Unearthed (2010) is a short science fiction movie written and directed by Lindsay Harris and Stuart Leach. A feel of mystery is kept until the very end of the movie which brings a shocking surprise. Seemingly human-shaped and evidently English-speaking spacemen are searching for an alternative source of energy which their planet is already short of.
Ezekiel, a mining spaceship lands on an abandoned, Moon-like planet which may have needed fuel resources. Two crew members (Cadman and Mitch) leave the ship to drill the surface and take rock samples for a further analysis. Due to vibrations, a layer of surface breaks apart and a spaceman falls into a tunnel. The other member joins him quickly and continues the research encouraged by own curiosity. Since the one who fell seems to be wounded, the other reports views he discovers while getting deeper into the tunnel.
Equipped with just two flashlights, he soon finds a concrete construction buried underground. He then steps into a larger chamber which floor is covered with debris such as twisted metal parts. The floor ends broken. He finds old items such as a watch, a doll and eyeglasses, all buried in dust. Most likely, their purposes are unknown to him. Egg-like things turn out to be human skulls, apparently ancestors of the humanoid 'aliens'. Finally, a headline of Daily National newspaper front page says 'All hope is lost'.

The environment is claustrophobic, dark and dusted. Still, you'll be thankful for a truly astonishing, thought-provoking final scene, especially if you've seen hundreds of science-fiction movies so far.
There are only two things I disliked about Unearthed. Firstly, dialogs. Not only too much of talking but also a simplicity of messages shared between the crew members make a sour contrast with an excellent plot and kill a murky atmosphere. One doesn't need to talk about 'turning lights on' while we can watch this happening. Secondly, for some weird reason directors utilized an old-western like panoramic format of a screen surrounded by a lot of black space which honestly, distracts too much.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz. Not for a commercial use. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)





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