The 1985 New Zealand film The Quiet Earth preys on the fear of being totally alone, following a lone scientist spiralling into madness. Its psychological terror is as haunting as ever, decades before the sparse and atmospheric Backrooms and years before Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy cemented New Zealand's film industry as a commercial force.
A tiny budget, a vast emptiness
Based on the 1981 novel of the same name, The Quiet Earth examined what happens when humans and animals seemingly vanish without a trace. It follows scientist Zac (Bruno Lawrence), whose workplace inadvertently causes an apocalyptic catastrophe, and who quickly spirals into megalomaniac madness due to his extreme isolation.
After considerable time alone, some of which is spent luxuriating in a mansion, Zac eventually runs into fellow survivors Joanne (Alison Routledge) and Api (Pete Smith), who realise they all evaded the mass disappearance because they were technically dead when the mysterious event occurred. Forming a solid, possibly polyamorous, community, they decide to destroy the laboratory Zac worked at, deducing that it will trigger a second event and universal collapse.
Liminal horror and eerie stillness
The film's terrifyingly empty public spaces represent an early foray into the liminal horror genre; shots of once-bustling streets utterly devoid of people can easily be likened to zombie-horror 28 Days Later or psychological thriller Sunshine. Though its tight budget constraints led to a rather minute scope, with a jumpscare featuring a cheap silicone dummy at the beginning being particularly goofy, its eerie atmosphere isn't any less effective or compelling.
The quiet stillness of an unanimated, lifeless world still makes for a chilling watch four decades later, and it's easy to empathise with Zac during his intense lack of social interaction. Years before we knew the pain of the pandemic, The Quiet Earth was reflecting a social paranoia of a different kind of threat: the cold war's twilight years. The film's mysterious weapon could easily be interpreted as a nuclear one.
A cosmic ending and a national legacy
When Zac sacrifices himself by driving a truck full of dynamite into the research facility, he's mysteriously transported onto a strange empty beach where a giant ringed planet is seen rising above the horizon. Its cosmic ending scene still hits hard, and it's a film that continually invites return, not just because of proud Kiwi status, but because it captures a certain madness connected to loneliness that continues to haunt us in a post-pandemic world.
The Quiet Earth is available to stream on Prime Video in Australia and the US, and it's available to rent or buy on Apple TV.
