Ben Wheatley, the director of the new, failed version of 'Rebecca' returns to what works best for him - horror

British director Ben Wheatley became a minor cult author at the beginning of the last decade. He achieved this with a series of genre films characterized by grotesque violence and a pronounced rural-English ambiance.

“Killer List” (2011), “Sightseers” (2012), and “Fields of England” (2013) opened the door to Wheatley’s A production. He couldn't handle it. He was particularly slammed to the ground with Netflix’s version of Hitchcock’s “Rebecca,” which critics detested for a reason.

Wheatley is now back to what works best for him. During COVID, with a small team and four actors, in just fifteen days he wrote and recorded an English rural horror that has a pandemic theme. The film is - to say the least - different and interesting.

The hero "In the Earth" is a scientist ( Fry ) who arrives at a remote research center in the middle of an ancient forest during a pandemic of an unnamed deadly virus. There he should be assisted by scientists ( Squires ) who are researching huge, supposedly intelligent fungal colonies. Accompanied by a locust ( Torchia ), the hero goes to the forest, where bizarre, mysterious incidents begin to pile up. All this together is intertwined with biohorror, but also Celtic mythology.

The result is a film that can be described as a mix of "Wicker Man", "Solaris" and "Hearts of Darkness". "In the Earth" is effectively directed and has an atmosphere.

IN THE EARTH (In the Earth, UK 2021), horror, director: Ben Wheatley, roles: Joel Fry, Reece Shearsmith, Hayley Squires, Ellora Torchia

Rating: 8/10

By: Amber V. - Gossip Whispers