Our ongoing column giving the spotlight to movies that bucked the Hollywood Blockbuster trend and still managed to deliver a superior viewing experience. Note that these reviews may contain spoilers.
By John J. Joex
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars
Back in the 80’s in the nascent days of VHS rentals (I have included the link to the Wikipedia entry for the term for those unfamiliar with it) pretty much every science fiction fan rented this New Zealand-made movie because it was one of the few genre offerings on the shelf. A far cry from the mega-budget Hollywood blockbusters of today (and that era as well), this introspective movie offers a bleak and terrifying post-apocalyptic tale about a scientific experiment gone wrong. In the movie, scientist Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence) wakes up to find out that everyone has seemingly disappeared. He had been participating in an experiment called Project Flashlight to create a global energy grid, and which he had reservations about, and he surmises that something has gone wrong which likely relates to the disappearances. He searches for survivors but finds none and then begins a slow descent into insanity brought on by his despair and isolation. Zac hits bottom when he finds himself on the verge of committing suicide, but rescues himself from the brink by choosing to live which in turn leads him to regaining his sanity. He then discovers another survivor, Joanne (Alison Routledge), and is elated to have a companion. These two later find that one other person has survived as well, Api (Peter Smith), and from this arises sexual tension followed by competiveness among the two men. Zac also discovers that the universe appears unstable and that the “effect” that caused most of the population to disappear will likely repeat. The three must then work together to forestall the devastating consequences.
This movie unfolds much like an episode of The Twilight Zone extended over an hour and a half. It’s slow and contemplative in many parts and may offput some viewers more accustomed to the fast-paced movies more typical of Hollywood output. But Quiet Earth hearkens back to older Science Fiction films like The Omega Man or The Last Man on Earth with its apocalyptic themes, though it manages to trump both of those by veering away from the creep-show gimmicks and presenting a more plausible, speculative fiction story. And while it is definitely slow-paced, it does not bore the viewer. Instead, we become engaged in the story, at first wondering what happened to the other people then watching Zac’s almost pathetic (though at times humorous) descent into madness and then feeling relieved as he returns from the edge and ultimately finds that others survived as well. True, the explanation of why they survived may seem somewhat murky, they died at the exact moment of the effect, and the coincidence that Zac was one of these three may strain your suspension of disbelief, but these present mostly just nit-picks.
Quiet Earth succeeds in delivering a story-focused movie that relies very little on special effects (filmed on a budget of only $1 million) or action scenes. It draws you in with the mystery of the vacated planet while the very capable cast, which consists of only three actors (plus a few extras playing dead people), prove up to the task of keeping the viewers engaged throughout the film. Put this one in the category of slow but engaging Science Fiction films like Andromeda Strain, Silent Running, and last year’s Moon and it holds its own pretty well in comparison to those three. And the final scene from the movie delivers an unsung classic moment in Science Fiction cinema. If you did not catch it back in the 80’s when it first came out, it’s available on DVD now and deserves to be rediscovered by a new generation of Science Fiction fans.
Buy Quiet Earth and Other Anti-Blockbusters on DVD from Amazon.com:
