In the Earth

A pandemic chiller where Covid is the last thing to be afraid of...

SCI-FI HORROR

Sunday, Sky Premiere HD, 10.45 am and 8 pm

Conceived as Britain went into lockdown and shot over a long, socially distanced summer, folk sci-fi horror In the Earth is one of the first major movies to reckon with Covid.

It's also a return to basics for cult British writer-director Ben Wheatley following his lavish adaptation of Rebecca, playing like the gnarly, nasty offspring of his earlier films Kill List, Sightseers, and A Field in England.

The film follows Joel Fry's research scientist and park ranger Ellora Torchia on a fraught trek through hostile woodland, where they encounter abandoned tents, shoe thieves, and Reece Shearsmith's sinister stranger.