Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Unearthed’

Written by Scott Edwards 

​Small town living might be the life for some people, but it is not the life for me. After watching what happens in horror movies to people in these secluded areas, I am left to wonder what would happen if something bad went down and you have no trust in your authorities. It is never good, and I would rather have a huge police force at my back, instead of a couple of locals with guns who may or may not be sober enough to come to my aid when they are needed. Now don’t get me wrong, staying in a small town for a day or two is refreshing as you don’t have to deal with the crazies in the city, but when it comes down to it, it is just not the life for me.

Sheriff Annie Flynn is woken up by her phone after another late night, early morning bender. Finding out that the power has been knocked out, she has just been told what the reason behind it is. A gasoline tanker has been knocked off the road and exploded, leaving the small town without power. After making herself a drink and heading to the scene, she finds a strange animal body part wedged in the grill of the tanker. But what she finds more interesting is that there is no sign of the driver and there is only one person that might have answers to where he may have gone, but he is on the outs with the town.

Nodin has come back home to take care of her grandfather, but seems to be more interested in continuing her research. Even when the power is out, she finds a way to keep looking through her microscope at plant cells. Her grandfather is working on something of his own though and is not letting any of his secrets out. Getting an envelope from his friend Kale that has a photo of an old Anasazi pot, he takes into account the drawings on the outside of it. Making notes and sending the photo back, he finds out that there might have been something more to their deterioration as a race than just the lack of the water in the area. When Kale sees the findings of his old friend, he tears open the body of the tanker's driver and sees a growth that was once unexplainable and is able to give it a face.

Sisters Caya and Ally are on their road trip when they see a young man on the side of the road with car troubles. Picking him up and stopping at Nodin’s gas station which has been starved by the recent accident, they are forced to stay in the building until another tanker can come to town. With no power and no gas, everyone is forced to stay put as the accident gets cleaned up and the power is restored, but there is something lurking in the shadows. As Sheriff Annie brings her strange animal find to Nodin to analyze, she finds out that whatever hit the tanker was not of this earth, but before she is able to make it known to everyone else in the house, the first attack takes place. Trying to escape whatever creature is chasing them, the group is able to make it to Kale’s dig site and find out what the loner/digger has brought back up to the surface.

A fun monster movie that could make you wonder if something like this could actually exist. With so many undiscovered species under the sea, how many more have paleontologists not found under the sand yet. But this movie is not only about the monster, it is about Annie trying to get her life back together after a tragedy left a young girl dead under her protection. Without a way of coming back from that, Annie turns to the bottle and the entire town takes notice, but it is widely known that she will be voted out of her position of Sheriff at the next town meeting. Knowing that she needs to step up and protect her people, Annie is forced to come to terms with what she has become and even though an event of this magnitude is taking place, she can step away from the bottle and do her assigned duty. With plenty of blood and an uncertain way to make the beast dormant once again, this is a good movie to just sit back and enjoy while the regular problems of your everyday life are going on outside of the house. It could be a lot worse, just saying. Stay Scared.

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