Ben Wheatley‘s latest horror oddity is on the way, and here’s a disturbing trailer to give you just a tiny glimpse of the madness he has in store. If you’ve seen a Wheatley horror flick you have some idea of what to expect from In the Earth, which arrives in April. The film is set in the midst of a pandemic (sounds familiar) and finds two people venturing into the woods for scientific research. Of course, anyone who has ever seen a horror movie can tell you that nothing good ever happens in the woods. Watch the In the Earth trailer below.
In the Earth Trailer
In In the Earth, “As the world searches for a cure to a disastrous virus, a scientist and park scout venture deep in the forest for a routine equipment run. Through the night, their journey becomes a terrifying voyage through the heart of darkness, the forest coming to life around them.” The cast includes Joel Fry, Ellora Torchia, Reece Shearsmith, and Hayley Squires.
This is a very effective trailer, but it’s also cut in a way that makes In the Earth look like a traditional horror movie. That makes sense – they have to sell this thing to the general public after all. But having seen In the Earth at this year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival, I can tell you that the film is anything but “traditional.” It’s close in tone (and weirdness) to Wheatley’s folk horror flick A Field in England, and there’s a lot going on here – body mutilations, weird phenomena, and several scenes that are full of disorienting, flashing lights. In other words, it’s not going to be for everyone. But I (mostly) dug what I saw, writing in my review:
Wheatley has a knack for conveying a kind of divine lunacy with his work; he tells stories about zealots who are reaching out for things beyond human comprehension, and such reaches often result in horrific violence. There’s a wealth of close-ups here of ruined, bleeding, open flesh; of skin stitched up with foreign objects inserted beneath the surface. It’s all so gross and weird and kind of wonderful.
But the obscurity of it all takes a toll. The final 20 or so minutes of In the Earth are downright impenetrable, and while that’s no doubt the point, it doesn’t make the experience any less frustrating. In a sense, Wheatley has successfully recreated the experience of stumbling around, lost in the woods, unable to see the forest for the trees. In the Earth will overwhelm you with its overload of light and sound.
In the Earth arrives in theaters on April 23.
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