The October Horror Film Diary: Day 3 - October 3, 2019

A Field In England, England 2013; Dir by Ben Wheatley; Starring Michael Smiley, Reece Shearsmith & Richard Glover

From one artsy horror movie to another, but A Field In England has more than a small streak of black humor going for it (unlike the bottomless bleakness of the previous selection, Hagazussa).  Ben Wheatley has been one of the British directors of note in the 2010s. After several crime oriented pictures (including the highly praised gangster/horror flick Kill List - which I've still yet to see), Field is Wheatley’s first period piece. It’s also in black and white. It also has a cast of mainly 5 dudes (no women and a few more male characters that are not present long ).  It also is one of the most accurately titled films I've seen, as it does entirely take place in the titular field.  Presumably in England.

With a backdrop of the English Civil War, we open upon the edges of a battle.   Beyond various explosions and lots of smoke, we don’t really see much of the fighting.  We see a very frightened man hiding in some shrubbery fleeing both the battle and apparently his commander. Soon this man, Whitehead, joins a motley crew who come together in this chaos by one fellow who wants to bring them all to a waiting ale house for adult beverages.

What follows on this journey to refreshment are a series of deceptions, betrayals, unexplained tortures and lots and lots of psychedelic experiences.  The latter are courtesy of a large amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms that line the field. While there are hints of more sinister perhaps magical things lurking about the edges, the horrors here mostly consists of man’s cruelty to man. But beyond the psychedelic sequences, none of it is on screen.

And about those psychedelic sequences, for those with patience with a movie that meanders about and lots of strange occurrences that are never explained, are a treat. There is a warning at the beginning of the film about some of the stroboscopic effects and the possibility of seizures. They are beautifully shot and created and give this film a touch of the mystic to go with the unsettling feeling it creates.

For viewers willing to go where such a film will take them it is a good time.  But for those viewers who do not appreciate things obtuse and unexplained, this film will not be a positive experience.  Of course I loved it.

While this is a dark film and many will not find it funny, British TV comedy fans may recognize Michael Smiley - Tires from Spaced - and, if they don’t blink, Julian Barrat - Howard Moon from The Mighty Boosh.  For those fans who like dark humor and those shows just mentioned, they will enjoy this one.