UNEARTH is a horror-drama that begins as a very classic drama but ends in pure horror. Blood, gore and a simply brutal struggle for survival.
Dubbed a "fracking horror story" this really perfectly explains it. Next, we're seeing farmers' daily struggles in rural America. Struggling with everything from climate change to huge competitors driving down prices and driving out small business owners. It may be slow-burning but it never gets boring!
The cast of Unearth should easily draw in the horror crowd. One of the key characters is portrayed by Adrienne Barbeau who is an iconic horror actor. She’s been in classic John Carpenter movies such as The Fog (1980) and Escape from New York (1981).
In 1982, she was in both the Stephen King based horror anthology Creepshow (1982), directed by George A. Romero, and Swamp Thing by Wes Craven. Yes, I’m namedropping all the major horror directors because she has worked with all of them!
Basically, you could watch Unearth simply because you’re a fan of Adrienne Barbeau. She’s great in this movie as well and has more movies coming up soon, so we have that to look forward to.
Also in Unearth are Marc Blucas (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Brawl in Cell Block 99). In another key role, we see Allison McAtee who was in The Killing Floor (2007), which starred Marc Blucas. More recently, she was also the horror-comedy We Summon the Darkness (2019).
The entire cast of Unearth is stellar in their performances, but I do also want to mention P.J. Marshall who was in American Horror Story and season 2 of the Netflix series Mindhunter. Just in case you find his face familiar as well.
Unearth is co-directed by John C. Lyons and Dorota Swies who also edited the movie together. This is the directorial debut for Dorota Swies but she did work as an assistant director on John C. Lyons’ short film Hunting Camp from 2005.
And yes, in case you were wondering, the two are married (since 2002), so they’re a team in every sense of the word.
The screenplay was written by co-director John C. Lyons and Kelsey Goldberg. This is the first feature film screenplay for Kelsey Goldberg, who worked primarily in series previously. John C. Lyons has been writing scripts for his own movies for a while. Beginning in 2005 with the abovementioned Hunting Camp.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Unearth and for a long time, it seemed like “just” a drama. A good drama, mind you, but still, I was waiting for the horror. For the final third of the movie, I got all the horror I could ask for.
In other words, don’t worry, this horror-drama most certainly can and does deliver the blood and gore you would expect.
Unearth had a world premiere at Fantasia 2020 in Canada on August 25, 2020. Hopefully, it’ll find a wider platform for release soon.
