Unearth (film)

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This article is about the film. For the American metalcore band, see Unearth.
Not to be confused with Unearthed (film).
Unearth
Unearth (2020) poster.jpg
Promotional release poster
Directed by
  • John C. Lyons
  • Dorota Swies
Written by
  • Kelsey Goldberg
  • John C. Lyons
Starring
CinematographyEun-ah Lee
Edited by
  • John C. Lyons
  • Dorota Swies
Music byJane Saunders
Production
company
Lyons Den Productions
Release dates
Running time
94 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Unearth is a 2020 American horror film directed and edited by John C. Lyons and Dorota Swies, from a screenplay by Lyons and Kelsey Goldberg.[1] It stars Adrienne Barbeau and Marc Blucas as the respective heads of two neighboring farm families in the rural United States. When one of the families leases their land to a natural gas company, the resulting fracking releases a force that threatens the lives of both families.[2][3] Alongside Barbeau and Blucas, the film's cast includes P. J. Marshall, Allison McAtee, Rachel McKeon, Monica Wyche, and Brooke Sorenson.[2]

Unearth premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in August 2020.[2] It received a theatrical release on Earth Day, April 22, 2021.[1][4]

Plot[]

In rural Pennsylvania, two farming families - the Dolans and the Lomacks - maintain a long-running feud. Both families have fallen on desperate times financially, exacerbating the situation. George Lomack, a single father operating a failing auto repair business, is approached by representatives of Patriot Exploration, a natural gas fracking company with an interest in acquiring drilling rights on his land. Eager to earn money for his two daughters, George accepts the offer. This is to the horror of Dolan matriarch Kathryn, and the tension between the two families escalates further.

Patriot Exploration brings in their equipment and begins operations on the Lomack property, greatly disrupting the lives of the two families. Strange events begin soon thereafter; the members of both families gradually suffer the effects of a strange illness, initially compelling them to obsessively scratch their skin. As their sanity degenerates from the illness, George's infant grandson senses something wrong with the tap water and refuses to drink it, but the others do. Other strange events occur, such as the conspicuous absence of wildlife sounds outside the families' homes.

The illness is the result of a fungus unearthed by the fracking, poisoning the air and water. The fungus claims most of both families, including Kathryn, who dies after tendrils emerge from her body, and George's grandson, whose body falls apart after his skin is digested by the fungus. The few survivors return to farming the land. However, the survivors are seen scratching their skin, suggesting they may still be infected. During the end credits, the harvested corn from the Dolan farm travels by truck to an unknown destination in a bayside city.

Cast[]

Production[]

Unearth was filmed in northwestern Pennsylvania.[5]

Themes[]

Co-director Dorota Swies stated that the film is "not just about fracking but how, in general, we take the goods of nature for granted. Greed and ignorance have already destroyed our water supplies with chemicals, biological or radiological waste."[1][4] Co-director John C. Lyons added:

American farmers have been squeezed harder by our trade wars, and now the [COVID-19] pandemic, with crops left rotting in the field when already, over the past decade, their income was down and suicides up. No one is safe from the wrecking ball that is corporate greed. When we destroy our precious water resources, it will eventually affect us in our food and drink. That's the point that I hope comes across in the film. You may think this is a fictional story about a couple of remote farm families, but environmental injustice eventually affects us all.[1][4]

Adrienne Barbeau said that the larger issues in the film were her attraction to the material.

It’s not just your everyday slasher film where six people get killed in the first three minutes of the film and you don’t have any idea who they are and why you should even care if they’re dead. I was attracted to the social statement it’s making about several things. Not just if you come down on the side of fracking or anti-fracking. It presents a very balanced picture of people making choices because they have to in order to survive. Unearth really explains the reasons behind the choices. [6]

Release[]

Unearth premiered at the Fantasia International Film Festival in August 2020.[2] The film's international distribution rights were acquired by Reel Suspects that year.[2] Cinedigm acquired the rights for the film in the U.S. and Canada, and released the film at Laemmle Theatres in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, on April 20, 2021.[2] It received a wider theatrical release on Earth Day, April 22, 2021.[1][4] It also screened at the Sunset Drive-in in Waterford, Pennsylvania on April 29, 2021.[5]

