For the past decade, the horror genre has seen a radical change from the tendencies that dominated it in the first years of the century. A new generation of auteurs has crafted some of the most original material in years, thanks to smarter screenplays, stronger characters, and arguments flowing from real life concerns. Aspects like the supernatural, gory violence, and jump scares are still ever-so-present, only this time around thefilms of Jennifer Kent(The Babadook, The Nightingale), Jordan Peele (Get Out, Us, Nope), Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar),or Panos Cosmatos(Beyond The Black Rainbow, Mandy) feature stronger narrative and visual compositions.
One of the tendencies that emerged around the beginning of the 2010s was the psychedelic fueled horror film.Enter The Void(2009) andBeyond The Black Rainbow(2010) are some examples of how the genre started resorting to trippy visuals, hallucinatory sequences, and darkly psychological storylines. Alongside these films comes alongA Field in England, English filmmaker Ben Wheatley’s fourth feature, set in yes… you guessed it… a field in England.
After a group of deserters from the English Civil War find themselves trapped by an alchemist who has tricked them into eating psychedelic mushrooms, madness ensues as the day becomes a hellish trip of paranoia. Utilizing very simple tricks, Wheatley creates a masterpiece of modern horror, one that deserves more attention as it stands out among it contemporaries for various reasons.
Martin Pavey’s Sound Design
The fantastic sound design by Martin Pavey uses agonizing shrieks of pain with no visibility whatsoever of what’s going on, groans from a man trying to defecate, and the grunting of men while pulling a rope for almost two entire minutes. The film is filled with sonic disturbances that, through repetition, creates a cognitive dissonance and a feeling of uneasiness. Dialogue, score, and the wind through the field all find themselves interwoven, almost melting together in the moments where tension rises as to increase the anxiety and terror the characters are experiencing.
Editing A Field in England
BeforeA Field in Englandbegins, a warning of strong strobe effects preludes the film, and it’s not exaggerating. As the movie advances, one might think the warning was in vain and then… here they come. Mirroring and folding of images, repetition of sequences, strong strobic visuals, and a black circular object that blocks the sun with waves of darkness within it. The editing can sometimes be blindingly bold.
Cinematography
Gorgeously done (and unexpectedly low budget)black and white cinematographyby Laurie Rose heightens the weirdness. As the narrative becomes more and more incoherent (running parallel to the psychedelics gaining more and more effect on the characters), the monochrome works perfectly as it even creates dissonance from certain notions of what’s preconceived as psychedelic. The typical shiny colors and dynamic camera movements oftrippy psychedelic cinemaare nowhere to be seen; the darkness must be faced head on, as the hallucinatory madness continues.
Related:A Field In England Exclusive Interview with Director Ben Wheatley
Ben Wheatley Offers How Over Why
Why? Yeah, that’s not the right question when approaching this film; it’s one that will only bring upon frustration. Despite its very straightforward character arcs,A Field in Englandis never about why things are happening, it’s about how. The movie is most concerned with developing its visual language than its storytelling. It does not stop to explain things — once the trip has begun it will follow a crescendo. Given the subject, coherence is understandably thrown out the window here in favor of nonsensical confusion.
The ambiguity in terms of where the film is headed accentuates the bad times faced by the characters. At times, this makes it seem like this harrowing experience will never end, or that it has maybe been happening forever…
Despite being set in the 17th century, Amy Jump’s brilliant script has no intention of setting up ahistorically accurate period filmwhatsoever. A clever mix of vintage English with what seems to be modern indentation and accent creates within the layers of conceptual and visual chaos another unsettling aspect: the film is as horrific as it is hilarious. Filled with comedic one-liners, uncomfortable situations, and constant mocking between the protagonists, this also sets the film apart from the standardized idea of what constitutes a horror film, and creates even more incoherence and dissonance adding to the psychedelic experience.
Related:These Are Some of the Elevated Horror Films Which Helped Make Horror So Hot
Interpreting A Field in England
The constant use of the phrase “let the Devil in” and the ambiguous ending have given rise to a theory regarding the nature of the plot, as many believe the film is set in purgatory and the hardships they endure are their pathway into heaven. This might not be very relevant when watching or enjoyingA Field in England, but it adds another layer to the wildness of the film, and one that makes a lot of sense.
The constant mentions of God controlling one’s fate, the characters' morality (or lack thereof) towards duty (having all fled from the battlefield), and the antagonist’s satanistic undertones do suggest there might be something else to the plot.
Ultimately,A Field in Englandproves to be quite a unique film; from its cunning dialogue to its hallucinatory pacing, this movie has not been as highly regarded as it probably should in this day and age ofso-called elevated horror. While the criticism to its narrative and coherence might be valid, the visual language and originality in its delivery stand out, making it a worthy entry to the canon of psychedelic nightmares of cinematic history.
