değişik 1 saçmalık. Ama güzeldi. Kafalar iyi oh. 2 bilim adamı, ormanda kaybolan insanları bulmaya çalışırlar. Bu arada Covid sanırım her yere yayılmıştır. Ormanda kaybolan insanlar arasında 2 doğa bilimcisi de vardır. Olaylar olaylar olaylar. Ayak fetişi bol olan film, 2 bölüm olarak izletiyor. Araştırma geliştirme ve sonuç fikri öne çıkmış. Son 2 bölüm çok renkli ve keskin. Ben filmden çok öğrendim. Filmin sonunda, doğa anayı bulan Alma. Tohumlar fidana fidanlar ağaca ağaçlar ormana.

Isolation and lockdown make everyone go crazy, unsure whether to interpret the violence coming from “nature” as a hostile enemy, a cry for help, or an arbitrary chaotic element. Often effective, but the quasi-subliminal hyper-edited sequences (that seem intended as this nature’s communication, or the hallucination of it) don’t really work, and the final moment is underwhelming. As a quickly-made attempt to open a reflection on the early days of the pandemic experience, it’s just about passable.

It lacks coherence and competence in this ecological horror, which doesn't start very well, but has the incredible ability to get worse by the minute until its anticlimactic ending.

Somewhat rousing and titillating in its concept (and in the hallucinatory sequence), but it's only as good as you'd expect a whipped-together Covid-era film to be. Despite the initial intrigue, it's too vague and unsure of itself to be properly scary or interesting (I wish the horror concept was just the trees coming alive and smacking people, or something more concrete like that). On the plus side, there's a fine sense of urgency throughout that does create a sense of a fraught new world.

I really liked Wheatley’s early films, but I haven’t been on board since. This was shot quickly during early covid days and the end result is a solid folk horror film that I enjoyed more than his A Field in England. Cast is good and the forest setting is moody. I saw it on a late night show which was an ideal setting for this film which assaults your senses with super loud sound FX and flickering lights. It feels like a return to his roots and it's interesting to see where Wheatley heads next.

Some funny moments.

I feel like i should love this but it never came together for me the bits where the characters face the unknowable horror in the woods are memorable but it doesn't feel like a constant presence that permeates the earth and the movie's runtime

I hate myself for watching this.

Medicines, delusions, rituals, experiments, spirits, pagan beliefs, nature myths. In the Earth is a very enjoyable folk-horror, although it has some flaws. The sound design, soundtrack and cinematography are truly impressive. Especially the tension created by the psychedelic scenes is very good.

Too silly.

Maybe runs a little long but has some of the most intensely trippy visuals in a horror movie I've seen.

Visceral and Lovecraftian, the movie has some intentional editing and script choices that make for an uncomfortable film. However, sometimes these choices feel less deliberate.

okay movie