The Quiet Earth: a film which doesn’t live up to its early promise

This cult science fiction movie about a scientific disaster apparently killing nearly everyone on Earth is a real mixed bag.

Minimal dialogue – and none at all for long stretches – and a brilliant music score give it an edgy, tense tone. The main character does a great turn going mad and for a limited special effects budget the scenes of urban catastrophe are surprisingly well done.

Yet even with almost no dialogue, the other two characters there are manage both to be wafer thin and unconvincing, whilst the ‘scientific’ explanation involves little more than some technical looking equipment, basic computer graphics and random words from the dictionary of scientists.

In the end, it’s a film which doesn’t live up to its early promise.

If you like this, you might also be interested in Karel Capek’s War with the Newts.

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Buy The Quiet Earth here.