Review of In the Earth (2021) by Stream2Bigscree — 02 Oct 2021

Happy Huluween, everyone! It's that time of year where horror films abound. Thanks to Hulu I decided to check out a film that came out earlier this year that I missed, In The Earth. This film follows researchers who are searching for a cure to a disastrous virus. While a scientist and park scout venture deep into the forest to find a colleague, things take an unexpected turn. Ooooooh, what will they find in this never ending forest that has a local scary lore? Let's find out if this is worth stream during this Halloween season.

Just based on the description you can tell this is definitely a movie made in the pandemic era. You can see it with the masks and the distance between actors during scenes at all times. It's just interesting to see how the pandemic has been written into movies without saying, "Coronavirus made us film like this." Anyway, this movie features some pretty gross sequences, but they don't really connect to where viewers may think the movie is going. This movie struggles with establishing its identity. Everyone fears going into the haunted forest but for some reason these characters just don't understand horror movies. Don't read from random old books. Don't befriend strangers. Don't drink the unknown juice. Most importantly, if they aren't your significant other, forget them in the forest! Nevertheless, the movie combines elements from some films like Midsommar, The Happening, and the Forest that ultimately makes a mish mosh of nothingness. It seems like the filmmakers just took the weirdest parts of each of those movies and put them together. "Yeah, that'll be good," said no one ever. The movie felt like it had multiple personality disorder. Am I a slasher, a psychological thriller or mystical haunted forest? Either way, the film feigns originality to a failure but succeeds in some cool artistry. This is a pothead, acid trip, shroom eating viewers nightmare. I can understand why this might be appealing to some but to most you'll be left scratching your head.

Long story short, this pandemic flick is simply weird and uninspiring. Viewers of horror films will get a similar feel as Midsommar but in England with a pandemic virus and The Happening in the background vibe. In the Earth is a strange film that while gross lacks sense to be scary. I was a bit more confused and bored than thrilled or scared. Grab one single popped kernel if you get bored this Halloween if you want to watch this acid trip film, but there are better spooks to be had.