In the Earth

I watch a lot of bad movies. But every once in a while a movie comes along that makes me so angry. A movie that makes me wonder who made it and what were they thinking?

I like weird movies. I like smart, deep and ambitious movies. But this movie is straight nonsense. Utter madness. It's an attempt to be weird and different and out-there without any effort in grounding it in any logic. All abstract with nothing concrete to hold onto. Pretentious to the max.

During this movie, I asked myself the following questions. What is this even about? Can we move forward or have any kind of story progression? What is the point of all this madness? Why is this movie still going? Why am I still watching this? Is there even the slightest chance there will be something redeeming at the end if I wait it out? (No!)

The only things I liked were the cinematography, the atmosphere and a few practical effects. But my anger wouldn't allow me to give this 2 stars. (1 viewing, 1/23/2022)

Great idea, executed poorly.

I'd like to think the jarring and choppy way the dialogue was written, was intentional, giving the first half of the film an uncomfortable thriller air about it.

We were totally on-board with this weird ride, with the proviso that there would actually be some pay off at the end, where unfortunately there was not.

Mild spoilers: Like many others have said, the film goes downhill once the pair escape their tormentor. The use of lights and sound could have been effective but they were over used, making it impossible for most, to actually look at the screen for a larger portion of the 3rd act. Then there is simply no ending, with so much build up, this just leaves you feeling unsatisfied.

Not great but good enough. It's like a pseudoscientific art movie with some horror and absurdity mixed in. Reminds me a lot of Annihilation (2018). By no means boring or waste of time as the other comments seem to suggest. Beautiful at times.

Like too many horror films of late, weirdness is a stand-in for coherence and story. Mumbo jumbo about a big rock that supposedly talks to humans. Very, very slow film that's ultimately pointless.

In the Earth can feel dull at times and it's lack of answers is extremely unsatisfying but it has enough individual parts that work to make it a good and unique horror movie. Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith and Ellora Torchia all give great performances. There are some extremely disturbing moments and oddly funny parts. Ben Wheatley's direction is really good even if some of his stylistic choices really don't work. The music by Clint Mansell is amazing.