BEYOND GENRES: VOL. 6 - THE QUIET EARTH (1985)
Label: Umbrella Entertainment
Region Code: Region-FREE
Rating: M
Duration: 91 Minutes
Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (1.85:1)
Director: Geoff Murphy
Cast: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Peter Smith
In Hamilton, New Zealand scientist Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence, Death Warmed Up) wakes up and begins his day as usual, driving through the streets during what should be rush hour he cannot help but notice that there's absolutely no one around, when he arrives at work, a place called Delenco, we learn he is part of an international consortium of scientists working on something called "Project Flashlight", a top-secret worldwide power grid of some sort. It seems it was turned on in the early hours of the morning and everyone else on Earth vanished without a trace. What exactly happened and why is never explained by the film, it's very pleased to ask the interesting questions without offering an iota of answer, and that's sort of why I love it, I really enjoy ambiguous science fiction, and The Quiet Earth doesn't answer much of anything at all, but I found it deeply interesting.
Zac comes to refer to the event as "the effect", eventually settling into the idea that he is now the last man on Earth. We're treated to a lengthy montage of him going a bit mad, as you would in this situation, scenes of him traipsing around in ladies lingerie with a shotgun, playing sax in the streets during a downpour, giving a speech to cardboard cut-outs of historical figures declaring himself President of the Earth, and threatening to shoot a crucified Christ if God does not reveal himself, all fun stuff, Bruno Lawrence dominates the first half of this film with his performance, which is largely done without dialogue. After months alone his descent into insanity is cut short with the arrival of a woman named Joanne (Alison Routledge), the sight of whom is startling at first, assuming he must be hallucinating, and who can blame him. The pair develop a friendship, becoming lovers in short-order, but it seems that even during an apocalyptic event things can get awkward with the arrival of a male competitor. The pair become a trio with the arrival of Api (Pete Smith), with the men becoming competitors for the affections of the only lady on Earth, causing tensions to rise.
All the while Zac continues to making scientific observations relating to "the effect", theorizing that the trio survived whatever happened because at the instant Project Flashlight was activated each of them were experiencing the exact moment of their own death, and through flashback we see how they each should have met their ends, ranging from pill-popping suicide, to accidental hair-dryer electrocution and a murderous drowning. He also theorizes that "the effect" is cyclical and is gearing up for a new phase, setting into motion a plan to blow-up the Delenco laboratory before the effect culminates.
Strangely, the was a first tine watch of this film for me, it's a film I've heard of for years and years but somehow it never landed on my TV screen. The film looks to be influenced by seminal last-men on Earth films like The Last Man on Earth (1965) and Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978), pre-dating 28 Days Later which it shares influences with, and coming a year after 80's classic Night of the Comet (1984), not a knock-off by any means, but certainly of that ilk. The finale of the film won't offer you any closure, it isn;t buttoned-up neatly, it's a bit of a head-scratcher, but in a good in my opinion, there's a few ways to read it, ranging from various religious implications to any number of science fiction interpretations, and I am cool with all that.
Audio/Video: New Zealand sci-fi cult classic The Quiet Earth (1985) arrives on Blu-ray from Umbrella Entertainment in 1080p HD framed in 1.85:1 widescreen, advertised as a new 2K scan of the film. It looks very good, colors are nicely saturated, and black levels are decent looking if not exactly deep and inky, but overall a very nice looking presentation from Umbrella.
Audio comes by way of an English DTS-HD MA 5.1 with optional English subtitles, the track is clean and well-balanced, the score from composer John Charles has some very nice moments throughout.
Extras are pretty slim compared to previous Beyond Genres titles, but we do get a solid audio commentary with Writer/Producer Sam Pillsbury, which I found very informative and detailed. The only other extras are the original and restored trailers for the film.
The single-disc release comes housed in an oversized Blu-ray keepcase with a reversible sleeve of artwork, plus a slipcover with the usual black-themed slip with new water color artwork by Umbrella in-house artists Simon Sherry. The disc art is an excerpt of the same key art as the slip. Both the spine of the slip and wrap are numbered.
- Audio Commentary with Writer/Producer Sam Pillsbury
- Theatrical Trailer (3 min)
- Restoration Trailer (3 min)
- Image Gallery
The Quiet Earth (1985) is low-budget 80's sci-fi done right, a story driven by both science fiction mystery and human drama with a phenomenal turn from Bruno Lawrence in the lead role. Your own enjoyment might be weighted by your tolerance for sci-fi that poses a lot of intriguing questions and is content to answer absolutely none of them, but for me this is a real gem of science fiction cinema. Umbrella's Blu-ray release looks and sounds solid, the extras are a bit of a disappointment but I cannot knock the presentation.
