Unearth (film)

[1] It stars Adrienne Barbeau and Marc Blucas as the respective heads of two neighboring farm families in the rural United States.

[2][3] Alongside Barbeau and Blucas, the film's cast includes P. J. Marshall, Allison McAtee, Rachel McKeon, Monica Wyche, and Brooke Sorenson.

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.

Patriot Exploration brings in their equipment and begins operations on the Lomack property, greatly disrupting the lives of the two families.

As their sanity degrades from the illness, George's infant grandson Reese senses something wrong with the tap water and refuses to drink it, but the others do.

Kim finds Reese dead in his crib, his body reduced to a gelatinous mass after his skin was digested by the fungus.

"[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.

[5] On August 22, 2022, the film screened as part of the "Messaging the Monstrous: Eco Horror" program at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, followed by a Q&A with Barbeau, Lyons and Swies.

[8] 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.

"[9] Jenn Adams, writer for Consequence, said "Unearth is a timely metaphor in the midst of a pandemic which has crippled the US economy.

"[11] In her four out of five star review, Zofia Wijaszka, for FirstShowing.net said "Next to powerful storytelling that relates directly to our modern world of damaging technology and bloody outcomes, there's well-crafted characters that we want to believe in.

"[13] 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.

"[3] 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.