“In the Earth”
Movie Review
Ben Wheatley is the writer and director of the science
fiction horror movie In the Earth. Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Hayley Squires,
Ellora Torchia, John Hollingworth, and Mark Monero are among the actors in the
movie. April 2021 saw the release of In the Earth.
While an unknown disease has ravaged the country,
scientist Martin Lowery has been assigned to a government outpost. To aid in
the research and trials being conducted by his former coworker and ex-lover
Olivia Wendle about the use of mycorrhiza to boost agricultural efficiency, the
outpost is situated in a remarkably productive woodland area outside of
Bristol. He discovers the local myth of ParnagFegg, a woodland spirit, after
passing a physical check and getting to know his park ranger Alma. Martin and
Alma set out on their two-day journey to Olivia's location the following
morning.
Martin is informed by Alma that Olivia has not been heard
from for some weeks. The two discover an abandoned tent with the remains of a
family's belongings inside. The following night, Martin notices a rash on his
arm before he and Alma are attacked by unidentified assailants who also raid
their tent, rob them of their belongings, steal their shoes, and destroy their
equipment. Martin suffers a severe foot cut while barefoot.
Zach, a resident of the woods, approaches them and offers to
lend the two of them some shoes. Zach cleans and sutures Martin's wound,
provides them with food, and leads them to his own campground. Alma and Martin
start to go into a coma and become aware that they have been given a sedative.
While they are unconscious, Zach sews an odd symbol and animal gut into
Martin's arm and takes ritualistic pictures of them in strange outfits and
positions.
Zach claims that the sign is a mark to be seen by a presence in
the woods who claims to have once been an old sorcerer who hid his essence in a
standing stone somewhere in the woodland. Zach describes the presence as having
left its mark on a standing stone. As a result of Martin's wound, his foot
grows infected, and Zach clumsily uses a hatchet to amputate some of his toes.
Before attacking Zach, Alma finds a discarded sword to free
herself and Martin. While running away, Martin and Alma separate. Martin is
being pursued by Zach after he discovers two bodies that are thought to be
those of the camp's proprietors. Martin is located and saved by Olivia
following his encounter with the standing stone. Zach is pushed away by the
louder sound and lights set up around Olivia's site as Alma arrives at the camp
on her own.
The following morning, as Olivia describes her research, she
cauterizes Martin's foot. She confesses that Zach is her ex-husband and that
they were pursuing local tales in accordance with the guidelines of a
centuries-old book. He had been assisting her in her efforts to use lights and
sounds from an electronic soundboard to try and connect with the entity inside
the stone, but he disagreed of her strategy and left. Alma tries to persuade
Martin that they should go since she can't trust Olivia and she worries that
Zach is still chasing them. However, he won't discuss his relationship with
Olivia, and she won't give up on her studies.
The following morning, a dense mist containing fungus spores
surrounds the location, trapping it. Alma is sent into the haze while wearing
protective gear, but the spores get through and cause her to see terrifying
images. Zach shows them that evening as the site's mist begins to close in. He
instructs them to speak with the standing stone using sounds and lights as well
as by consuming a "sacrament," a concoction of ground mushrooms that
is mentioned in the book.
Martin consents to partake of the sacrament and watches for its
effects. Zach surprises Alma and gets Martin ready for the altar. Alma returns
to the camp and discovers Olivia in her tent with fabricated photos of Olivia
and Zach's victims. Alma repels Olivia's assault after she attacks her. When
Zach hears them fighting, he runs back to camp, where Alma murders him. The
mist then envelops the camp, and they are all subjected to more visions from
the spores as she pursues Olivia back to the standing stone.
By daylight, Alma and Olivia have abruptly emerged from their
trances and are no longer close to the stone. Olivia falls to the ground in a
state of utter wonder. Then Alma comes up to a waking Martin by the stone and
offers to lead him out of the woods in a garbled voice.
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