The Quiet Earth (1985) a (End of The World) Review

The last man on Earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door … (Fredric Brown, Knock)

Now that everyone smart is observing not only distancing from others but self-isolation, there have been several posts I’ve noticed focused on pandemic/end of the world films.

Some usual subjects rear their heads: Outbreak, Contagion, The Last Man on Earth, Omega Man, etc. etc.

Not too many talk about -or are even aware of- the 1985 New Zealand import The Quiet Earth. Here’s the movie’s trailer:

I was vaguely aware of the film but had not seen it. When it was on sale a while back over at VUDU, I picked up the digital copy of it but, like a lot of things I buy, I simply didn’t have the time to see it.

Yesterday, I resolved to do so.

What I found in the early going of the film kinda blew my mind, but it was mostly because of what was presented:

We start with a man named Zac Hobson (played well by Bruno Lawrence) lying nude in bed. He eventually wakes up, gets dressed, eats breakfast, and heads out…

…only to find there is no one out there.

At all.

The country outside the big city is intact with its buildings and gas stations, yet cars lie abandoned. Some have crashed, as if the occupants of the cars were in their vehicles one moment then disappeared and the vehicles, moving on inertia, continued until they crashed.

In one of the more fascinating scenes (and MILD SPOILERS) he finds a warehouse in flames and, upon investigating, discovers the wreck of a large airliner. He finds among the mangled remains seats which have seatbelts still tied together, as if the passengers were there… until they weren’t, and the pilot flew the craft, until they were gone as well, and the plane simply crashed (Random thought: I wonder if that chilling airliner crash sequence in Knowing -pretty much the only really great scene in that otherwise not so good Nicholas Cage film- was inspired by this sequence in The Quiet Earth?).

Eventually Zac makes his way to his work, which involves some high-tech energy experimentation station, and it is there we get the first hints as to what may have happened and why in an otherwise perfectly normal looking world he seems to be the only one there.

Seems to be being the operative word.

The Quiet Earth is divided into three segments, the first of which is Zac being all alone. The second act is like the second sentence on that short-short story by Fredric Brown I pasted at the start of this review.

Without giving too much away, Zac finds he isn’t totally alone.

The third act involves… well… I shouldn’t spoil everything, should I?

I stated that what I found in the early going of the film kinda blew my mind. Let me explain: When you write fiction, you come up with plenty of ideas and concepts you feel are promising in pursuing.

Alas, there are only so many hours in the day and when I commit to a story which may eventually become a novel, the commitment is damned serious. Sometimes, ideas come to you that sound promising but lead you -eventually or right away- to a dead end.

The opening minutes of The Quiet Earth very much resembled a story concept I was toying with a few years back but eventually left behind (no pun intended… or was it?!) because I had a hard time thinking of something clever or interesting to follow up the first act with.

The Quiet Earth, to some degree, also seems to have a little difficulty with what follows the first act. After seeing the film I was curious what others thought (I’m always curious to read people’s reactions to things) and there were many who felt the film starts off excellently but the subsequent second and thirds acts are weaker and more by the numbers.

I dunno.

As someone who grappled with a similar story idea and came up empty (another pun?! I’m full of them today!) I appreciate what the creative team came up with.

The Quiet Earth, while perhaps no lost uber-classic of science fiction is nonetheless a fascinating exploration into the idea of someone mysteriously awakening to find the world they knew is gone.

If the second and third acts aren’t quite as strong as the first -and I won’t argue that!- I nonetheless found them intriguing.

Even more intriguing was the film’s end, which is mysterious, fascinating, and ambiguous. Unfortunately, and like the iconic image at the end of the original Planet of the Apes, the visuals of that scene have made their way to the film’s poster and promotions, even the trailer presented above.

I suppose its inevitable but still, kinda silly to ruin what should have been a shocking -and intriguing- surprise.

A word of caution: The Quiet Earth is an old film, 35 years old this year, and is thus yet another of those films that today’s audiences might find move a little too slowly.

If, however, you can get past that and allow yourself to be immersed in this work, there is plenty to get out of it.

Recommended.