Reception[]

Critical response[]

On Rotten Tomatoes, Unearth has an approval rating of 69% based on 16 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10.[7]

Rachel Reeves of Rue Morgue wrote "Fueled by timely societal and economic anxieties, strong performances and a convincingly genuine understanding of the subject matter, Unearth is a worthy slow-burn look at real-world terrors through a unique horror-tinted lens."[8] Jenn Adams, writer for Consequence, said "Unearth is a timely metaphor in the midst of a pandemic which has crippled the US economy."[9] Jim Hemphill, profiled the film's directors, John C. Lyons and Dorota Swies, for Filmmaker Magazine and praised their efforts stating "together they've crafted one of the best films of 2020 in any genre."[10]

Nick Allen, writing for RogerEbert.com, though praising the film's make-up effects, wrote that it "turns into a gnarly soap opera, and moments of shocking violence are met with an eye-roll instead of the shock that comes from winding up an audience."[11] He added: "it bungles even its thesis statement [...] That the movie can't even make its argument effectively is a death knell, and indicative of how misconceived it is with such a compelling concept."[11] Drew Tinnin of Dread Central gave the film a score of three out of five stars, commending the performances of Barbeau and Blucas as "the two posts in the ground that humanize this story even when the fantastical elements start to sprout", but writing that the film's "directors may have had two different visions that may have conflicted with each other."[3]

Accolades[]

Unearth writers, John C. Lyons and Kelsey Goldberg, were awarded Best Screenplay at the Isla Calavera Festival de Cine Fantástico "for transmitting a brilliant mixture between an ecological message in deep America and a desperate economic situation."[12] Unearth was awarded the ReFrame Project's stamp of distinction for being a gender-balanced production.[13]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e Grater, Tom (April 13, 2021). "Cinedigm Buys North America On Eco-Horror 'Unearth'; Watch Official Trailer". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Grater, Tom (August 26, 2020). "Reel Suspects Boards Fantasia Eco-Horror 'Unearth'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Tinnin, Drew (August 27, 2020). "Fantasia Fest 2020: Unearth Review – You Can Work The Ground But Beware What It Can Yield". Dread Central. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Millican, Josh (April 13, 2021). "Gruesome Eco-Horror Unearth Now Arriving in Theaters April 22nd [Trailer]". Dread Central. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  5. ^ a b Cuneo, Kevin (April 18, 2021). "Movie filmed in northwestern Pennsylvania to open at Sunset Drive-in". Erie Times-News. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  6. ^ Tinnin, Drew (July 15, 2021). "Exclusive Interview: Adrienne Barbeau on Eco-Horror UNEARTH and Her Legendary Life". Dread Central. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  7. ^ "Unearth (2020)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango. Retrieved October 30, 2021.
  8. ^ "Fantasia '20 Review: "Unearth" plants seeds of eco-horror within a well-crafted rural drama". Rue Morgue. September 1, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  9. ^ "Unearth is a slow burn metaphor for parasitic capitalism: Fantasia Fest Review". Consequence. August 26, 2020. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  10. ^ Hemphill, Jim (August 12, 2020). ""Filmmaking is Not a Job, It's a State of Mind": Directors John C. Lyons and Dorota Swies on Unearth | Filmmaker Magazine". Filmmaker Magazine. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Allen, Nick (September 1, 2020). "Fantasia 2020: Come True, The Dark and the Wicked, Time of Moulting, Unearth". RogerEbert.com. Retrieved May 4, 2021.
  12. ^ dani (2020-12-14). "'COSMÉTICA DEL ENEMIGO', DE KIKE MAÍLLO, PREMIO DEL PÚBLICO Y DEL JURADO AL MEJOR LARGOMETRAJE". Festival de Cine Fantástico de Canarias - ISLA CALAVERA (in Spanish). Retrieved 2021-06-01.
  13. ^ "Feature Film". ReFrame. Retrieved 2021-06-01.

External links[]

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