A Field in England (2013, dir. by Ben Wheatley)

This is on Film 4 this Friday night at 10:45, Sharky ... just in case you wanna see it for gratis.

Does anybody have thoughts on Wheatley's previous work? The trailer is mildly interesting, but I'm still not sure how enthusiastic I am for this. I notice the critical establishment in this country are rushing to suck this fella's shaft, but I know not to trust them.

KILL LIST is harrowing stuff.

Glad you like KILL LIST, Harms (if "like" is the right word). I think it's a knockout - probably the best (and most unique) low-budget British horror flick since THE WICKER MAN.

Was rather less impressed by Wheatley's SIGHTSEERS, though (albeit that it's still just about worth a watch and, like KILL LIST, has a pretty striking ending), but I'm definitely up for A FIELD IN ENGLAND.

Loomis wrote:

Glad you like KILL LIST, Harms (if "like" is the right word).

I don't know if I like it. But I sure can't shake it.

I don't know how I feel about the trailer for this film. I gather it hasn't gone over as well as KILL LIST did.

I didn't even know that A FIELD IN ENGLAND was out until I saw this thread yesterday (although I'd been vaguely aware that it was in production). As for it not going over as well as KILL LIST, I only skimmed a few reviews, not wishing to look too closely for fear of spoilers, and from what I could gather they were very positive.

The trailer for A FIELD OF ENGLAND has me champing at the bit to see the film. I'll hopefully see it on DVD before this week is out and will put my thoughts in this thread when I've done so.

Apparently this is getting a VHS release (!) along with DVD, Blu-ray, online and so on.

I'd heard that Wheatley wanted it to be available in across-the-board formats all at once on 5th July, hence the cinema/DVD/Blu-Ray/Film 4/pay-per-view releases on that day.

But ... VHS? :| 

I think the VHS release is some kind of limited edition thing. I guess the cassettes will become collectors' items.

Probably won't be seeing this one this week after all. Next week, hopefully.

So, anyone else here seen A FIELD IN ENGLAND yet?

I'm afraid I was rather disappointed by it. It certainly doesn't lack flair but I don't think it adds up to much, which is a criticism that some make of KILL LIST, although as a big KILL LIST fan I don't subscribe to it myself.

Unlike KILL LIST, A FIELD is bereft of any interesting characters, and one ceases to care about the fate of anyone here long before the closing credits. The characters in KILL LIST are certainly not pleasant or admirable, or even especially original, but they do at least come across as relatively credible human beings with lives and feelings, which is one of the two big reasons why KILL LIST is engaging. The other big reason why KILL LIST succeeds is that it feels genuinely and uniquely bizarre and unsettling, like few other British horror flicks since THE WICKER MAN.

By contrast, A FIELD seems too knowing, too self-aware and too - for want of a better term - cine-literate to be truly strange or frightening. It's like a film made by film buffs as opposed to filmmakers, a conscious and top-down attempt to create a cult classic. Consequently, an air of contrivance, heavyhandedness and smugness hangs over the whole thing.